The Entire Republican Party Is on Trial
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 3 years ago • 51 commentsBy: MrWalterShapiro (The New Republic)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The choice ahead for the 50 Senate Republicans is stark. In the words of that old labor song, "Which side are you on?"
In their masterful and, at times, heartbreaking presentation, the House impeachment managers asked Senate Republicans a simple question: Will you side with Mike Pence, the Capitol police, and Congress itself, or with Donald J. Trump?
There is no middle ground or split-the-difference option, even though most Republicans are desperate to find one.
Try as they might, GOP senators can't take refuge in such familiar Trump-era defenses as, "What tweet? I don't know anything about it." And Jamie Raskin, who leads the House team, stressed Wednesday that the "constitutional issue is gone," referring to the question of whether the Senate can try a former president after he was impeached by the House while still in office. As a result, GOP senators should no longer be able to use the excuse that the Constitution bars them from convicting Trump because he has been exiled to Mar-a-Lago.
We all know how the impeachment saga will end—with a spineless and cowardly "not guilty" verdict from all but maybe a half dozen Republicans. The dearth of principle in the GOP was all too clear on Tuesday in the shocked, jaw-dropping response to Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy's decision to break ranks and vote with the Democrats in affirming that the trial was indeed constitutional. For the temerity of his independence as a Senate juror, Cassidy, who was just reelected to a six-year term, was promptly denounced by his state Republican Party.
In truth, citizens of Paris in 1794 displayed more courage in risking the guillotine than Republican senators do in contemplating a Trump-backed primary challenge or being occasionally shunned at the country club.
We are watching an entire political party on trial just one month after the failed putsch at the Capitol. Beyond Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz and their ilk, how can retiring Republicans with reasonable reputations like Ohio's Rob Portman and North Carolina's Richard Burr live with themselves as they ignore the evidence of Trump's determined efforts to overturn a free election?
It would be fascinating to know the thoughts that were going through Mitch McConnell's cynical brain as he watched the Democratic presentation in his standard tight-lipped fashion. What may resonate with McConnell is not principle (good luck ever finding that in his mental makeup) but pure political self-interest. The Senate minority leader can probably picture Super PAC dollars flying out the window as corporate America shuns a Republican Party that has become an authoritarian cult. McConnell is also smart enough to know that the GOP will never win back the suburban, college-educated voters who opted for Joe Biden if it chooses to be the party that is proud of the Proud Boys.
The Democratic impeachment managers should have convinced anyone watching the proceedings from outside the Fox News bubble—especially independent voters and wavering Republicans—that January 6 was the logical culmination of four years of Trumpian tantrums. As House manager Ted Lieu put it in a particularly compelling argument, the attack on the Capitol occurred because "President Donald J. Trump ran out of non-violent options to maintain power."
The never-before-seen security camera footage of the assault on the Capitol was harrowing. Many Americans who spent January 6 glued to their TV sets likely did not realize that what they witnessed that day was a sanitized version of events, filtered through TV cameras placed too far from the action to fully capture the madness in the eyes of the rioters. Seen through the startling camera footage screened Wednesday during the impeachment proceedings, the voices and the behavior of the insurrectionists brought to mind such horrible American traditions as lynching. The Democratic managers pointed out several times that a mock gallows had indeed been erected outside the Capitol, presumably with Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi as the first victims.
What was most memorable about the Democratic presentations was not just the raw material from January 6, but also the elusive element of context. The consistent theme all the way through was the abundance of evidence that Trump was preparing to undermine democracy from the moment the truth broke through his protective shield of sycophants and he realized that he could lose the election.
In naming the House impeachment managers, Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team learned an important lesson from the Democrats' first failed effort to impeach Trump over his "perfect" phone call to the Ukrainian president: When the stakes are this high, abandon seniority, even if it is the organizing principle for how the House operates. The Democratic impeachment team is a true congressional meritocracy. The all-stars are all congressional newcomers or marginal figures: Raskin is just in his third term, Colorado's Joe Neguse was first elected in 2018, and former Bronx prosecutor Stacey Plaskett, who is the delegate from the Virgin Islands, doesn't even have a vote on the floor of the House.
