On January 12th, The House voted to approve a resolution that encourages Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unable to perform his duties. However, Pence has already said that he will not attempt to do so. Thus, the House moved towards the impeachment process and on January 13th, Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the article of impeachment against Trump. Trump has now become the first president in US history to be impeached twice, with legislators voting 232-197 to impeach him. Of the 211 Republicans, 10 joined Democrats in voting for impeachment.
Several of the Republicans that sided with the Democrats said a factor in their decision was the president’s refusal to call off the rioters or allow for the immediate mobilization of the National Guard. Along with this, in a speech at a rally just hours before rioters sieged the Capitol, Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell.” After Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the article of impeachment, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell made an announcement rejecting the Democratic calls to bring the Senate back immediately to convict President Trump. This will allow Trump to serve out his remaining days in office. Schumer has called on McConnell to invoke emergency authority, the ability to reconvene the Senate if the two leaders both agree to bring the chamber back. Schumer also made a statement on January 13th saying that “a Senate trial can begin immediately, with agreement from the current Senate Majority Leader to reconvene the Senate for an emergency session, or it will begin after January 19th.” He also added that either way, “there will be a vote on convicting the president for high crimes and misdemeanors; and if the president is convicted, there will be a vote on barring him from running again.”
If Trump’s trial occurs after he leaves office, Democrats would then be in control of the Senate with the seating of two Georgia Democrats and Vice President Kamala D. Harris would be sworn in. This would set Democrats at 50 votes in the Senate, with Harris serving as a tiebreaker. If the trial took place with this Senate, Trump could say that he was impeached by a Democratic-controlled Congress and have the ability to make claims to anger his supporters and give them a reason to protest.
Washington Post
3 comments:
It is unsurprising that President Trump has been impeached a second time. He has consistently acted in ways that promote division within the country which have culminated in an attack on the democracy of the United States with a storming of the Capitol and the threat of future attacks with the incoming inauguration of President-elect Biden.
One explanation for McConnell's desire to delay the trial of President Trump in the Senate would be to require Democrats to choose between the trial of President Trump and the beginning of the implementation of President-elect Biden's agenda.
As Ian mentioned above, I think Democrats internally are trying to decide between pushing through Biden’s cabinet nominations and his stimulus plan versus starting an impeachment trial. If they wait, say 100 days, the trials could be seen as not necessary and just petty on behalf of the Democrats. If they go through with the impeachment trials, there can be a lull in enacting Biden’s policies, ones American people are relying on to pay for rent and food. I was a little surprised that only 10 House Republicans voted to impeach, given their lives were endangered because of Trump’s actions, but perhaps impeaching Trump would leave room for their own criticism for continuing his lies. Or they’re concerned about reelection or something other than justice.
While there is a significant danger factor here with president Trump supporters' highly likely to react terribly to a successful impeachment and conviction, I think that convicting him would demonstrate that our democratic processes don't fail in the face of discrimination and disrespect. It's also a big win to keep him from ever running again, because 2024 is looking very promising for him, and that's a terrifying look for Republicans looking to bring actual conservative values back to the party and return the GOP to its former glory, in addition to normal people in general, and those who face excessive discrimination from him. I think this is now really a matter of proving legally that Trump failed his duties as President, and such behaviour cannot and should not go unpunished.
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