On the evening of January 6th, 2021, the House and Senate reconvened to perform their Constitutional duty of certifying President Joe Biden’s victory after being so violently interrupted. After the broken glass had been swept up, the chambers of Congress returned to their former state, and the trash and feces cleaned from the halls, the work of democracy was finally able to continue. However, before they resumed their duties, then-Vice President Mike Pence, Leaders Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, and countless other members of both chambers of Congress from both sides of the aisle issued statements denouncing the violent insurrection that had occurred only hours earlier.
Only a week later, on January 13th, then-President Donald Trump was impeached on a single charge: Incitement of Insurrection, by a vote of 232-197. 10 Republicans voted in favor of the Article, making this the most bipartisan impeachment in United States history. Those representatives faced severe backlash, especially House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney. She was censured by the Wyoming GOP, pressured to resign, and will likely face a field of challengers during her next primary. Still, she and the other Reps. refused to change their positions or walk back their comments, and we must remember their courage in standing up to immense political and personal pressure.
The bipartisanship shown in the House sparked hope among many Americans that the Senate would truly be willing to hear the case as impartial jurors. However, after the Articles of Impeachment were brought to the Senate on January 25th, a vote to dismiss the trial as unconstitutional failed by a vote of 55-45, with only 5 GOP Senators voting to allow the trial to continue. After the trial began, the Senate again voted that they had jurisdiction over the former President, this time with 6 GOP Senators siding with the Democrats.
Over the next 3 days, Jamie Raskin and his team of Impeachment Managers laid out a seemingly airtight case against Trump. They had screenshots of tweets from November and December promoting the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen and that he had won in a landslide. They showed a poignant video displaying the savagery and brutality of the mob as they attacked Capitol police who fought valiantly to defend the symbol of American democracy. Their timeline clearly demonstrated that Trump’s words that morning incited their actions. The Managers even gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, asking what if his words telling his supporters “if [they] don’t fight like hell [they] won’t have a country anymore” (Naylor) were not meant to be taken literally. Why, they asked, did he do nothing to stop them? Why did he not tweet a message instructing the mob to disperse? The answer to their hypothetical questions was simple: Trump wanted his supporters to succeed. He continued to provoke their violence by attacking Pence, claiming he “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done” (Date) immediately after the VP had to be evacuated from the Capitol. Trump knew his supporters were listening, and the message he was sending them was not one of peace.
The emotionally and factually charged presentation delivered so eloquently by the House Managers coupled with the bumbling incompetence of Trump’s defense team seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of Trump’s disastrous presidency. In the hearts and minds of most Americans, Trump’s legacy as inciter-in-chief of the Jan. 6th riot was already cemented. A poll showed that 58% (Payne) of Americans believed that he should “probably” or “definitely” be barred from running for office in the future, with 23% (Payne) of Republican voters agreeing. It was clear that there was no defense for Trump’s actions, and perhaps more importantly, his inaction. Voting to convict the former president for his role in the insurrection seemed to be the only logical conclusion the Senators could come to if they were truly upholding their oaths to do impartial justice.
However, it appears that in these past 4 years, many Senators in the GOP have become disenchanted with the idea of doing the right thing. On Saturday, Feb. 13th, former President Donald J. Trump was acquitted by a vote of 57-43. Many were quick to celebrate the 7 Republicans who voted to convict the President, commending them for their character, as well as their allegiance to the Constitution and the American people. Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowksi, Pat Toomey, Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, and Susan Collins did their duty as jurors, voting based on the facts of the case instead of along party lines. While it is important that we celebrate these Senators, we must also ask ourselves how our political climate became so incredibly partisan that voting one’s conscience became a revolutionary and laudable act.
Looking back at the 2016 Republican Primary, there were clear warning signs. Trump’s infamous speech announcing his candidacy for president was full of racist dog-whistles, such as his comments claiming that Mexican immigrants were “bringing drugs”, “bringing crime”, and were “rapists”. (McCammon) Many notable Republican officials warned against nominating him as it became more clear that he was outpacing candidates such as John Kasich who were peddling traditional conservative policies. In March of 2016, Senator Lindsey Graham stated that “Donald Trump would be an absolute, utter disaster for the Republican Party, destroy conservatism as we know it.” (Schultheis) He understood that Trump’s divisive and hateful rhetoric was awakening a base of voters that would be impossible to put back to sleep. Trump’s message resonated with the white, middle aged, non-college graduate voters in the Midwest and South who felt ignored and were still seething from Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012. He embraced the hatred they felt towards minority groups whom they felt were receiving preferential treatment.
Trump’s victory in 2016, where he carried 64% (Pew) of the white, non-college graduate vote, emboldened right-wing extremist groups who now felt comfortable expressing their beliefs. In August of 2017, the white supremisicist Unite the Right rally took place in Charlottesville, Virginia to supposedly protest the removal of a Confederate Statue. The extremist groups took to the streets, clashing with counter-protesters and demonstrating the strength of their cause. On August 12, James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring dozens and killing Heather Heyer. Trump refused to explicitly condemn these white supremacists until he was pressured into it. Many other hate crimes occurred during his presidency, such as the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, and the 2019 mass-shooting of 23 people in El Paso, motivated by the shooter’s hatred for Mexican and Mexican American people. Others in the GOP could have made a stand and said that these values had no place in the Republican Party or in the United States of America. Instead, they enabled the man who turned the party of Lincoln into the party of lies.
Trump’s presidency caused the GOP to be reborn as a safe haven for white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing extremists. These are the voters on which the GOP must now depend, since those with decency and common sense have fled the party in staggering numbers. Statesmen like John McCain have been replaced by young radicals like Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz who hope to continue Trump’s crusade for decades to come. Even Senators who formerly stood up to Trump such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz rolled over to be his biggest enablers during his term, while those like Mitt Romney who did find the courage within themselves to speak out are exiting the political scene. The GOP had many chances to separate themselves from Trump, but instead allowed him to attach like a parasite, sucking all credibility and decency out of them.
They had one last chance on February 13th to tell the country that they have moved on from him, that the past 4 years were a grave mistake that will never be repeated again. They could have overwhelmingly voted to convict Trump, who was so clearly guilty of the charges brought before him. They simply had to cast aside the ridiculous notion that the trial was unconstitutional, or that it was an act of political vengeance, and accept that they were being called upon by the American people to act rightly for once in their careers.
Instead, they confirmed that Trump is the hill they have chosen to die on.
Sources Referenced:
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-pence-tweet-capitol-riot-impeachmen…
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/08/voters-trump-should-be-convicted-467334
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lindsey-graham-donald-trump-is-a-demagogue-of-the-greatest-proportion/
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-20…
https://www.npr.org/2016/11/05/500782887/donald-trumps-road-to-election-day