In My Humble Opinion

Well, it’s been two weeks since President Biden took office. Doesn’t that sound great? Blessedly, we have a Commander in Chief who is actually working and is actually working for us, the people, our good. As he campaigned, Biden is focusing on the COVID virus and getting vaccines distributed so almost all citizens will be vaccinated by the end of summer. Seems a long time off, but at least we’re moving in the right direction. And it couldn’t come soon enough – multiple new variants of the virus have cropped up, many are more highly contagious and some reports indicates one or two may even be more deadly!

All in all, I was feeling pretty good about things in Washington – until yesterday! The House of Representatives formally presents the Article of Impeachment against former President Trump on Monday night. Nothing surprising – this is what Mitch McConnell asked for – hold off sending article until after the “break” – a/k/a after Trump is out of office.

Yesterday all of the senators were sworn in as “jurors” for the Impeachment Trial. Surprisingly, but not unexpected, Chief Justice Roberts is not presiding over this trial since Trump is a former president. Instead, Sen. Leahy (D-VT), the Senate President Pro Tem, will preside. Not sure I totally agree with this for a couple of reasons. Sen. Leahy had voted to convict Trump in the last impeachment hearing.  Additionally, Sen. Leahy will still get a vote to convict Trump during the current impeachment hearing. How can a “judge” also act as a juror? How can a judge remain unbiased when he already voted “guilty” in a prior proceeding.  I just think maybe this should have been more thoroughly thought out. In Washington, as in other places, optics are everything! The mere perception of conflict of interest should be avoided to ensure the proceeding is viewed as fair and impartial. IMHO!

Immediately after being sworn in, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) raised a motion to consider the impeachment trial as unconstitutional and a moot point – President Trump was already out of office. As a private citizen, Sen. Paul argued, Trump could not be impeached.

Debate on the motion revealed that the arguments against holding the trial center on procedural objections, not on merit! Senators argued that the Constitution doesn’t address, and thus doesn’t permit, impeachment of a former official, one no longer in office. Senator Johnson (don’t get started on him) argued the impeachment would only further divide the country at a time when unity was called for. This was rich considering his continual support for the Trump lies about a “fraudulent” election. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, appears on FOX News to continue the argument that the impeachment is just a continuation of Democrats hatred of all things Trump! Okay, I admit it – I hate Trump (despite what I was taught in Church).

None of these arguments address the severity of what happened. As the days have gone by, we have learned more and more about what actually happened and how it happened and how organized it was. The rioters (they were not protestors) were intent in overthrowing an election – one that was fair and lawful. In so doing, they were trying to overthrow the government.

I said it before and I’ll say it again – everyone is ultimately responsible for their own actions. However, incendiary statements made by others cannot be ignored in the days, weeks, months prior to January 6th. As far back as late fall 2020, long before the election, then President Trump started calling the election rigged, with many fraudulent votes expected.  After election day, Trump essentially stopped any work as president and instead focused solely on trying to overturn the election. He only stopped long enough to go golfing! His daily diatribes about the election and the illegitimate president-elect became the norm. Even when ostensibly holding a rally for the GOP candidates in the Georgia senate runoff election, Trump spent much of his time bemoaning the election fraud, particularly in Georgia!

Trump made calls to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger asking him to “find” the 11,740 votes he needed because there was no way he lost in Georgia! Just last week we also learned of Trump’s attempt to use an Attorney in the Department of Justice to pressure the Supreme Court into overturning the election! What part of all this is okay?

In voting on Sen. Paul’s motion, 45 Republican senators voted against holding the trial. Of the 55 remaining senators who voted to hold the trial, five were Republicans – Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Ben Sasse (R-NE). So, the question becomes “What the hell do Republicans stand for”?

If the overthrow of the government is not impeachable then what the hell is? As I noted earlier, the arguments for not holding the trial are based strictly on procedures (at this point, anyway). Does that mean Republicans don’t have an argument for Trump’s words/actions? And if they don’t, then do they think what he did was wrong? If all of this happened last June, way before the election and while Trump was still president, would they have felt the same or would they hold him accountable?

