GOP Answer to Riot

The events of January 6 in Washington, DC, clearly represented an act of insurrection against the legitimate governing institutions of the United States. Even the Republican Minority Leader of the US Senate, Mitch McConnell has recognized that fact and has identified Donald Trump as bearing major responsibility for the violence. Trump and the other speakers at the rally prior to the storming the Capitol had no other purpose in mind but to intimidate the joint session of Congress meeting that afternoon to receive the certified election returns from the states, the last step in confirming the presidential victory of Joe Biden. 

Some of the people attending what was called the Save America Rally may not have fully appreciated what they were supporting, but ignorance, willful or not, is no defense. More egregious has been the Republican answer to this attack by a destructive mob on the citadel of our democracy. 

I watched this morning on ABC television as the Republican Senator from Mississippi Roger Wicker was being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos. The ABC anchor asked Wicker if Trump should be held accountable for inciting the insurrection. Wicker refused to respond specifically to Stephanopoulos’s question, but claimed that Trump cannot be convicted because he is no longer in office. Stephanopoulos than played a video of Wicker as a Congressman in 1999 voting to impeach Bill Clinton. The hypocrisy blared from the screen. 

Republicans are grasping at straws in their frantic search for a reasonable way to avoid voting to convict Trump. They talk about “precedents” as if there have been frequent impeachment trials. There have been very few because America has had very few presidents who have abused the office with such total disrespect for our country’s laws and traditions. 

In his first impeach trial Trump was acquitted in February 2020 by Senate Republicans, save one. Some even admitted that he was guilty of abusing his office and undermining the national interest for personal gain. Two reasons were given to justify the acquittal: an election was pending in which the public could make a judgement (they did) and Trump had learned his lesson (he proved quickly he had not by summarily removing several of the individuals courageous enough to disclose his abuse). 

The Republican party is facing an historic turning point in its history. That Donald Trump was ever nominated by the party for the presidency was a major blow to the party’s image as a responsible national political organization. Despite a campaign of disgusting racial and sexist language, Trump managed to win the presidency. His victory was at least in part the result of the inequities built in to the structure of the US Senate, and consequently, the Electoral College. Although he lost the popular vote by nearly three million, Trump collected 304 electoral votes.

In the2020 election there was an earthquake-size shift in voter sentiment. Joe Biden won the popular vote by over seven million. Reflecting the same structural inequities, Biden's electoral count was only 303. It is also noteworthy that although the GOP retains 50 seats in the Senate, the Republican senators represent 41 million fewer voters than do the 48 Democrats and two Independents, who organize with the Democrats. 

Of great disappointment was the fact that a majority of Republicans in the US House attempted to overturn the presidential election returns immediately after the Capitol riot in which five people died, including a police officer defending the legislators and their staffs. That same majority save ten refused to vote to impeach the man who incited the riot. It is also disappointing the ten who voted their conscience, and who include some of most loyal Republicans in the House, have been subjected to bitter scorn and even censure by Trump supporters who control the GOP in some states. 

Eleven Republican members of the Senate also voted to overturn the presidential election after the riot. The two most outspoken dissenters, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, obviously have presidential ambitions. Building a campaign for the top office in the land on the basis of unsubstantiated challenges to state certified election returns may prove to be an uphill battle. 

And given the fact that Trump’s charge to the insurrectionist mob called for attacking his own vice president, it may prove difficult for Hawley or Cruz to find a running mate any time soon.

Republicans in the Senate who oppose convicting Trump must recognize that they are encouraging the fringe elements that the deposed president has energized. If he is acquitted, it will give new life to the conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who have emerged as a potent force in GOP politics. They will not go away if Trump is not held accountable for his disregard of his responsibilities as president. 

Acquittal will also mean that Trump will not only be free to run again, but he will receive as a former president benefits worth at least one million dollars annually. In addition to staff support and office rental, a pension of at least $200,000 will be provided by US taxpayers. That seems particularly unjust in view of the Republicans quibbling over whether or not families struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic should receive $1000 instead of $1400 in one-time aid. 

The 2022 elections may seem like they are far away, but American voters are beginning to realize that some politicians just don’t seem to learn anything from their earlier mistakes, so it is up to us to remind them.