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The House Article of Impeachment Is No Bar to Trump’s Conviction

The House Article of Impeachment Is No Bar to Trump’s Conviction

By John R Guardiano on January 24, 2021

Incitement of insurrection may not perfectly capture Trump’s wrongdoing, but it is close enough for the Senate to do its Constitutional duty.

One of the excuses that Congressional Republicans and their media partisans  are using to avoid impeaching and convicting Trump is that the 45th President of the United States, they say, did not actually incite the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that cause five deaths and scores of serious injuries.

Yet, the Article of Impeachment that the House of Representatives approved Jan. 13, 2021, charges Trump with an “incitement of insurrection.” Therefore, they argue, Trump cannot fairly be impeached and convicted because the charge against him does not match or correspond with what he did and did not do.

Acknowledgements. Some Congressional Republicans acknowledge that Trump may have provoked or inspired the mob to march on the Capitol to pressure Congress into not ratifying the electoral college results. However, they say, what he did is not legally defined as incitement.

Moreover, say many Congressional Republicans, the House Article of Impeachment errs by calling the violent riot at the Capitol an insurrection when it was, in fact, a riot.

Ergo: while Trump should be condemned for acting irresponsibly, he should not have been impeached by the House of Representatives and he should not be convicted of impeachment.

These are interesting legal arguments that address ancillary technical issues, but they are utterly irrelevant to the question of impeachment.

To paraphrase the former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, in a different context: You impeach and convict a dangerous and derelict president with the Articles of Impeachment you have, not the Articles of Impeachment you wish you had.

Again, impeachment is a political and not judicial act. Thus the power of impeachment is vested in the legislative and not judicial branch of government. Consequently, the legal standard for impeachment and conviction is less strict and exacting than it is in a court of criminal law.

At issue is not whether Trump violated a specific criminal statute, but rather whether his conduct as president was so grossly derelict and dangerous that he ought to be impeached and convicted by Congress.

Admittedly, this is a judgment call; but by the same token, very little judgment is needed to ascertain that what Trump did and did not do Jan. 6 was an utter abdication of his responsibilities as President of the United States.

And it isn’t just that one day, Jan. 6, for which Trump is being impeached. Instead, it is the entire two-month period that preceded Jan. 6, during which our disgraced ex-president willfully propagated lies about voter fraud while pursuing unconstitutional and extra-legal means for overturning a free, fair, and lawful election.

When that failed, Trump summoned the mob to Washington and urged them to march on the Capitol to steal the election that he had lost. He promised the mob that he would march with them (he lied); and, when violence erupted, Trump dithered.

He did nothing to restrain the mob, and he did nothing to ensure that peace, not violence, would prevail.

Oh, to be sure, Trump belatedly issued a couple of perfunctory tweets and a canned, scripted speech calling for the mob to be peaceful and respectful of law enforcement; but at the same time, he expressed love and empathy for the violent rioters while clearly making excuses for their violence:Irrelevant Legalisms. So, did Trump “incite” the mob as the lawyers define it? Who knows and who cares? It doesn’t matter! What does matter is that Trump summoned, inspired, and provoked the mob.

Would it have been better if the House of Representatives had impeached Trump for dereliction of duty, as Andrew McCarthy argues? Perhaps. At the very least, Trump should have been impeached for dereliction of duty in addition to being impeached for incitement of insurrection.

But in the grand sweep of history, this is quibbling: because what history demands, and what history will remember, is that Trump committed heinous and impeachable acts; he was rightfully impeached; and he should, by all accounts, be convicted.

The exact article or charge that is used to impeach and convict Trump really is of secondary importance.

An incitement of insurrection is, as they say, close enough for government work. The charge adequately, if not completely, captures the impeachable offenses for which Trump is clearly and obviously guilty.

Now, if this were a criminal court, the actual charge would be of paramount importance. But again, this is not a criminal court; this is a legislative Court specifically empowered by the Constitution.

As such, the impeachment charge or article does not need to meet a criminal standard of exactitude.

