USA TODAY EDITORIAL : Donald Trump Should Be Convicted And Banished From Our Democracy
The most middle of the road national newspaper in the United States has called for the banishment of Donald Trump in a stunning editorial this afternoon.
Trump's perfidy, laid out through graphic video in the Senate chamber , was his ability as president to promote the lie of a stolen election. It was his malignant skill in using that lie to provoke thousands of violent followers into storming Capitol Hill to disrupt Congress' constitutional duty to count final voting results.
...One of the most startling revelations of the trial was that Trump nearly got his vice president killed.
After it was clear rioters had breached the Capitol, something Trump could plainly see on television, he tweeted that "Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution." The words were read aloud by rioters, who chanted, "Hang Mike Pence," as they hunted him through the halls.
Two minutes later, according to a trial video, the vice president and his family were rushed to safety — with rioters just dozens of steps behind.
...those senators who acquit in the hope that, with time, all of this bad business will pass away and a post-Trump Republican Party will reemerge, must remember one thing. Trump has never abandoned the Big Lie. Despite multiple investigations, audits, recounts, vote certifications and judicial findings that the 2020 presidential election was free and fair, he clings to this lie because of the seductive and corrosive power it gives him over those willing to believe it.
It's why conviction and banishment from ever holding public office, as the Constitution prescribes, is the only way forward for the Senate.
Trump's defense in the now concluded portions of the impeachment trial have been shockingly embarrassing, particularly in the question and answer portion this afternoon. One senator asked what Trump knew and when , and what did he do to end the insurrection in real time. Trump's own lawyer had to admit he had no idea , and then tried to blame his lack of knowledge on the House managers , when all he would have had to do is ask his client what he was doing on the afternoon of the 6th. How could his lawyers not have anticipated that question ? What was Trump doing at the time a responsible president would have been calling out the national guard. Trump's lawyer had no idea, and tried to blame the other side.
The fix is in, Trump will be acquitted , and soon he will be back on Hannity and the Judge Jeanine show, talking nonsense and firing up his troops.
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Convict Donald Trump and banish the 45th president from American democracy
Our View: The second impeachment trial is not about punishing Donald Trump. It's about protecting the Founding Fathers' United States of America.
The Editorial Board
USA TODAY
The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that the Senate should vote to banish Donald Trump from American democracy.
That is, after all, what is at stake.
While the events unfolding on Capitol Hill look and sound so much like a criminal trial, with a prosecution and defense lawyers and senators vowing as jurors to "do impartial justice," what's happening is not about punishing the 45th president.
If Trump is convicted of committing high crimes and misdemeanors for inciting an insurrectional sacking of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — as he should be — the former president won't face jail. He won't receive a fine. His life and liberty will in no way suffer.
What the Founding Fathers intended
That was never what the Founding Fathers intended when they crafted an impeachment clause 234 years ago. What mattered was protecting their radical experiment in a constitutional republic from a power-abusing president.
Conviction at an impeachment trial was their vaccine for the new democracy.
It would immunize the republic — the Constitution, really — against future harm from what James Madison called the "perfidy of the chief Magistrate."
Trump's perfidy, laid out through graphic video in the Senate chamber, was his ability as president to promote the lie of a stolen election. It was his malignant skill in using that lie to provoke thousands of violent followers into storming Capitol Hill to disrupt Congress' constitutional duty to count final voting results.
In fact, the vote was momentarily disrupted. The Capitol was overrun for the first time since a British invasion in 1814. Five people died, including a police officer trying to defend the Capitol and the members of Congress inside, and at least 138 officers were injured battling the mob.
"We have been flanked, and we've lost the line!" one officer exclaimed over a police radio as the mob surged.
One of the most startling revelations of the trial was that Trump nearly got his vice president killed.
Mike Pence had refused Trump's demand that he throw out valid electoral votes while presiding over the congressional count.
Trump and the Big Lie
After it was clear rioters had breached the Capitol, something Trump could plainly see on television, he tweeted that "Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution." The words were read aloud by rioters, who chanted, "Hang Mike Pence," as they hunted him through the halls.
Two minutes later, according to a trial video, the vice president and his family were rushed to safety — with rioters just dozens of steps behind.
How would the Constitution deal with this kind of incitement of insurrection? The remedy is not about punishing Trump — as hideous as his actions may be — but about protecting us all from his brand of malign behavior: Trump would never again be allowed to hold public office.
Or to seek it, for that matter.
Because there's hazard should Trump even attempt another run for the presidency and fail again claiming fraud. It risks another round of violence by extremist followers.