But as powerful as their presentations were, it is difficult to decipher how much of the evidence broke through to voters still trying to take the measure of the Trump years. It is one thing for Democrats to be horrified at the destructive behavior of a tin-pot tyrant in the White House. But the fear is that too many voters, with weak party allegiances and no appetite for watching marathon congressional sessions, will dismiss most of impeachment case as just another example of political skirmishing. So much depends on how much of the Democratic case breaks through to these voters who were not glued to their TV sets on Wednesday.
If the Democrats could call just one witness, it would ideally be Pence. The former vice president—whom the impeachment managers gushingly praised for his fidelity to the Constitution—would probably not condemn the president he so loyally served. But even if he simply described what he had experienced on January 6, as the hang-him-high mob came dangerously close to where he and his family were hiding, his testimony would provide a constitutional lesson that even the most apolitical American could not brush off as rank partisan bickering.
In all likelihood, despite the eloquence of the House impeachment managers, they are playing mostly to the historical record. Maybe, just maybe, they might prick the conscience of another Senate Republican or two, the way that they reached Cassidy. But, in the end, what we will likely witness with the impeachment vote is the death spasm of the Republican Party and the end of America's run as a two-party democracy.
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Unfortunately what we will be left with is a party that is run by the likes of Cruz and Hawley....
And me. I’m proud to be openly and strongly complicit!
Considering the Republican Party splintered under Trump the entire Republican Party is not on trial. This broad brush hyper partisan hyperbole isn't going to fly. Liberals don't do themselves any favors by being as stupid as the Trump Humpers.
Many things that are written in political discourse are "hyperbole". It is a realm that easily lends itself to a broad brush, and should. Political discussions that required detailed explanation of every assertion would slow exchanges to a glacial crawl.
would be an example of "broad brush".
But let's consider if the "entire" Republican Party is on trial. I think it is a very respectable argument to make. The party members in Congress ARE the face of the Republican Party. This is rather indisputable. Almost every well known Republican (or Democratic) politician who is known on a national basis is in the US Congress , now or previously, and the Republicans in Congress, in both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to ignore the evidence of Trump's misconduct and not have an impeachment trial. The trial has gone on anyway, and now the 50 senate republicans are on the hot seat. Do they represent ALL Republicans everywhere? Perhaps not , but they certainly represent the Republican Party.
I have to agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm so tired of this both sides bad nonsense. That is demonstrably not true.
Any republican that continues to support the former occupant of the White House is on trial.
The "evidence" simply isn't there for conviction.
Aggressive political bluster and bullshit doesn't amount to treason or insurrection.
Try telling us in your own words (more than 2 sentences) why the prosecution hasn't proved their case. Show me actual quotes from specific managers and show us where they, in your opinion erred. I'll wait.
That sort of puts a lie to whole party picture doesn't it? There were 11 Republicans in that voted "yes" in the House and several in the Senate to go to the trial phase. They may not be enough backbone for Senate Republicans to convict, but I'll be damned surprised if it's unanimous. Then we can move on and talk about the Lincoln Project and other Never Trumper groups... We'll see if they can mount primaries during the mid-term & 2024 elections. THAT will be the telling tale for where the Party is going.
I'll play your game.
What credible and provable evidence theoretically convicts Trump of inciting a riot/insurrection/or what have you?
To my knowledge, many of the never Trumpers have quit the Republican Party.
Still waiting for
Once you do that I'll post again.
Many voted for Biden, but still voted for down ticket Republicans. Some may stay as Blue Dog Dems, but most will go back as soon as the Party can purge the worst of the crazy racists. It remains to be seen if they can do that. IF they can't then either independent parties may gain some voters and candidates OR these new people will pull the party a bit more to the right. Only time will tell.
Here you go John. Just up at CNN -
Yes, so they no longer accept the designation as Republicans. The Republicans are in Congress, where they overwhelmingly voted to not have the impeachment trial.
You didn't read the article.
I can't agree. Especially that political discourse should be based on hyperbole. It should be based on reasoned facts. Hyperbole is intended for rousing unthinking emotional responses, which is what this impeachment is all about.
