Saturday, January 30, 2021

Trump's Second Impeachment Vote - The Republican party now embraces bloody coups as part of their political strategy

Quite frankly, I wish the title was just a stupid clickbait hyperbole, but it is the actual reality we live in now...

On January 6th, Trump and members of the Republican party incited an insurrection. Ilhan Omar took the lead and immediately announced she was drafting articles of impeachment, which were ready by the morning of January 7th.

Congress ultimately used a seperate article of impeachment written by David Cicilline, Jamie Raskin, and Ted Lieu instead. This article of impeachment was introduced to the House on January 11th. It had just a single charge against Trump: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION.

"He also willfully made statements that encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—imminent lawless action at the Capitol. Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.

President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021 was consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. Those prior efforts include, but are not limited to, a phone call on January 2, 2021, in which President Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn the Georgia presidential election results and threatened Mr. Raffensperger if he failed to do so."

See full text of the article of impeachment below:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/house-articles-of-impeachment/index.html

On January 12th, the House passed a resolution demanding Vice President Pence use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, or else they would proceed with impeachment. The House then voted for impeachment on January 13th--an entire week after the insurrection--although true leaders like Ilhan Omar demanded the vote take place immediately, since, you know, casually waiting an entire weekend after the President attempted a bloody coup isn't a good idea when time is of the essence.

The House sent the article of impeachment to the Senate on January 25th and scheduled the trial for February 9th.

Now that Republicans have waited out the clock, many are saying they don't even need to bother with the trial since Trump is out of office. This is yet another example of how pathetic democracy is at dealing with urgent situations and divisive moments which require strong decisive leadership...

***

Although we should be glad Pelosi and the Democrat party for acted kind of swiftly compared to the previous impeachment, we must never forget that they waited nearly an entire year after taking control of the House to impeach Trump the first time. We must never forget that Pelosi and the Democrat party failed to use the Mueller Report as a basis for impeachment and likely never would have impeached the first time if Trump had more sense and didn't make his mafia boss call to Ukraine only a day after Mueller testified to Congress.

Evidence of Trump's Constitutional violations and crimes were obvious enough that Democrats should have impeached Trump on the very first day a non-treasonous majority took back control of the House of Representatives, as Rashida Tlaib courageously advocated.

The fact that the party has moved quickly now shows that it is possible to cut the bureaucratic bullshit and move forward with urgency. The fact that we needed to have a second impeachment after an insurrection and an attempt by 56% of the Republican party to throw out legal electoral votes to overturn the election is the cost of the failure of the first impeachment.

After Trump and some Republican politicians orchestrated a bloody coup attempt by inciting domestic terrorists to engage in an insurrection, the following members of Congress still voted against impeachment. By doing so, they have broken their oath to defend America against domestic enemies. By doing so, they have committed treason by giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States. By doing so, they have given aid and comfort to insurrectionists and are ineligible of holding public office under 18 U.S. Code § 2383 and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

As long as they remain in Congress the Republican self-coup will not be over. Until they are in prison for their crimes, politicians will be above the laws and will attempt more coups in the future since they face no repercussions.

***

The 197 members of the House of Representatives who voted against impeachment. All were from the Republican party.



WANTED: For high treason, sedition, and giving aid and comfort to terrorists and insurrectionists.