Impeachable Offenses. Grossly undermining a free, fair, and lawful election conducted in accordance with the Constitution, while summoning a mob to attack and intimidate Congress so as to overturn the results of that election, is grounds enough for Congress to impeach and convict the president.

A charge of incitement of insurrection may not perfectly capture Trump’s wrongdoing, but it is close enough for the Senate to do its Constitutional duty, which it must.

Feature photo credit: The Trump insurrection against America, Jan. 6, 2021, courtesy of The London Economic.

Biden’s Call for Unity Puts America First

Biden’s Call for Unity Puts America First

By John R Guardiano on January 20, 2021

How can we reconcile the President’s call for unity with the need for robust and contentious political debate?

Joe Biden’s inaugural address—and the speeches, prayers, and musical renditions that surrounded it—beautifully met the historical moment. Our new president paid homage to American democracy and the peaceful transfer of power with a solemn and heartfelt call for unity.

But what exactly, does the President mean by unity?

Surely not unanimity of opinion: because in any real democracy—and certainly American democracy—we prize argument and debate. We vigorously protect the rights of dissenters who beg to differ, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

That is why, after all, our founding fathers bequeathed to us the First Amendment, which expressly protects freedom of thought and freedom of speech. As Americans, we believe that only though robust and contentious political debate will the best ideas emerge and prevail.

As Mr. Biden put it:

If you still disagree [with me], so be it. That’s democracy. That’s America. The right to dissent, peaceably—the guardrail of our republic—is perhaps this nation’s greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: Disagreement must not lead to disunion.

Americans First. In other words, we Americans can disagree and argue, but we should always do so as Americans first—as a people with a shared history, a common set of ideals, and a singular devotion to liberty and justice for all.

We can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature…

Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.

And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

Truth and Lies. Mr. Biden’s point about manipulating and manufacturing facts was a well-deserved rebuke of President Trump, who has been a habitual liar throughout his presidency.

Trump’s most damning lie, of course, was his fabricated notion that the election was stolen from him through voter fraud. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Yet it was this lie that inspired the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by deluded Trump sycophants.

Bald-faced lying matters because it debases our political culture and corrupts and distorts our policy debates. And, inevitably, this leads to calls for censoring and squelching free speech, as we’ve seen recently with Twitter and Facebook.

As Mr. Biden explained:

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson: there is truth and there are lies, lies told for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders—leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation—to defend the truth and defeat the lies.

Surely, no conservative—and certainly, not this conservative—can disagree. The search for truth, not power, must always and everywhere guide us.

Republicans. The problem for Republicans and conservatives in the age of Trump is that too many of them allowed their quest for political power to override their commitment to truth—the truth about Trump and the truth about their political opponents. And, as we saw Jan. 6, this too often led to disaster.

We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural vs. urban, conservative vs. liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.

If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes, as my mom would say, just for a moment, stand in their shoes.

Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand. That’s how it has to be. That’s what we do for one another.

And if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. And we can still disagree [emphasis added].

Yes, we can, and we should (argue and disagree)—now more than ever.

Civility. Look, I’m a conservative Republican. Joe Biden is a very liberal Democrat. I fully expect to vigorously oppose many, and perhaps most, of the policies that he will champion over the next four years.

But I thank God we have a President who recognizes that we Americans can and should disagree and argue, but as Americans first, with a commitment to what is right, true, and just.

Amen, Mr. President, and Godspeed.

Feature photo credit: Screenshot of President Biden delivering his Inaugural Address.

Trump’s Impeachment Was Not ‘Rushed’ and He Has Not Been Denied Due Process of Law

Trump’s Impeachment Was Not ‘Rushed’ and He Has Not Been Denied Due Process of Law

By John R Guardiano on January 17, 2021

Refuting the Bad—and Bad-Faith—Arguments Against Trump’s Impeachment and Conviction.

There are lots of lame excuses, but no valid reasons, for not impeaching and convicting Trump.

Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, Congressional Republicans, Trump toadies, and their lapdogs in the media are making excuses for why Trump should not have been impeached and should not be convicted.

None of these arguments are persuasive or compelling, and most do not acknowledge the dangerous, precedent-setting implications of Trump’s actions and failures of action since Nov. 3 and especially since Jan. 6.