Again, I disagree. I think that saying the entire Republican party is on trial is more hyperbole and essentially summed up in the image that appears in the article. Convict or be complicit. In other words, the facts of the matter aren't what Republicans are being judged on but, rather, simply whether or not they go along with Democratic desires for the outcome. Put another way, Democrats think he's guilty so therefore if Republicans disagree, regardless of their reasons, they are bad people. It's just another example of cancel culture.
On trial? I stand tall and I stand proud with former and future President Trump! The impeachment is a farce and I am proud to mock and ridicule all its supporters openly. America First! 1776!
Donald Trump is a fascist.
This broad brush hyper partisan hyperbole isn't going to fly. Liberals don't do themselves any favors by being as stupid as the Trump Humpers.
The American people of all political views have grown weary of all things Trump, including this partisan pointless melodramatic political stunt being perpetrated by the leftists.
Attempting to smear 75,000,000 patriotic Americans for the actions of a few is beyond idiotic.
If what you say is true, then why won't the representatives of those 75-million patriotic Americans stand up and do some patriotic things like...... Defend the US Constitution, support the rule of law, acknowledge that people died so that they can sit in those seats in congress, and work towards holding those accountable for their deaths?
Are you saying we or they haven't? Aren't you guilty of using that same broad brush in a futile attempt to implicate Trump?.
Please list out all the Senators who are not defending the US Constitution, who do not support the rule of law, who have denied that anybody died during the attack on the Capital and who are actively trying to prevent individual who was arrested for their attack on the Capital from being held accountable.
That's the problem, you can't. You want to point to Trump as the cause of all of this but you cannot ignore that the words that Trump used are actually protected by precedent from SCOTUS.
The issue right now is, is Trump unfit to be president of the United States again , and the answer is obviously yes, he is unfit. The impeachment is intended to prevent him from ever running for office again.
There is no credible defense for what Trump did over the past four months so we are getting all these "process" arguments. I'm sorry, but the process arguments should be ignored in this case and the Senate, all of them, should do the right thing.
I am saying they haven't and aren't going to hold anyone accountable for what happened on 6JAN21. They all want to.... "just move on".
It they were willing to uphold the rule of law, McConnell would have held a caucus, and then said they would be ready to vote now towards a verdict of guilty as charged for Trump. He'd be doing this if nothing else but to rid the GOP of Trump and Trumpism, and start rebuilding what was a deliberative party.
Nope..... at least 44 senators are running away from their responsibilities of their oaths to the constitution.
I haven't been seeing that. To a person, almost all of them have condemned the violence, as far as I can tell, and have done so repeatedly. Since that day, over 200 people have been arrested for their involvement. I don't hear any Republicans complaining about that.
Anyone of the Trump Humpers all butt hurt because of the Senate trial aren't what I'd call "patriotic". Patriots would be siding with the 140+ capital leos injured and 3 dead, instead of the orange bitch who whipped them into a frenzy with lies and fantasies. None of those idiot assholes can call themselves part of the Party of Law & Order anymore either. Those 75M you quote are still not the entirety of the Republican Party.
Why did your comment make me think of the story that the Emperor is wearing no clothes?
CCP Chairman Winnie the Pooh Zi took off all his clothing and is naked before the world?
That comment is not just ignorant and childish, it's racist as well.
Yes, the impeachment trial will end as it was intended to end. The intent of both impeachments has been to inflame the country into a frenzy of moral outrage. Democrats don't seem to understand what they've done to themselves.
The onus for the country's future now falls upon Democratic shoulders. If the Democratic Party screws up this time then dissolution of the country is a large step closer to inevitability.
The party of Andrew Jackson is back. The Democratic Party is reclaiming its heritage of national division and discord. Democrats worst political enemy is now themselves. And the hypocritical past of the Democratic Party will become an albatross that the party and press will desperately try to hide. The Democratic Party has a long history and the party has chosen to reclaim the worst of its past to guide the county toward an increasingly uncertain future.
"The party of Andrew Jackson is back. The Democratic Party is reclaiming its heritage of national division and discord."
Ah yes Andrew Jackson, a hero to the likes of Steve Bannon and Donnie.
Andrew Jackson was a founder of the Democratic Party and the first Democratic President. Until recently Democrats celebrated Jefferson-Jackson Day as a major fundraising event for party politics.