Robert Aderholt (AL-4)
Rick Allen (GA-12)
Mark Amodei (NV-2)
Kelly Armstrong (ND-0)
Jodey Arrington (TX-19)
Brian Babin (TX-36)
Don Bacon (NE-2)
James Baird (IN-4)
Troy Balderson (OH-12)
Jim Banks (IN-3)
Garland Barr (KY-6)
Cliff Bentz (OR-2)
Jack Bergman (MI-1)
Stephanie Bice (OK-5)
Andy Biggs (AZ-5)
Gus Bilirakis (FL-12)
Dan Bishop (NC-9)
Lauren Boebert (CO-3)
Mike Bost (IL-12)
Kevin Brady (TX-8)
Mo Brooks (AL-5)
Vern Buchanan (FL-16)
Ken Buck (CO-4)
Larry Bucshon (IN-8)
Ted Budd (NC-13)
Tim Burchett (TN-2)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Ken Calvert (CA-42)
Katherine Cammack (FL-3)
Jerry Carl (AL-1)
Buddy Carter (GA-1)
John Carter (TX-31)
David Cawthorn (NC-11)
Steve Chabot (OH-1)
Ben Cline (VA-6)
Michael Cloud (TX-27)
Andrew Clyde (GA-9)
Tom Cole (OK-4)
James Comer (KY-1)
Eric Crawford (AR-1)
Dan Crenshaw (TX-2)
John Curtis (UT-3)
Warren Davidson (OH-8)
Rodney Davis (IL-13)
Scott DesJarlais (TN-4)
Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25)
Byron Donalds (FL-19)
Jeff Duncan (SC-3)
Neal Dunn (FL-2)
Tom Emmer (MN-6)
Ron Estes (KS-4)
Patrick Fallon (TX-4)
Randy Feenstra (IA-4)
A. Ferguson (GA-3)
Michelle Fischbach (MN-7)
Scott Fitzgerald (WI-5)
Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1)
Charles Fleischmann (TN-3)
Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1)
Virginia Foxx (NC-5)
Scott Franklin (FL-15)
Russ Fulcher (ID-1)
Matt Gaetz (FL-1)
Mike Gallagher (WI-8)
Andrew Garbarino (NY-2)
Mike Garcia (CA-25)
Bob Gibbs (OH-7)
Carlos Giménez (FL-26)
Louie Gohmert (TX-1)
Ernest Gonzales (TX-23)
Robert Good (VA-5)
Lance Gooden (TX-5)
Paul Gosar (AZ-4)
Garret Graves (LA-6)
Sam Graves (MO-6)
Mark Green (TN-7)
Marjorie Greene (GA-14)
H. Griffith (VA-9)
Glenn Grothman (WI-6)
Michael Guest (MS-3)
Brett Guthrie (KY-2)
Jim Hagedorn (MN-1)
Diana Harshbarger (TN-1)
Vicky Hartzler (MO-4)
Kevin Hern (OK-1)
Stella Herrell (NM-2)
Jody Hice (GA-10)
Clay Higgins (LA-3)
French Hill (AR-2)
Ashley Hinson (IA-1)
Trey Hollingsworth (IN-9)
Richard Hudson (NC-8)
Bill Huizenga (MI-2)
Darrell Issa (CA-50)
Ronny Jackson (TX-13)
Chris Jacobs (NY-27)
Mike Johnson (LA-4)
Bill Johnson (OH-6)
Dusty Johnson (SD-0)
Jim Jordan (OH-4)
David Joyce (OH-14)
John Joyce (PA-13)
Fred Keller (PA-12)
Trent Kelly (MS-1)
Mike Kelly (PA-16)
Young Kim (CA-39)
David Kustoff (TN-8)
Darin LaHood (IL-18)
Doug LaMalfa (CA-1)
Doug Lamborn (CO-5)
Robert Latta (OH-5)
Jacob LaTurner (KS-2)
Debbie Lesko (AZ-8)
Billy Long (MO-7)
Barry Loudermilk (GA-11)
Frank Lucas (OK-3)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-3)
Nancy Mace (SC-1)
Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11)
Tracey Mann (KS-1)
Thomas Massie (KY-4)
Brian Mast (FL-18)
Kevin McCarthy (CA-23)
Michael McCaul (TX-10)
Lisa McClain (MI-10)
Tom McClintock (CA-4)
Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
David McKinley (WV-1)
Daniel Meuser (PA-9)
Mary Miller (IL-15)
Carol Miller (WV-3)
Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-2)
John Moolenaar (MI-4)
Alex Mooney (WV-2)
Felix Moore (AL-2)
Blake Moore (UT-1)
Markwayne Mullin (OK-2)
Troy Nehls (TX-22)
Ralph Norman (SC-5)
Devin Nunes (CA-22)
Jay Obernolte (CA-8)
Clarence Owens (UT-4)
Steven Palazzo (MS-4)
Gary Palmer (AL-6)
Greg Pence (IN-6)
Scott Perry (PA-10)
August Pfluger (TX-11)
Bill Posey (FL-8)
Tom Reed (NY-23)
Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5)
Mike Rogers (AL-3)
Harold Rogers (KY-5)
John Rose (TN-6)
Matthew Rosendale (MT-0)
David Rouzer (NC-7)
Chip Roy (TX-21)
John Rutherford (FL-4)
Maria Salazar (FL-27)
Steve Scalise (LA-1)
David Schweikert (AZ-6)
Austin Scott (GA-8)
Pete Sessions (TX-17)
Michael Simpson (ID-2)
Jason Smith (MO-8)
Adrian Smith (NE-3)
Christopher Smith (NJ-4)
Lloyd Smucker (PA-11)
Victoria Spartz (IN-5)
Pete Stauber (MN-8)
Michelle Steel (CA-48)
Elise Stefanik (NY-21)
Bryan Steil (WI-1)
W. Steube (FL-17)
Chris Stewart (UT-2)
Steve Stivers (OH-15)
Van Taylor (TX-3)
Glenn Thompson (PA-15)
Thomas Tiffany (WI-7)
William Timmons (SC-4)
Michael Turner (OH-10)
Jefferson Van Drew (NJ-2)
Beth Van Duyne (TX-24)
Ann Wagner (MO-2)
Tim Walberg (MI-7)
Jackie Walorski (IN-2)
Michael Waltz (FL-6)
Randy Weber (TX-14)
Brad Wenstrup (OH-2)
Bruce Westerman (AR-4)
Roger Williams (TX-25)
Joe Wilson (SC-2)
Robert Wittman (VA-1)
Steve Womack (AR-3)
Ron Wright (TX-6)
Don Young (AK-0)
Lee Zeldin (NY-1)