All of Trump’s words and actions occurred while he was still in office. The impeachment was voted on in the House of Representatives while Trump was still in office. The only reason the trial was not held was because Mitch McConnell refused to reconvene the Senate until the day before Biden’s inauguration. While the Constitution does not specifically “allow” impeachment after a party leaves office, it also does not specifically prohibit it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the impeachment trial was not just about removing Trump from office. If it were, then yeah, that’s already done. However, the impeachment is also about prohibiting Trump for running/holding a federal position in the future. That can be accomplished only through impeachment. This is not a moot point.

To my mind, the attempted overturn of the election was tantamount to overthrow of the government. And that means it was an attempt to overthrow democracy! That’s treason and the words used to implicitly call for the overthrow is seditious!

What more do Republicans need/want? If they vote to acquit Trump yet again, they are inviting him to run for president again. Next time we, as a democracy, may not survive. What do Republicans stand for – Trump or democracy? It appears the two are, in fact, mutually exclusive!

IMHO . . .

This is the full text of the First Amendment and we’ve been hearing a lot about it in the past week.  Since the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, not only has President Trump’s Twitter account been closed but also his Facebook and Instagram accounts have been closed – at least until he leaves office.  Additionally, 70,000 other Twitter accounts have been removed – all for violating Twitter’s rules banning incitement of violence.

Lots of people, including Republican lawmakers (like my new Representative Madison Cawthorn – yeah, I’m stuck with him) have spoken out about Twitter and other social media platforms have infringed on the president’s (and others’) First Amendment, right to free speech. But, the question becomes does the First Amendment protect all speech as “free speech”?

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. It prohibits any laws that establish a national religion, impede the free exercise of religion, abridge the freedom of speech, infringe upon the freedom of the press, interfere with the right to peaceably assemble, or prohibit citizens from petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted into the Bill of Rights in 1791. The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Court as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress.

The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech may be exercised through direct words or through symbolic actions (i.e., burning the draft cards in the 70s). The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without government interference or regulation. The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. Generally, a person cannot be held liable, either criminally or civilly for anything written or spoken about a person or topic, so long as it is truthful or based on an honest opinion and such statements.

So, is all speech protected? What about libel, slander, defamation and similar situations? As we all know, all of these situations are not protected. The president is currently defending himself from a defamation suit in which the defendant claims the president defamed her by claiming she lied about his assaulting her. In essence, each of these situations involved the truthfulness and honesty of the speech (word or symbolic action) involved. So we know these situations are not shielded by the First Amendment.

So, what about January 6th? Was this protected speech? I don’t think so!

Based on this standard, the speeches given at the Ellipse on January 6th by Present Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Rudy Giuliani, Eric Trump and others is not protected as “free speech” under the 1st Amendment! And speeches given by Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Josh Hawley in the days leading up to January 6th are similarly not protected.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms were right to remove the accounts of everyone who urges violence if they don’t get what they want.  And, while we’re at it, I do support the expulsion of any lawmakers who participated in such dangerous speech. These lawmakers, including Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and even young Madison Cawthorn should be removed under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

It is curious to note Mr. Cawthorn has since expressed concern over claiming election fraud. “Once you start floating this idea of election fraud and people outright stealing an election and cheating, that has only one outcome,” Cawthorn said in an interview with North Carolina’s WTVD-TV news, an ABC affiliate. “The party as a whole should have been much more wise about their choice of words.”

Cawthorn’s online advertising has dramatically shifted in tone since before the riot, when he called to “stop the steal.” As early as Friday, his ads called for a “GOP audit” to “reset and re-establish.”

In my opinion, it’s too little, too late. The horse is already out and running away!

Just saying . . .

Hello again! Yeah, I know, I’ve been gone a really long time – a year and 8 months! I can’t say it’s because I haven’t been upset, concerned, or riled up because I have been. But, I can say it’s because I’ve been upset, concerned and riled up! I’ve been so riled up that I have literally tried to stay away from news just so I can calm down and stop worrying.

