Unfortunately, an impeachment trial is a political proceeding, not a legal one. If this case was being tried in a court, Trump would be getting fitted for that orange jumpsuit. The House Managers presented factual evidence, backed up with video footage, that Trump incited rage in his supporters with the lie that the election was stolen from him and then directed them to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6th, to ” stop the steal.” The House also showed footage of the insurrectionists admitting they were following Trump’s directive to ” fight hard” to stop the certification of the electoral college vote taking place inside the chambers.
The procedural limitation of not being able to convict a president of legal wrongdoing in an impeachment trial allows the political loyalty of members of the president’s party to obstruct justice from being carried out. In the case of Trump, his vindictiveness is well known to all the Senators. Many of them, as well as members of the House, have been victims of his public abuse on Twitter, at his rallies, and on Fox News. So the impeachment trial isn’t a process where fair verdicts are insisted upon by an objective jury or a judge. In this trial, GOP officials are so scared of Trump’s power over their political futures they have decided to abandon their oath instead of protecting democracy.
The House Managers presented fact-based evidence proving Trump knew the rioters consisted of militia groups and fringe- conspiracy theorists who were prone to violence. Posts appeared on Twitter with Trump calling his vitriolic supporters to get to Washington on Jan 6th to storm the Capitol with him ( which was a lie, he bailed out on them) and to stop the certification vote from happening. In his speech before the insurgent crowd, he reiterated the stolen election lie and ordered them to “take our country back.” It’s common knowledge that when you tell someone to take something that does not belong to them there is going to be an aggressive encounter. Trump has a history of using violent rhetoric against opponents, both Democrats, and Republicans. On Jan 6, Trump could have told the crowd.” Let’s march to the steps of the Capitol, hold our signs, use our voices, and peacefully protest the certification.” Instead, he used an angry, threatening, inciting voice to Increase the mob’s anger level. Trump has such a severely damaged ego, he requires his supporters to adopt his crass rhetoric and carry out his wishes to feel validated.
Additionally, the House presented a timeline reflecting what Trump did and what he didn’t do once he knew the Capitol police and members of Congress were being hunted down by his mob of Proud Boys, Qanon member, racists, and cult followers. He knew these insurgents were threatening to murder former Vice-President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for 2 hours he DID NOTHING. He continued to attack Mike Pence while the mob was looking to ” hang him.” During his final statement at the trial today, Re. Jamie Raskin posed the questions;
- Why didn’t Trump take action immediately to stop the attack?
- Why didn’t he call in the National Guard?
- Why didn’t he harshly denounce the insurgents and what they were doing to the Capitol?
- Why did he show concern and empathy for the insurgents, and not for the people under attack at the Capitol?
- Why did it take two hours to deliver a speech to de-escalate the insurgency?
Additional questions Raskin didn’t pose were;
- Why did he tell the traitorous mob ” we love you, you are good people.”
- At the time of the attack, why did he appear ” delighted”.
- Why didn’t he stop lying about the election being stolen to de-escalate the violence?
- Why didn’t he call for unity with the new administration?
- Why didn’t he explain to the rioters that he never expected or wanted them to invade and damage the Capitol Bldg. or threaten the lives of members of Congress?
The House Managers concluded their opening arguments today and the facts seen in the video footage proved Trump incited, directed, and delighted in the violent, deadly attack on the sacred symbol of our democracy. When the Republicans acquit him, Trump’s pea brain will think he is exonerated, but national and global public opinion will convict him. The Republican Party will be seen as traitors who violated their oath of office, abandoned the defense of the Constitution, and lost all personal courage and integrity. A movement is underway to ruin the reputation of every Senator who votes in favor of a president’s right to incite an insurgency to overturn the results of a democratic election.
In the words of Rep. Adam Schiff after the first impeachment acquittal, “He will do it again,” and he did. The trial evidence revealed who Trump is a; corrupt, vindictive, psychologically impaired autocrat wannabe, he WILL do it again. Washington DC may wind up using the funds pulled from the Southern Border Wall project to build walls around the cradle of our democracy to protect our government workers from being attacked and killed by the domestic terrorism movement led by Donald J. Trump, the most dangerous, un-American former president in U.S. history.