The following 4 Congressmen did not cast a vote during the most important vote of their lives, implicitly defending Trump:

Kay Granger (TX-12) (Republican)
Andy Harris (MD-1) (Republican)
Gregory Murphy (NC-3) (Republican)
Daniel Webster (FL-11) (Republican)

Source:
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202117
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/01/politics/house-who-voted-impeachment/


If you subjected yourself to the torture of listening to the Republicans' speeches, the fact that they are still acting as apologists for Trump and gaslighting us with "alternate facts" is disgusting beyond belief and more evidence they must be removed from Congress and put in prison.

***

The following 10 Republicans voted for Trump's second impeachment. All of those who were in office during Trump's first impeachment voted against it. They have blood on their hands for allowing Trump to get this far and allowing their party to turn into the monster it has become.

These people are not heroes and do not deserve praise. It took a literal coup attempt where their lives were put in danger for them to reconsider their love for Trump. 2 of them even supported overturning the election! They may be afraid of facing legal repercussions or jeopardizing their future career prospects if they don't publicly distance themselves from a man who incited terrorism. This is the line that had to be crossed.

There are 211 Republicans in the House, which means less than 5% of Republicans voted for impeaching a president who attempted a violent coup which put the lives of all members of Congress at risk.

• Liz Cheney (Wyoming)
• Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio)
• Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington)
• John Katko (New York)
• Adam Kinzinger (Illinois)

• Peter Meijer (Michigan)
[Meijer was sworn in on January 3, 2021 and not in Congress during the first impeachment. He took over the seat of Justin Amash. Amash was a conservative libertarian who served in Congress since 2011; he left the Republican party on July 4, 2019 and voted for both articles of impeachment during the first impeachment--the only non-Democrat in the House to do so.]

• Dan Newhouse (Washington)
[Newhouse was one of the 126 Republican Representatives to support Texas v. Pennsylvania, the lawsuit to throw out legal electoral votes.]

• Tom Rice (South Carolina)
[Rice was one of the 126 Republican Representatives to support Texas v. Pennsylvania. Rice also voted in favor of the coup vote, which took place hours after Trump incited the insurrection!!!]

• Fred Upton (Michigan)

• David Valadao (California)
[Valadao was not in Congress during the first impeachment vote.]


