During the first round of impeachment, the predominant GOP defense of Trump (although not the only one) was that the offense did not meet the standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” We aren’t hearing that this time, and with good reason. If inciting an insurrection doesn’t meet the constitutional standard, nothing does.
Instead, these are the arguments made by his defenders, with my responses:
- AT ONE POINT IN HIS SPEECH, HE TALKED ABOUT PEACEFUL PROTEST, SO HE DIDN’T INCITE VIOLENCE. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RIOT IS PURELY ON THE RIOTERS, NOT HIM: This argument ignores the totality of Trump’s speech, which clearly called for more than a simple peaceful protest. In addition, several of the rioters who have been charged with criminal offenses are maintaining they were called to do it by their president. Their understanding of his meaning should be given a lot of weight.
- THE RECORD SHOWS THAT AT LEAST SOME OF THE RIOTERS FORMED THEIR INTENT TO STORM THE CAPITOL BEFORE TRUMP SPOKE. HE CAN’T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS: Yes, he can, based largely on his public statements prior to January 6, including, but not limited to, the representation that the day would be “wild.” The legal issue presented to the Senate is not limited to the specifics of his January 6 speech.
- THE VICTORS OF THE ELECTION HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO TRY TO UNIFY THE COUNTRY: Rich words, coming from a party whose principal reason for being seems to be to own the libs by telling us how much they hate us.
- THE IMPEACHMENT SERVES NO PRACTICAL PURPOSE, AS TRUMP CAN NO LONGER BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE: I’m sympathetic to that one, but only because I don’t think the public will learn anything new about Trump’s conduct during the trial. That sets this round of impeachment apart from the last one.
- THIS IS VICTORS’ JUSTICE. THE DEMOCRATS WANTED TO IMPEACH TRUMP FROM THE BEGINNING: Actually, the last thing the leadership wanted to do was to impeach Trump. The magnitude of his crimes, and the danger they created to members of Congress and the country as a whole, drove them to do it on both occasions.
- THE PROCESS HAS BEEN RUSHED AND SLAPDASH: The idea was to send a message as quickly as possible in order to avoid any further outrages in Trump’s waning days in office. In any event, the facts are known to everyone, and are not remote in time. This is more analogous to direct contempt than the average criminal offense.
- WHO CAN BLAME THE RIOTERS? THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN FROM THEM!: Give me a break! The real message here is that Trump won in a landslide among “real Americans.” The rioters would say they are the only people who are entitled to vote. Alas for them–our country doesn’t work that way.