UnfortunatelyThe Latest Impeachment Hoax Does Not End Attacks On Donald Trump

Post #10 - February 28, 2021

In a post on January 15, 2020, I addressed the first impeachment of Donald Trump. Just as I disagree with the first impeachment, I disagree with the second impeachment of Trump. The second impeachment lacked less credibility than the first impeachment, if that's possible. Not only was the second impeachment constitutionally infirm, it defied commonsense and logic. It was just another example of how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats' hatred for Trump drove them to do something that made no sense at all. What is so shocking is that Democrats clearly went beyond what the Constitution and the founding fathers intended for impeaching a president. Impeachment is the process by which Congress can remove a sitting president from office for committing treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It's needless to say Trump was already out of office. But that was not good enough. Democrats wanted more. So they came up with the lame notion that it was the obligation of Congress under the Constitution to disqualify Trump from ever holding office based on the impeachable offense that he incited the riot at the Capitol on January 6th of this year (2021). There is disagreement among constitutional scholars whether or not the Senate can try a former president, since Trump was out of office and is now an ordinary citizen. The other constitutional issue is in regards to disqualification from holding an office in government in the future. The question then becomes whether or not Congress can impeach a former president and remove him from office, even though he's not in office, for the sole purpose of disqualifying him from ever holding office again. See how the second impeachment was more dumb and stupid than the first impeachment; and both were a shameful abuse of power by Democrat in Congress. It seems to me the commonsense view of the Constitution is that to reach the disqualification aspect of impeachment, you have to first impeach and remove a sitting president. If a president is no longer in office because his or her term expires or they resign from office, then the disqualification from office part of impeachment becomes moot. I am well aware that this not a settled issue. However, with all of the serious issues that needs addressing in this country, particularly the problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the second impeachment of Trump demonstrated poor leadership on the part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.    

Just as my criticism of the first impeachment, my criticism of the second impeachment is based on the facts and the Constitution. As already noted, the second impeachment article alleged that Trump incited an armed insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th of this year during his speech that was given at a different location near the Capitol. Democrats appeared to hang their incitement charge on statements made by Trump that he and his supporters must "fight like hell" in order to stop the election from being stolen by Biden and Democrats. But it is clear under federal statutory law and Supreme Court precedent that Trump's speech on January 6 does not remotely meets the elements of incitement. Further discrediting Democrats claim of incitement is Trumps very own words during his speech on January 6th. During the speech he encouraged his supporters to march over to the Capitol peacefully and patriotically to cheer for Republican lawmakers. Also discrediting Democrats' claim that Trump's speech incited the violence at the Capitol is the growing evidence that the breach of the Capitol  was preplanned. As far as Democrats characterizing the violence as an "armed insurrection" is hogwash. It was nothing more than a riot. Certainly, the violence should be condemned because it resulted in several deaths either directly or indirectly. But the violence and deaths were far less than what occurred in many of our big cities during the summer and fall of 2020 during the protests of the death of George Floyd who was in police custody. All of the deaths during the riot at the Capitol, except for the police shooting of a Trump supporter, appear to be related to medical issues and not a result of specific attacks by the protesters. There are no reports that Trump supporters possessed firearms or fired a single shot during the entire incident. Many of the lawmakers, mostly Democrats, exaggerated the risk that they would be harmed or killed during the storming of the Capitol. As noted, none were known to have firearms, and it appeared that only a few were armed with flags, clubs or some type of chemical agent. It was highly unlikely that this was going to be a mass casualty event in terms of  intentional killings directly attributed to violence by the protesters. 

What the second impeachment demonstrated is that the hate driven attacks on Donald Trump and his supporters will not end anytime soon, even though he is no longer in office. Not only have the personal attacks against Trump continued, but there has been and all out attack on his policies as well by Executive Orders of President Joe Biden.Two such attacks on Trump's policies are in regards to immigration and the Keystone Pipeline. The Biden Administration's reversal of Trump's policies against catch and release, stopping Trump's border wall construction, and ending Trump's stay in Mexico policy for asylum seekers have created a crisis at the border that is growing daily. The reversal of Trump's permit to allow the building of the Keystone Pipeline has resulted in the loss of several jobs. These executive actions by the Biden Administration reveals a willingness of Biden and Democrats to destroy the legacy of Donald Trump at all coats. The latest shameful attacks on Trump by Pelosi and the Biden administration is that Trump's policies left the border in shambles; and that his rhetoric during his protest of the 2020 election has fueled domestic terrorism by white supremacist groups.