Instead, the argument essentially is that Trump should escape impeachment and conviction on legal or procedural technicalities.

Procedural Technicalities. Conservative Republicans historically have opposed letting criminals go free because of legal or procedural technicalities. So it’s surprising and disappointing to see many of them eager to let Trump escape Constitutional censure because of a legal or procedural technicality.

We will take up the objections to Trump’s impeachment and conviction in a series of posts. The first objection is that impeachment was “rushed through” Congress and that Trump, therefore, has been denied due process of law.

As Byron York puts it, the House of Representatives conducted a

quickie impeachment article on Wednesday—dispensing with the hundreds of hours of deliberation and due process that would precede a normal impeachment vote…

But of course, the Constitution does not specify any time requirement or procedural obligations for impeachment.

Moreover, as Matthew Continetti points out, “All the facts are in evidence. They are plain to anyone who can read or watch television.”

Due process or fairness thus did not require a lengthy investigation or fact-finding expedition because the public record already is quite voluminous and well-known. Trump’s tweets, public statements, actions, and inaction are available for all to see, read, and review.

Due process also is a subjective standard that is situationally dependent, and it is more relevant to a Senate trial than a House impeachment. As Andrew C. McCarthy observes:

If we woke up one morning to smoking-gun, undeniable proof that an American president was a spy for a foreign adversary, Congress would have to impeach and remove the president immediately…

No one in his right mind would say, “Let’s leave a foreign spy in the Oval Office for a few more weeks so we can have some hearings and make sure the Senate trial is fair.”

For this reason, the Constitution does not impose any due process standard on impeachment and conviction.

In short, the House of Representatives has handled Trump’s second impeachment fairly and lawfully. Critics who complain about a “rushed impeachment” are either disingenuous or ignorant.

In truth, the House had to act with dispatch and for several reasons:

First, Trump is leaving office Jan. 20, and there is legitimate legal disagreement as to whether a president can be impeached when he is no longer president.

Second, with a new president (Biden) about to take office and other pressing matters (such as the pandemic) to attend to, Congress cannot afford to waste time belaboring impeachment and conviction. Instead, it must act quickly and decisively and move on.

In fact, if anything, the House took too long (a full week) to impeach Trump.

Third, there is the old adage that justice delayed is justice denied. Indeed, Trump’s assault on the Congress, the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the rule of law was so blatant and egregious that it demands prompt and immediate redress.

All Americans must know and understand that such flagrant abuses of power will not be tolerated.

Pretending otherwise through weeks or months of haggling and debate over irrelevant legal and procedural technicalities is a disservice to the American people and an abandonment of the Constitution and Constitutional governance.

In our next post, we will consider whether the article of impeachment (incitement of insurrection) warrants Trump’s conviction. Critics contend that Trump did not incite an insurrection. Is this true and does it matter?

Feature photo credit: Joyce N. Boghosian, courtesy of WBNG.

Why Congressional Republicans Must Vote to Impeach and Convict Trump

Why Congressional Republicans Must Vote to Impeach and Convict Trump

By John R Guardiano on January 12, 2021

Impeachment and conviction will allow the GOP to wash away the stain of dishonor that Trump has stamped upon their party.

As a matter of principle, Congressional Republicans should support the impeachment and conviction of Donald Trump.

The Republican Party, after all, is the nation’s conservative party—the party of liberty, the rule of law, faithful adherence to the Constitution, and the separation of powers.

Yet, all this and more was flagrantly assaulted in the Jan. 6, 2021, violent attack on the Capitol that Trump shamelessly and unapologetically orchestrated.

Why, then, are so few Republican lawmakers in favor of impeachment? In a word: politics.

Congressional Republicans have convinced themselves that Trump commands the allegiance of too many voters in their districts and their states to risk supporting his impeachment.

Their fear: that they will face a pro-Trump challenger who will defeat them in a primary and destroy their political careers.

This fear is understandable, but shortsighted and myopic—and it risks destroying the Republican Party.