Source for the impeachment vote:
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/trump-second-impeachment-vote-count-house-results-list/

Source for the supporters of Texas v. Pennsylvania:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/10/politics/read-house-republicans-texas-supreme-court/index.html

***

Republicans decide to delay the impeachment trial until after Trump leaves office, then vote to dismiss the impeachment trial from taking place at all.


Although McConnell and other Republicans admitted Trump incited an insurrection on January 6th, McConnell and the Senate decided to drag impeachment out until after Trump left office. McConnell and other Republicans were reported to have been a bit favorable towards the impeachment trial, since it would be a way to remove Trump's ability to run for future office. Yet now he and his party have decided to sweep it all under the rug and help Trump and Republicans cover up their crimes.

We know that justice delayed is justice denied. Not only has the Senate delayed the trial until after Trump was out of office, but now a majority of Republican Senators have gone on record as declaring an impeachment trial after a president leaves office is Unconstitutional.

WANTED: For high treason, sedition, and giving aid and comfort to terrorists and insurrectionists.

John Barrasso (R-WY)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Mike Braun (R-IN)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Steve Daines (R-MT)
Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Bill Hagerty (R-TN)
Josh Hawley (R-MO)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
John N. Kennedy (R-LA)
James Lankford (R-OK)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
Roger Marshall (R-KS)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Jim Risch (R-ID)
Mike Rounds (R-SD)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Rick Scott (R-FL)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
John Thune (R-SD)
Thom Tillis (R-NC)
Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Todd Young (R-IN)


Source:
https://www.cop.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00008


"Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky forced a procedural vote on the constitutionality of the trial Tuesday afternoon, in what amounted to the first test of how Senate Republicans view the upcoming trial, the substance of which will begin with arguments next month. The Senate voted to table, or kill, Paul's point of order, 55 to 45, with just five Republicans joining Democrats to vote against dismissing the trial.

The five Republicans who voted against Paul were Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

The Kentucky Republican said Tuesday that he forced the procedural vote to show there already aren't sufficient votes to convict Trump, which would require two-thirds of senators. Many Republicans have taken the position in recent days that the trial is not constitutional because Trump is no longer President, in what's become the most common argument to acquit Trump.

"I think it showed that impeachment is dead on arrival," Paul said after the vote. "If you voted it was unconstitutional, how in the world would you ever vote to convict somebody for this?"

[...]

Several Republicans said they were surprised Tuesday they were already taking a vote on the constitutionality of the trial, as the question is something that both the House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team are likely to address in their presentations next month."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/impeachment-trial-latest-senators-sworn-in/index.html

"Curious.

Mitch McConnell refused to reconvene the Senate before January 19 to allow Trump's impeachment trial to start while he was still in office.

Then Mitch McConnell just voted in support of the motion that Trump's trial is unconstitutional because he's not in office."

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1354187358590164992

"McConnell: It Was Too Soon to Impeach Trump, Now It’s Too Late."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/mcconnell-trump-impeachment-insurrection-senate-trial-dismiss-former.html

Lock Paul and McConnell up for their role in enabling their party to plan and carry out a bloody coup attempt.


Apparently Lindsey Graham had gone to Trump and told him enough Republicans in the Senate would be willing to convict him, so he needed to publicly agree to a transition of power, leading to one of Trump's video statements shortly after the insurrection.

"According to one Republican briefed on internal conversations, Trump was swayed in part by Senator Lindsey Graham. The source said Graham called Trump yesterday and explained that there were enough Republican votes in the Senate to remove Trump from office unless he conceded the election and diffused tensions. “He told Trump that he had to say there would be a ‘peaceful transition.’ Those were the key words,” the Republican said. (In the video Trump said: “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power.”)"

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/facing-legal-and-political-peril-trump-is-turning-on-even-his-most-devoted-allies


Now, Republicans have back-peddled and believe it's ok to sweep an insurrection and coup attempt that they participated in under the rug. This solidifies the fact that the Republican party continues to be the party of Trump and will continue to aid, abet, and cover up his crimes at all costs. They have calculated that once again acquitting Trump of his crimes is better for their power than holding him accountable. Their move to reject the second impeachment is a declaration that they do not view bloody coup attempts beyond the pale of things they will do to maintain power.

