AN HISTORIC DAY
PRESIDENT TRUMP IMPEACHED, AGAIN
History will be made today, Wednesday, January 13, 2021. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to pass an Article of Impeachment against President Donald Trump. He will become the first president to be impeached twice.
The House is set to convene at 9:00 a.m., to have discussion, and to vote on the bill of impeachment. It is all but certain to pass with practically all, if not all, of the Democrats and some of the Republicans.
The charge in the bill is "Incitement of Insurrection." On Wednesday, 6 January 2021, President Trump harangued a mob in Washington urging them to march on the Capitol where the Congress was meeting to certify the legal and legitimate election of Joe Biden as the next president. Trump railed that he had won the recent election and that it had been stolen from him. The mob stormed the Capitol killing one policeman, injuring 50 others, and threatening the lives of the Vice President, the Senators, and the Representatives in the building. For a long time Trump did nothing about the mob action except stay in the White House and watch on television. Finally, he told the lawless mob he loved them.
On yesterday, 12 January, the House passed a bill calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. It was approved 223-205. One Republican joined the Democrats. Under the bill, Pence would call the cabinet to remove Trump from office and assume the office of president himself. Pence declared that he would not invoke the Amendment.
The most interesting aspect of today's events will be the words and deeds of the Republican Representatives and Senators. They will have to decide whether to defend the indefensible or side with the Democrats against Trump. On yesterday, some media outlets carried a story that Mitch McConnell, Republican majority leader in the Senate, said that Trump committed an impeachable offense and was leaning toward supporting Trump's conviction in the Senate trial. If this story is correct, it would be a major shift of the political stage. However, there is no indication that McConnell has changed his mind about convening the Senate before January 19, the last whole day of Trump's term. If McConnell were truly in favor of removal, he would call the Senate into session immediately.
Should Trump be impeached and removed from office? Yes. He incited a mob to attack the constituted government in order to overthrow a legal and legitimate election and keep himself in power. We all know what happened on the 6th. If this act of a president is not impeachable, nothing is. This kind of behavior of a president cannot be tolerated. If it is, it will bring the end of the American constitutional government and democracy. It is as simple as that. The people who promoted and participated in the attempted coup d'état of January 6, 2021, must be prosecuted under the full extent of the law, and that begins with Donald Trump.
I will return with comments as events unfold today.
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UPDATE. 11:30 a.m. CST. The procedural votes are over. The House has moved to two hours of debate over the proposed Article of Impeachment. The Democrats, led by Jerry Nadler will control one hour and the Republicans, led by Jim Jordan, will control the other hour of debate. Afterwards, the House will vote to approve or reject the proposed Article of Impeachment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is addressing the House first.
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2:55 p.m. Debate concluded. Voting begins.
The Democrats were united and focused while the Republicans were all over the place in the debate today. This is a reversal of the usual process in Congress.
The most surprising remark of the day was from Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Minority Leader. He said Trump was responsible for the mob action on the 6th and that he should be censured. He also declared that Antifa had no part in the mob attack. In fact, the Republicans dropped the Antifa fiction today.
Most of the other Republicans reiterated various talking points: --procedure is unconstitutional, --not enough time, --Democrats supported mob violence last year in the BLM demonstrations, --Trump did not incite the mob, he called for peaceful demonstrations, --the mob violence was only from the "fringe" groups, --we must set this aside for the sake of "unity."
Two people dominated the day, Lincoln and Liz Cheney. In fact, Lincoln's name was brought up over and over by both sides. Cheney was quoted by the Dems because of her demand for Trump's impeachment.
Return at conclusion of voting.
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3:35 p.m. PRESIDENT TRUMP IMPEACHED.
The vote in the House of Representatives was 232 for and 197 against. All Democrats voted for. 10 Republicans voted for.
The Article of Impeachment will be sent to the Senate. The latest word is that the Majority Leader, McConnell, will not reconvene the Senate until Jan. 19. Thus, President Trump will not be removed from office. The trial in the Senate can proceed in the new Senate after Biden becomes president on the 20th. One reason for proceeding after Trump leaves office is that the impeachment includes the provision that Trump would be banned for life from any political office.
Thus, history was made today. Donald Trump will go down in history as the only president to be impeached twice. Moreover, he is the only president ever charged with inciting insurrection against the United States.
In the contest for worst president in American history, we have a winner, hands down.
