Insurrectionist loser Donald Trump finally was forced by someone to issue a statement of concession Thursday morning. That statement, as much as anything that has transpired over the past four awful years and horrifying 24 hours, demonstrates why Trump must be impeached and convicted in the next 13 days.
"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," the statement reads. Still with the baseless claims of fraud. But this is where the danger lies: "I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!" That's Trump promising that he will not go away, that he is going to continue to foment civil war, that he's going to hang on to his army of violent extremists and continue this fight. Preventing him from doing that has to be the first priority for the next two weeks in Congress.
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Trump has forfeited any future in American public life and the Congress must ensure that. The door for Trump to participate in any kind of public life ever again has to be slammed shut. That’s why he must be impeached. Any avenue for him back to power has to be completely blocked. More than that, the Republicans that have enabled him for the past four years have to be held to account—and that's also why he must be impeached and convicted.
Senate Democrats are already making excuses. They are already giving their Republican colleagues an out. Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley says: "To take these critical few weeks and spend them on a President who is going to be removed on January 20th would be a disservice to our nation." Called on that by David Nir, he lamely lets Republicans off the hook. "If we can do it by Jan 20, I am all for it. But unfortunately, Mitch McConnell still runs the Senate until Trump's term is up." That's pathetic excuse-making from Merkley. He's not the only one. Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of Senate leadership, told reporters: "He certainly deserves it […] after what happened yesterday he should be removed from office but I don’t believe there's stomach for it on the Republican side and there's very little time left."
Trump has to be stopped and the Republicans who enabled him have to be stopped. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley have to be stopped. They each think they can capitalize on their role in this insurrection to the White House and with what we've experienced since 2016, they might not be wrong. They have to be shut down. Forcing them—forcing McConnell—to face what they have created and force them to either stand behind it or renounce it is vitally important. What happened on Jan. 6 could very well happen again, at Trump's instigation and with Republican complicity. That can't be allowed. Impeachment is one critical way to stop it.