Not only do they believe Republican presidents are above the law when in office, but if they fail a bloody coup attempt, they can just wait out the clock and not be held accountable after leaving office either.

I really really hope the Democrat party realizes this isn't just a game, and fully realizes the gravity of the fact that Republicans have just accepted bloody coup attempts as part of their strategy to maintain power.

***

Whether or not it is "Constitutional" to impeach a president after they leave office is a time-wasting mental exercise for the courts, politicians, and legal scholars to make themselves feel grandiose. Since the opinions of the courts and politicians on such procedural matters so often are based on precedent, I will leave this quote by President John Quincy Adams:

"I hold myself, so long as I have the breath of life in my body, amenable to impeachment by this House for everything I did during the time I held any public office." -John Quincy Adams (1846).

I'll trust his judgment over anyone who has ever been affiliated with the party that has attempted a bloody coup to keep Donald Trump of all people in power.


But all this talk about whether the impeachment trial is "Unconstitutional" is to distract from the big picture:

(1) President Trump, with nearly the full participation of his party, spent months deligitimizing the election and announcing the intent to illegally serve a second term by throwing out or invalidating votes in the courts (i.e. stage a coup attempt), yet his party was ALLOWED TO APPOINT A SUPREME COURT JUDGE DURING THE ELECTION AFTER 60 MILLION AMERICANS ALREADY VOTED.

(2) President Trump, with support from a majority of his party, incited an insurrection as part of a desperate and bloody coup attempt. Hours after this coup attempt, 147 members of the Republican party voted to overturn the election (i.e. a coup attempt). Yet the responsible individuals were not IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM POWER.

(3) Trump and those members of Congress who were most influential in inciting the insurrection and supported the coup vote (e.g. Cruz, Hawley, Brooks, etc.) ARE STILL NOT IN PRISON.


Who gives a fuck about the political theater of the impeachment trial? Lock these criminals up. There are laws in the lawbooks. They violated them and committed some of the most heinous crimes ever seen in this nation. Put them on an actual criminal trial and lock them up.

If we want to talk about the Constitutionality of all this, the Constitution is very clear on what the punishment for treason is and very clear that individuals who support insurrections are not allowed to serve in Congress (14th Amendment). Every time a rightist tries to throw out the red herring of the "Constitutionality" of the impeachment trial, counter them with the above points.

The oath-breaking politicians who are accomplices and participants in Trump's crimes should be in prison, not conducting a trial for the crimes they themselves participated in. Every media outlet which doesn't counter Republican gaslighting with the above points is helping Republicans cover up their crimes, by pushing their unhinged talking points for them.

The Republican party clearly does not give a single damn about the Constitution or American laws. Their talk about "Constitutionality" is in such bad faith (the party LITERALLY JUST ATTEMPTED A BLOODY COUP, HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS COULD THINGS BE) that we are imbeciles if we genuinely engage with their attempts to control the narrative.

***

I will update this post once the Senate actually votes in the impeachment trial. But even if enough Republicans vote to convict Trump, it doesn't matter. 45 out of 50 Republican Senators just voted to accept insurrection as an acceptable part of their political strategy. While Trump was still in office 201 out of 211 Republican Representatives voted to declare that, when a Republican president incites an insurrection, it's not an impeachable crime. That's the real news story that should have come out of all this. We must brace ourselves for when they try another coup.

If the Democrat party does not hold every. single. last. Republican. politician. involved in the treasonous coup attempt accountable to the highest extent of the law, then the Democrat party will bear a great amount of responsibility next time the Republican party attempts a coup.

Republicans have just shown us the party is an irredeemable and treasonous organization. If the Democrats, who now are in control of the House, Senate, Justice Department, and Presidency, do not hold them accountable, then their party is complicit in enabling all this treasonous behavior.

And, yes, what happened was treason, involving both foreign and domestic enemies of the US:

“If war be actually levied, that is, if a body of men be actually assembled for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable purpose, all those who perform any part, however minute, or however remote from the scene of action, and who are actually leagued in the general conspiracy, are to be considered as traitors. But there must be an actual assembling of men, for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levying of war.” -Chief Justice Marshall, (1807).

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