This afternoon, the Senate voted 57 to 43 to convict former President Donald Trump of “incitement to insurrection.” Since the Constitution requires a heavy lift on this, it being at least two-thirds of the Senate, thus 67 votes or more, to convict the now former president, the Senate acquitted Trump of any such wrongdoing.
However, this vote was as expected. IMO, Trump clearly and intentionally incited that crowd he gathered that day which assaulted the Capitol, so that he should have been convicted. The House impeachment managers had presented an excellent and very convincing prosecution of Trump’s incitement to insurrection, whereas the Trump’s presentation by his lawyers was so weak because their client was indefensible.
Now, Donald Trump may be able to continue in control of the Republican Party and perhaps run for presidency again, that being in 2024. He seems to have indicated in recent days a desire to do that.
Former Republican Majority Leader of Senate, Mitch McConnell, continued to say today that Trump was responsible for the mob riot at the Capitol. Yet McConnell voted to acquit him, arguing that it was unconstitutional to convict the man since he was out of office. I think that is a lame-brain judgment. It proves Trump was right that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any political support for it. Making the comparison, Trump could shoot someone in the last days of his presidency and get away with it since he would be out of office by the time the Senate could hold a trial. Worse yet for McConnell, he had unnecessarily delayed the beginning of the trial, would could have been completed before Trump was out of office. Because of this, I do not regard McConnell’s judgment as sincere, that judgment being that Trump is responsible for that mob violence which was an attempted coup.
However, McConnell did say today that Trump is still not free of this wrongdoing since, as a private citizen now, he could be charged with a crime for inciting insurrection, perhaps resulting in some prison time, which is true.
I think it is a travesty that at least 17 Republican senators could not be found who cared more about justice, thus to convict Trump of the incitement, than they did about keeping their job as senators, since they would have been subject to Republican voters casting them out of office in the next election for voting against Trump. As I’ve blogged about repeatedly, IMO the Republican Party as a whole is extremely corrupt, being fearful of Trump and his political base, and therefore unwilling to the right thing. I question if such a Republican Party can stand the test of time under scrutiny of voters.
At least for now, Joe Biden is in the White House and Democrats effectively have control of both the House and Senate. I say that not because I am a Democrat, for I am an Independent who has voted Republican all my life until recent years, but because I do not believe the Republican Party is any good for this nation under the leadership of such an evil person as Donald Trump. He actually tried to overthrow our democratic government by inciting a mob that killed five people, and it could have been way more than that to include many members of Congress. I think it is amazing that, in watching all of that video footage, which House managers showed the Congress and us television viewers on Tuesday through Thursday, that every one of those members of Congress escaped injury and death.
Due to the events of January 6th and the outcome of this trial, Donald Trump has now become more of a rotten cancer on American politics that has been allowed to grow. He will spread his propaganda of lies throughout more of America because 43 Republican senators did not have courage to do the right thing by cutting out the cancer.
Nevertheless, by suffering two impeachments and having attempted a coup against Congress, Donald Trump will be deemed the worst president in U.S. history.