As a prosecution manager, Rep. Ted Lieu of California, argued Thursday: "I'm not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I'm afraid he's going to run again and lose."
Trump will almost certainly be acquitted. Conviction requires approval by two-thirds of the Senate and, sadly, too many Republican senators remain frightened of the power Trump retains over millions of GOP voters, who believe his baseless claims that the election was stolen.
But those senators who acquit in the hope that, with time, all of this bad business will pass away and a post-Trump Republican Party will reemerge, must remember one thing. Trump has never abandoned the Big Lie. Despite multiple investigations, audits, recounts, vote certifications and judicial findings that the 2020 presidential election was free and fair, he clings to this lie because of the seductive and corrosive power it gives him over those willing to believe it.
It's why conviction and banishment from ever holding public office, as the Constitution prescribes, is the only way forward for the Senate.
He has never been held accountable for anything in his entire life. He needs to be held accountable now. I don't care how he is held accountable...it just needs to happen. His children need to be held accountable for their actions, as well.
I wonder if everyone understands the implications of this
Trump would have seen on television that the mob had breached Capitol security and were in the halls of the building. THEN he tweets that Pence was a coward.
Then rioters read the tweet and start to shout "hang Mike Pence" and they look for him.
Trump gave them the suggestion, intentional or not. The timing indicates it may not have been coincidental. Why would Trump want the mob to be after Mike Pence? So they could scare him shitless enough to decertify the election.
Says the scumbag who said he'd walk with them to the Capitol yet turned his big fat yellow tail and ran back to the White House to watch it all unfold on TV and do nothing to stop it.
Well why would he stop it when he was the one who had it planned and encouraged and incited his mobs of domestic terrorists?
Even though Pence did not have the power to do that.
Trump never did understand the rules of government or polite society.
Should the Republican Senators be more concerned about their own future than about the future of their country, and fail to convict, showing such a lack of integrity to become the shame of their children and grandchildren, which is surely expected, the great United States of America's bipartisan "perfection" will much less likely be admired, or even respected, by the rest of the world. Although I am necessarily apolitical with respect to Chinese politics (my politics remain in Canada) I would have to consider that a single-party government is superior to one with one decent political party, and a second that is one of spineless cowards and unprincipled "fuhrer" followers.
USA Today! Bah humbug!
Well-known for far-left bias...
lol
Trump has openly thrown the military, his subordinates, politicians, and his own VP under the bus, and they still can’t quit that cancerous sleazebag. Where is Mike Pence? Is he still ‘hanging’ on too?
i think i read pense moved on after the inauguration, got a new job at some conservative think tank somewhere.
Yes, with the American Enterprise Institute.
AEI used to be considered pretty far right, but now that most Republicans have gone full-on fascist, AEI seems almost moderate. They have often been critical of Trump.
He is probably suffering from PTSD Trump-induced. Moreover, realizing that he is "bad-news" in a future Trump-dominated republican party.
Then it should apply to apply to everybody, right? Because multiple Democratic candidates for president this year - including the current Vice President - are still promoting the idea that the Georgia governor election was stolen from Stacey Abrams. Should we ban them from politics, too?
Furthermore, multiple Democratic members of Congress tried to overturn the election of 2016 and/or spread the lie that Trump and the Russians collaborated to steal it from Hillary Clinton. Are we going to ban them?
Do these rules apply to everyone in equal measure or not? It's fine with me. Let's just make it fair.
You're not serious. Dynamics in politics can and do exist. It is foolish and dangerous to delude oneself into thinking that reality is what one says it is. Because, even in an alternative reality, stepping out in front of an approaching bus will injure or kill one!
I'm sorry. None of that made any sense to me relative to the comment you were replying to.
Meh.
OK, thanks for nothing then.
In your examples, which Democrats have 'the seductive and corrosive power over those willing to believe it.'?
Sure, when they raise a mob and send them against the government.
You don't think Democrats have ever urged people to protest against the government? Against government officials?
How did they do THAT?
Plus, that was no lie.
Google it yourself since you won't read any links provided to you.
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The Dems are being strangely silent about the crimes committed by Cuomo......
and Lincoln Project scandal. Where's the outrage?
What crimes?
The ones you don't pay attention to when Democrats are involved
Trump is now acquitted. His pension and perks remain intact.
But now------for those who harbor long grievances against the dweller of Mar-a-Lago, and there are many going back decades-------this dweller of Mar-a-Lago is going to need money and lots of it. The dweller of Mar-a-Lago dwells in a bulls eye.
Like he wouldn't have anyways. I will give it to the left- they are as vindictive as the day is long.
Wasting tax payer money at every level just to carry out their vendetta against one family.