Well, that came to an end this past week with the storming of the Capitol building!  I sat mesmerized watching the TV coverage of the riot at the Capitol. My feelings were so muddled – sad at what was happening, angry at why this was happening, scared for what it all meant! All of these feelings jumbled up together created quite a roar in my tummy! I wanted to look away, to forget what was happening. But, like a traffic accident, I found myself unable to change the channel!

I just reread my last post from May 2019 about AG Barr and his “take” on the Mueller Report. I remember writing it – remember how frustrated I was at Barr’s misrepresentation (I’m being kind” of what Mueller’s team found.  So much has happened since then. Both nationally and personally.

For me, I have read numerous books since May 2019, including Andrew Weissman’s book detailing the Mueller investigation and the findings (to the extent he was permitted). A lot of facts included in the book had been public and were well known to me. But, there was still a lot of information that we didn’t have and was interesting to read! There were more contacts with Russians than we even dreamed of! I also read Bob Woodward’s book, for which he taped the majority of conversations he had with President Trump.  Those were totally eye-opening and shocking! Was I surprised at some of the revelations – not really. I knew of Trump’s lack of character, lack of morality, lack of ethics, lack of decency, etc. So, no, I wasn’t surprised. But, I was still shocked at the magnitude of these “lacks”!

Aside from reading, as I said, I just tried to ignore the whole national thing. I know – that was wrong of me. But, I was trying to keep sane and trying to reassure myself everything would turn out okay. When the election cycle began in early 2020, I did my duty and voted in the primary. I’ll be honest with you – I did not vote for Joe Biden in the primary.  There were a couple of reasons for this decision, primary of which was I thought it was time for a new generation of leaders – a changing of the guard so to speak. But, I always believed that Joe Biden was the person who could restore the country quicker than anyone else. Foreign leaders know Biden and can have confidence in what he brings – decency, truth, integrity – things lacking over the past 4 years! So, a President Biden could/will raise our standing in the world almost immediately, despite needing to work at restoring faith in the country.

Once Biden became the Democratic nominee, I went to work for the local Democratic Party. I texted and I wrote postcards. Since I’m somewhat limited in mobility, I had to tackle the jobs that didn’t require a lot of moving around. I found the work rewarding and I felt like I really contributed for the first time. I always said, regardless of how you feel about Trump, the one good thing he’s done is encourage more people to become involved. No more apathy, no more sitting on the sidelines – get out and do it! That’s a good thing and I thank Trump for that kick in the butt! (That’s all I thank him for!)

At the same time, my mother and I have been isolated since March 2020. I go to the store once a week for groceries and to doctor visits when necessary. Other than that, we’ve been in our house for almost 10 months now. Luckily, we have a big back yard so I can go outside with the dogs to throw the ball and play.  I haven’t taken many photographs in the past year, either. Church has gone totally virtual for the time being.  All meetings are conducted on zoom. Just a kind of depressing time, with lots of binge TV watching – I watched all 17 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen! I mean come on!

But now I’m back and the question is – why now? Well, last Wednesday really was the last straw. What a nightmare! I never in a million years thought I’d see something like that in the USA! And make no mistake, this was due to Trump, Don Jr, Eric (and his wife), Giuliani, and a handful of Senators inciting violence directed at the Capitol and those who work there!

I’m on both Twitter and Facebook, but not other social media platforms. I do not follow any Republican on these, but even I found plenty of disturbing posts indicating there would be violence last week. I do not know how anyone in authority missed it.

Add to that the continued lying by Republican leaders about a “stolen election”, fraudulent voting, etc. And then the  final straw, Trump’s rally-like speech just before the march. He even stated he would march with them (and then retreated to the safety of the White House). Don Jr yelling to lawmakers “we’re coming for you and we’ll have fun”! Giuliani yelling “trial by combat”! In days leading up to the “protest”, Ted Cruz yelling “we’ll fight for our rights, we’ll fight for our freedom, we’ll fight for our country” as he continues spewing falsehoods about Trump winning the election! Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri fist pumping support as he walked into the Capitol to object to the certification of the electors!

These “leaders”, and I use that terms loosely, encouraged Trump supporters to storm the Capitol. Don’t know if it’s true, but I read one account that stated Trump and his aides and family were laughing and cheering as they watched the Capitol being breached! While I don’t know for a fact that this is true, it sounds par for the course with these people!

