The House of Representatives has impeached former President Trump for a second time. With much fanfare, the (Democrat) House Impeachment Managers then solemnly marched across to the Senate and delivered the Articles of Impeachment to their (Democrat) majority leader. Yesterday, Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced a resolution declaring the proceeding moot because Trump has already left office. The vote failed 55-45 with five Republican Senators voting to continue to trial: Susan M. Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.).
It's true that someone who has already left office may be impeached, and if convicted, can be barred from holding public office in the future. This is the purpose of impeaching Trump again: to prevent him challenging President Kamala Harris in 2024 when she runs for re-election.
I'm not a fan of Trump. I think he's boorish and (quite frankly) stupid. People hold that he's a 'street fighter from Queens', but the last four years haven't shown that. Boorishness, yes; street savvy, no. If he were as smart as people think he is, his first official act should have been to fire anyone in DOJ, FBI, CIA, or NSA who was even suspected of being less than 100% on his side. That's what 'draining the swamp' looks like. He didn't do that, and there can be only two reasons: one, he really wasn't serious about draining the swamp, or two, he really isn't that smart.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
But there's something else going on here. In case after case, Republicans drop the ball on this hot-button issue or that one. They seem always one step behind their Democrat foes. That's why issues like gun control seem to always get worse: the Democrats make it worse, but the Republicans never make it better. If the GOP is to survive this, it has to change its thinking in a radical, fundamental way. They have to adopt 'no prisoners' as their modus operandi, and they have the perfect opportunity to do that right now. I mean 'today'.
The RNC must pull those five Senators aside and tell them in no uncertain terms that their defection on this issue has consequences, specifically, that they are ejected from the party, that they may no longer present themselves to their state party officials as 'Republicans'. The RNC should start with Romney, Collins, and Murkowski who typically vote with the Democrats anyway. If they're going to vote like Democrats, let them run like Democrats.
Now, I am not a member of the Republican Party, and I don't expect them to pay attention to my opinions, but there are plenty of Republicans out there who see the GOP's record of failure and wonder why those wily Dems seem always to be ahead of the game. Their party will listen to them and, if their voice is heard, it may not be necessary to burn the GOP to the ground, My-Lai-fashion, in order to save it. Better to lose a few incumbents now than the whole shebang in 2022.
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"This is the purpose of impeaching Trump again: to prevent him challenging President Kamala Harris in 2024 when she runs for re-election."
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary. There's no candidate Harris (or Biden) would rather face in 2024 than Trump.
The purpose of impeaching Trump is to put the Republicans in a lose-lose situation.
If they abandon Trump and vote to convict, he'll punish them by backing Trump supporters in GOP primaries, etc. The party will lose seats at the mid-terms, likely won't be in any shape to contest the White House prior to the mid-2030s, and might even fall apart.
On the other hand, if they stick with Trump and vote to acquit, they'll lose elections with him instead of without him, and probably for much longer, if they survive. The GOP remained in the minority in both houses of Congress for 40 years from the '50s to the '90s. That CAN happen again.
Trump walked the GOP into a heads the Democrats win, tails the Republicans lose situation. Excising him from the party like the cancer he is would make it less bad, but only somewhat.