I'm so sorry that you are worried about having your white privileged world intruded upon Nerm, but if there hadn't been a Trump orchestrated insurrection on the capital on 6JAN21, there wouldn't have been the need for the impeachment. As usual for Trump lovers, you have things ass backwards.
It's all Bizarro world with supporters of the former occupant of the White House.
Don't feel sorry for me. Democrats have set a standard for speech that they cannot live up to. It's doubtful Chuck Schumer can avoid violating that new standard during his next press conference.
Actions speak louder than words Nerm...... And the actions of the last decade by republicans with their most recent "lets turn the page" approach to the 6JAN21 insurrection speaks volumes as they continue to ignore the rule of law, the constitution, basic morals, and the sanctity of the vote.
I'm sorry you look at those things as being worthwhile achievements.
Good seed.
I take the argument a step further: All American fascists and fascist-fellow-travelers are on trial.
We see, here on Newstalkers, that NOT A SINGLE pre-January-Sixth Trumpist has said, ''No! That's not acceptable! I hereby declare myself opposed to Trumpist anti-democratic violence!''
That would seem to me a pretty low bar: ''I'm for democracy and against anti-government violence.''
Apparently, some 140 000 Republican Party members have resigned.
But not even one Newstalkers fascist-fellow-traveler has changed their tune. Not one.
Is the ''fellow-taveler'' figleaf still appropriate? After January Sixth, can anyone claim ignorance?
Is it time to call a rose a ''rose''... and to call a fascist a ''fascist''?
Or the American fascists are the prosecutors.
That's ridiculous.
It's like I said, it's Bizarro world with supporters of the former occupant of the White House.
I wrote a series of articles, Nerm:
What Is A "Fascist"?
President Trump's Policies Were Fascist
January Sixth Was A Watershed
Rebellion, January Sixth, 2021
January Sixth, 2021: A Celebration For Fascism... A Tragedy For Democracy
The first article is about the definition of the word ''fascist'', which you either do not understand, or are intentionally misusing. In either case, you should read those articles...
Pearls before swine Bob...... Pearls before swine.
Yes. Did you understand what you wrote?
You appear to have focused on the nationalist aspects while completely ignoring the authoritarian, dictatorial, repressive, and regimented characteristics of fascism.
Mussolini and Hitler were not nationalists; they were proponents of an idealized culturalism based upon Italian and German identity. Fascist's identity politics gained support through popular appeal. Fascist's identity politics provided the justification to impose their cultural aspirations upon other people and other cultures using repressive means. Fascism utilized the politics of cultural identity to establish a society based upon very specific cultural aspirations and repressed other cultural identities to the point of extermination.
Political movements who employ patriotic language that defines cultural aspirations in terms of 'who we are as a people' are employing Fascist politics of identity. Political movements that rewrite history and indoctrinate the population with that rewritten history based upon 'who we are as a people' are employing the Fascist politics of identity.
Fascists are not nationalists. Fascists are not isolationists. Fascists are proponents of culturalism based upon identity.
Do you understand that not all white people are Ayran. German and Polish Jews were white but were not Ayran. The supposed Ayran race is based upon a specific identity and mythologized culture. Nazis were not white supremacists.
The true nature of Fascism has been twisted to fit American identity politics, as practiced by the political left. American identity politics can, quite easily, become Fascism. A populist political ideology of cultural superiority only requires a nudge to become something like Nazi Germany.
''I'' didn't do anything. This is mainly Wikipedia, with a few other sources, all linked.
I presented definitions from elsewhere, to limit semantic debate. If you think you have a better definition, please supply it. With links if you found it.
More than that. Trump's identity politics are fascism.
The R senators, it would seem, think that their constituents want them to acquit Trump. That is a real shame because the best thing for the party is to convict Trump and then distance themselves from him. He has forever stained the party and the R party will take time to recover, but the sooner they part from Trump the better. But to acquit him when he is so clearly guilty further damages the party.
This is a real shame because we need more powerful parties, not less (unless the count is zero, which would be perfect). A single dominant party is no good given our system has degraded into one where party leaders effectively control the votes of their members.
R senators are hurting the R party for their own selfish short-term good. Nothing new, but it is still sad to see.