Depending on what poll you look at, a majority of Americans support removing Trump from office. (More poll numbers with a wider scope here.) There have been objections to going forward with impeachment on the grounds that it will impede Biden from getting anything done by tying up the Senate. Some argue impeachment will boost Trump’s popularity. Some argue it will only increase division. Some argue it will be seen as a political stunt.
One of the authors of the impeachment resolution under consideration has laid out the arguments for proceeding in The NY Times. David N. Cicilline (@davidcicilline) is a member of the Democratic Party and House Judiciary Committee who has represented Rhode Island’s First Congressional District since 2011.
...Some argue that another impeachment trial would further divide our country and further inflame Trump supporters. But the truth is that we do not have a choice. This impeachment charge is meant to defend the integrity of the republic. Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress must attend to the duties of their oath. Failing to act would set an irresponsibly dangerous precedent for future presidents who are about to leave office.
Further, there can be no healing of the divisions in our country without justice for the man most responsible for this horrific insurrection. The president must be held accountable. That can happen only by impeaching him for a second time and convicting him in the Senate. A conviction that would allow Congress to prohibit him from ever serving in federal office again.
What happened last Wednesday was an abomination. There is no question about that. There is also no question that Mr. Trump becomes more of a threat to public safety by the moment.
The only question now is what Congress will do about it.
This timeline of events put together by Cody Fenwick at Alternet is damning. Trump might claim he never told anyone specifically to attack Congress, but that’s like a man denying involvement in arson despite having spent months piling up inflammables in a building and inviting in a number of people carrying gasoline and matches while claiming he had no idea what they would do...
Democrats have introduced articles of impeachment; Republicans blocked a measure calling on Pence to exercise the 25th Amendment. The article is here; I do not think anyone can quibble about the meaning of High Crimes and Misdemeanors in this case.
Trump attempted a coup. People died, the Capitol was vandalized, and the foundations of our government have been shaken.
“There may well be a vote on impeachment on Wednesday,” Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, told reporters. He also pushed back against those arguing the House should delay sending the case to the Senate for trial until after Mr. Biden has a chance to fill his cabinet and pass coronavirus relief legislation.
“Whether impeachment can pass the United States Senate is not the issue,” he said. “The issue is we have a president who most of us believe participated in encouraging an insurrection and attack on this building, and on democracy and trying to subvert the counting of the presidential ballot.”
Cicilline acknowledges that there are arguments that tying up Congress with impeachment could hinder incoming President Biden in carrying out his agenda. The pandemic, the economy are cited as things that should his top priorities. Biden is suggesting possible steps to work around that.
...Mr. Biden noted that his top priority is the passage of a new economic stimulus plan and repairing the U.S. economy.
But Mr. Biden added that he had spoken to House and Senate Democrats about whether it would be possible to “bifurcate” Congressional business, splitting days between impeachment and confirming his nominees and passing his agenda.
...There appears to be nothing in the Constitution prohibiting the impeachment of a president after he leaves office, however. And even though it will be too late to remove Mr. Trump from power, the Senate — which after Inauguration Day will be controlled by Democrats — can still vote to prevent him from serving another term.
While the urgency of dealing with the economy and the pandemic cannot be underestimated, that is an overly myopic view in my opinion.
I would submit the most important item on Biden’s and the Democrat’s agenda has to be restoring American democracy and making the consequences for attempting a coup severe, starting at the top but not stopping there. Unless and until that is done, his administration will be attempting to build on a foundation of sand. Trump’s crimes must have consequences. Impeachment is one place to start.
Whether or not it makes Trump more popular is besides the point. The true believers are not going to be won over by kind words and gentle thoughts. The Republican Party is not going to suddenly see the light and foreswear its authoritarian ways. Partisan obstruction is what they do by reflex these days. They respect strength and reject compromise. Stop worrying about their feelings; respect those of the majority who voted for Biden.
Trump has been lying about the election for months. (As has right wing media and too many Republicans.) He openly attempted to solicit election fraud in Georgia. Election workers and officials are getting death threats. He and other speakers used inflammatory language at the rally on the National Mall and sent the mob off to the Capitol primed for violence. Five people died in the resulting melee.
There should be consequences for that — impeachment will prevent a convicted Trump from ever holding office again and also strip him of all the perks that go to a former president. A charge of insurrection should be relatively simple to pursue. Trump is on video; there’s no question of needing secret tapes and establishing intent to incite violence, especially not given the remarks he has been making at rallies all through the last 5 years.
But there’s more.
There are questions why the preparations by the Capitol Police were so inadequate, why advance warnings about what was coming were ignored, why it appears there was inside help for the attackers, why it was so hard to get anyone to allow the Capitol Police to get reinforcements, and just how much was due to deliberate choices made by Trump supporters embedded in the government and in law enforcement. There are questions why a number of the attackers appeared to have tactical skills from being ex-military or police, and how organized they were.
The elephant in the room is that we now have a large part of the population invested in disinformation and conspiracy theories. There’s a number of people and organizations cultivating them for power and profit. A subset of those people are not only ready to turn to violence to realize their beliefs, they are actively seeking to do so. They are a clear and present danger that cannot be ignored or dismissed, not after what happened January 6, 2021 or what they are promising to do in the days to come.
We also have the political party that considers them “very fine people”, a party that has echoed and amplified Trump’s rhetoric. It is not out of the question to consider applying the provisions of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to them. That Republicans were still contesting the election with unfounded allegations even after the attack on the Capitol is sedition, as is the reflex GOP rejection of (non-GOP) government that greases the slippery slope into Fascism.
A Senate trial of Trump with the Senate under Democratic control can be a real trial, with witnesses, evidence, and subpoena power. If we are to deal with the people who attacked the Capitol and rallied elsewhere around the country, if we are to deal with the Fascists among us, the white supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, the QAnon cultists, and the people who are backing them, we have to start somewhere. While Trump will be at the center of it, it’s also an opportunity to turn a spotlight on the larger web of incipient Fascism behind it.
The Republicans and their media will try to frame it as partisan overreach; so will the mainstream media — it’s a conditioned reflex. The Democrats must frame it as something all Americans must support. The mob that attacked the Capitol was ready to target both Democrats and Republicans. (And the mainstream media.)
Biden can put it on very basic terms. He has sworn an oath to defend the constitution, and it would betray the constitution to allow this attack on the very foundations of our government to go unanswered, because the threat is not over just because the coup failed — this time.
There are warnings there may be further violence around the country.
Even as businesses and elected officials try to distance themselves from the violence and its perpetrators, supporters of President Trump are openly planning attacks in Washington and around the country in the days leading up to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has sent information to local law enforcement about the potential for armed protests outside all 50 state capitols, which are being organized and promoted by far-right extremist groups like the Boogaloo movement.
We cannot go forward as a country while we have people actively tearing it apart. We cannot ignore them. We cannot trust people like this to uphold our democracy. We do not have the option of looking ahead and not back; the people Trump and the GOP have embraced are not going to quietly fade away. Digby and Tristero both offer up readings from history on how long it took Hitler to rise to power. The Republican Party is following the same playbook. It must be stopped.
The concern trolls (and legitimate questioners) are saying “But what about the Pandemic? What about the economy?” (And climate change? And rebuilding our position in the world?) Truly, one of the ways Republicans keep Democrats from making any progress is by handing them an overwhelming mess that has to be cleaned up before they can do anything. That has to be Job One — but we can multi-task.
There’s a long list of things that could/should be on the Biden agenda — but that’s something for the next installment of this.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Earlier — how the assault on the Capitol was presaged by the Brooks Brothers Riot.