The obvious truth is that Trump is intensely loathed and despised by a clear majority of voters nationwide. And everything he has done in the past two months since losing the election to Joe Biden has made him even more reviled, and justly so.

As the New York Times’ Bret Stephens points out:

The president attacked the states, in their right to set their own election procedures. He attacked the courts, state as well as federal, in their right to settle the election challenges brought before them.

He attacked Congress, in its right to conduct orderly business free of fear. He attacked the vice president, in his obligation to fulfill his duties under the 12th Amendment.

He attacked the American people, in their right to choose the electors who choose the president.

The risk to Republicans is that by trying to appease Trump’s base, they risk losing the country, as they did in the election, and it wasn’t even close. Trump lost the popular vote by more than seven million votes, and he lost the electoral college 306-232.

Trump Voters. Republicans obsess over Trump voters; but the truth is that Trump voters, all 74 million of them, are hardly a monolith.

Sure, many of them may be diehard Trump fans, but many (yours truly, for instance) are not. Many can be constructively engaged and persuaded through good-faith efforts to tell them the truth.

Unfortunately, too few Republican officeholders are willing to tell their voters the truth—the truth about the 2020 election and the truth about Donald Trump; and, until they do, the future of the Republican Party is in grave danger.

Indeed, if Republicans think the loss of two winnable Senate seats in Georgia was bad, they ain’t seen nothing yet. Worse and even more catastrophic political losses may be yet to come, and precisely because of their uncritical embrace of Trump.

Watershed Moment. The Jan. 6, 2021, Trump-engineered assault on the Capitol was a watershed event that will live in infamy. Elected Republicans need to recognize this and respond with the seriousness of purpose that the times and the moment demand.

Impeaching and convicting the ringleader of this attack, Donald J. Trump, is the right and necessary place to start.

Feature photo credit: Violent thugs, summoned by Trump to Washington to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, scale the walls of the United States Capitol as they begin their assault on Congress (José Luis Magaña/Associated Press, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

Trump Must Be Impeached and Convicted—and Legalistic Defenses Cannot Spare Him

Trump Must Be Impeached and Convicted—and Legalistic Defenses Cannot Spare Him

By John R Guardiano on January 10, 2021

Impeachment is not about punishing Trump. It is about safeguarding American democracy and protecting our Constitutional order.

Of course President Trump should be impeached and convicted. He incited a mob to intimidate Congress and the Vice President to steal the election based on baldfaced lies that he knowingly propagated. As a result, five people are dead, including two Capitol police officers.

As former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie put it, if this isn’t an impeachable offense, then nothing is.

The separation of powers within the federal government was one of the principal objectives of the American Founding Fathers when they drafted the Constitution.

By inciting a violent attack on the legislative branch of government, President Trump attacked one of the pillars of our Constitutional order. He must be held accountable for that attack. Impeachment and conviction are the only remedies available to Congress to ensure that justice is done.

This has nothing to do with punishment or revenge. Instead, it has everything to do with preventing a future president from trying to emulate Trump by launching a similar attack against the legislative branch of government.

Congress must lay down a clear marker now that such behavior will not be tolerated; and that there will be grave consequences for any president who even flirts with this idea.

And legalistic defenses of Trump won’t wash. The Founding Fathers deliberately made impeachment a legislative and not judicial prerogative. So whether Trump’s abhorrent behavior meets the strict legal definition of incitement is utterly irrelevant.

What matters is what Congress thinks and knows, not what a court of law might decide. And what Congress thinks and knows—what all of us think and know—is the the president blatantly egged on a mob to storm the Capitol.

Now, did the president know that the mob would turn violent? Maybe; maybe not. Who knows?

Again, that doesn’t matter. What we do know is that violence was a foreseeable consequence of Trump’s rhetoric and behavior; and that a responsible leader never would have behaved as Trump behaved.

As the New York Times reports:

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, just one of several of his tweets promoting the day. “Be there, will be wild!”

“We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he told the mob Jan. 6.

You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong… Our country has been under siege for a long time…

We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved…

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. …

You will have an illegitimate president. That is what you will have, and we can’t let that happen…

Feature photo credit: ABC News.