The Grand Illusion
The latest Republican lie is that trying an impeached former president for offenses he committed while in office is unconstitutional. The vast majority of legal scholars who have opined on the subject declare that the trial is indeed constitutional, especially since Trump was impeached the second time before he left office.
Saying he cannot be tried is akin to declaring an embezzler who was charged can’t be tried because he’s no longer employed by the company he stole from. Furthermore, there have been two prior cases of federal civil government employees who were impeached and tried after leaving government service.
The lie that it’s unconstitutional to try former President Trump since he’s no longer in office is merely another Republican excuse not to hold Trump accountable for instigating and inciting the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths [to date] and the often severe injuries to 140 police officers. While it is likely that the majority of Republican Senators have neither the ethics nor the courage to convict Trump, to hide behind a legally unsustainable lie is just another form of cowardice.
Five deaths and 140 injured police officers! If a sitting President had told a Black Lives Matter demonstration to attack the Capitol, and that demonstration resulted in equivalent deaths, injuries and damage, does any thinking individual have any doubt that such a President would be impeached and convicted, whether or not he was still in office?
As I’ve written before, Republicans can vote to impeach a Democrat president for lying about an affair with an intern, but they appear all too willing to refuse to convict a president for actions that many of them have publicly deplored, for various reasons, giving a range of reasons unfounded in fact or law.
Why? The only answer I can find is that they care more about being re-elected than they care about doing what is ethical… or about their country… no matter how they protest to the contrary. And what’s more, all too many of their constituents agree.
Of course, ALL politicians care more about getting re-elected to their cushy high paying position than anything else. It’s why we have professional politicians.
Agreed. It is also why national term limits to avoid professional legislators is, in my view, the only remedy that would have a lasting effect.
Also, IMO, the “remedy” to our national political divide, if a remedy is even possible, necessarily must be preceded by fixing the “separate information bubbles,” which LEM has spoken of often.
I know this is an over-simplification, but I do believe that those two steps are required for a lasting repair.
I can’t understand the political value of continuing to support a man that no longer holds power. The senate election in Georgia only proves that Trump doesn’t really win votes so this idea that impeaching him will hurt reelection chances for senators boggles my mind. How does Trump manage to keep a stranglehold on Republicans even after he leaves office? I think the perception that he is popular is misread. The majority of those that voted for Trump weren’t really voting for him, they were voting on conservative values (which Trump admittedly doesn’t fit but that contradiction is a different discussion). This is Republican’s best opportunity to purge Trump from their party, unfortunately they don’t have the guts to show leadership and take it.
I think Trump does still hold sway with a considerable number of people on the right, a big enough percentage that if they decided to not go to the polls a lot of Republican incumbents wouldn’t get enough votes to get reelected. That’s not to say he doesn’t also turn people off of the Republican party, but if your choices are (a) leaving that set of votes and not getting elected, or (b) keeping those voters and maybe not getting elected, a good chunk of politicians will choose (b) because of the maybe.
This may also be an indication of the quality of our “professional” politicians: they are controlled by the crowd instead of being able to persuade the voters.
Both parties suffer from this lack of political know how: how to lead without lying!