And let’s make no mistake – the supporters who stormed the Capitol were not the average voter. These were white nationalists, white supremacists, Proud Bois, QAnnon members, etc. These are people who have no problem using violence and pretty much live on that edge so as it is. Emboldened by a president who praises them with “we love you” and “you’re special”, they had no intention of standing down. Let’s not forget just before the election Trump told them to stand ready.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s fiasco, we now have Republican leaders publicly criticizing the president for his incitement. But, they also caution we should not remove the president from office since that would further divide the country at a time when we need unity! Really? For four years I’ve listened to these same leaders unleash diatribes on Democrats – all Democrats not just lawmakers – about how we need to quit whining about losing the 2016 election. They continuously praised Trump, refusing to chastise him when he sputtered lies and divisive rhetoric during rallies, on social media and at press conferences! Now, they want us to just “move on”!

Sorry – there can be no “move on” until there is accountability! This president has been impeached once for breaking the law – asking a foreign leader for help with his reelection in exchange or monetary support. Many senators stated the House prosecutors made their case – they proved Trump did break the law, but they refused to remove him from office. Susan Collins even said she voted against convicting him because she felt “he learned his lesson”! Really? Does last week look like he learned his lesson?

Yeah, he really did learn his lesson – he learned Republican lawmakers are not going to hold him accountable! They will allow him to get away with anything, including murder, rather than risk his wrath!

NO MORE! The incitement of violence against Congress is a federal offense. I whole heartedly agree that people are responsible for their own actions. That being said, the fact is some people with a tendency toward violence can be incited to act by mere words from another. This was definitely the case last week.  Every one of the rioters needs to be held accountable. But, Trump, Don Jr, Giuliani, Eric, Cruz, Hawley, and anyone else who spoke about stolen elections and stopping the steal need to be held accountable as well.

Nancy Pelosi had the right idea. There should be a hierarchy of how the president is removed:

1. The president should voluntarily resign!
2. The vice-president should invoke the 25th amendment and remove the president!
3. The House should initiate impeachment proceedings and refer the impeachment to the Senate.

It is clear Trump is not going to resign.  The fact that Republican Senators have not gone to the White House and demanded his resignation has only further supported Trump’s supposition that Republicans will not do anything to him! So, option 1 is off the table at this point.

It is equally clear VP Pence is not going to invoke the 25th amendment. Heck several Cabinet members have already resigned and the acting replacements will hardly feel secure in taking such a big step. So, I suspect #2 is also off the table.

So, that leaves option 3 – a second Impeachment.  Senate Majority Leader McConnell (for a couple weeks anyway) has already signaled that he will not take up the impeachment until the 20th, after the inauguration of Joe Biden. So, many people see option 3 as a moot point, too. But, it’s not!

Once the Article(s) of Impeachment are sent to the Senate there are actually two possible votes that would be called for, even if Trump were already out of office.  The first vote is to determine if Trump is guilty of the charge – a conviction if you will. This vote will take a 2/3 majority of the senate to succeed.  Interesting here is that it takes 2/3 majority of senators in attendance! This means if 20 Republicans did not show up for the vote, it would only take about 53 Senators (2/3 of 80) to convict Trump.

Once convicted (assuming the 2/3 majority is met), the next vote is whether Trump should be barred from ever running for any federal office again. This particular vote only takes a simple majority (50%+1). This could be quite significant since Trump has indicated his interest in running for president again in 2024.

So, I see a significant value in pursuing impeachment at this point. I almost feel impeachment is the preferred option since it’s the only option that would ensure Trump could not hold office again. There is no way I would want him in the White House again after all the harm he has done.

And again, there can be no unity unless/until there is accountability! It’s time for the GOP to stand up once and for all and  decide if they want to survive as a party or if they want to stand for the end of democracy! Forcing  a senate vote on impeachment will let us know specifically how each one of them thinks!

So, in my humble opinion, I think Trump should be impeached. Every lawmaker should be on the record on this issue. And if convicted, Trump should be banned from ever holding public office again!

Just saying . . .