Americans need Trump’s second impeachment trial
They had come to Washington D.C. to kill. They had invaded the heart of American democracy to annul the greatest expression of that democracy, a presidential election.
And they had stormed the Capitol building spewing hatred — many armed and in combat gear — because one man told them to. That person was Donald Trump.
If you still think the second impeachment of this dangerous demagogue is a waste of time, then look at the brutal video evidence shown on Wednesday, the first day of his Senate trial.
If you do, you’ll understand that even though Trump is no longer president, even though his conviction remains a long shot and even though his trial will deepen a battered nation’s political divisions, it must proceed. For their own good, Americans need to view the horrific events that transpired last month and recognize their prime instigator.
And even if, when the trial ends, Trump is neither found guilty nor punished, the disgusting record of his final hours in office must be recorded and preserved for posterity. It’s history’s first draft.
The news footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington D.C. was bad enough. However, the new video recordings made public at the impeachment trial this week revealed an attack worse than almost anyone imagined. Through the supposedly sacred halls of the Capitol a frenzied mob searched for then-vice-president Mike Pence as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, howling that they wanted to kill them for refusing to let Trump remain president.
This was not random, adrenalin-fueled anarchy. It was a carefully premeditated revolt that resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer. The sheer violence of it all was terrifying. More than 100 police officers were injured, some suffering brain and spinal damage, others sustaining broken ribs. One officer was impaled on a metal fence stake while another lost an eye.
As for the politicians the rioters had come to attack and, in some cases, assassinate, it was only by luck and the bravery of security officers they escaped unhurt. Wednesday’s trial videos showed Trump’s supporters nearly breaking into the Senate chamber at the moment legislators were trying to flee. Elsewhere an officer guided Senator Mitt Romney to safety while members of the mob were steps away.
On the first day of this trial, the impeachment prosecutors made a compelling case that Trump, far from being the nation’s commander-in-chief was the “inciter-in-chief” of an attempted coup. This conclusion is based not only on the clear instructions Trump issued in person to thousands of his supporters before they attacked the Capitol. Those were just the lit matches he tossed on two months of his inflammatory lies that he, not Biden, had won the presidential election.
All true, some skeptics will say. But in the end, it’s virtually inconceivable the 17 Republican senators needed to convict Trump will agree to do so. He’s a fellow Republican. So what’s the point?
Just this: If encouraging the overthrow of the American government isn’t an impeachable offence for a U.S. president, nothing is. Whether Trump did or didn’t do this must be established, even if only in the court of public opinion, for the sake of Americans now and yet to come. If they don’t learn from this horrid day, they might repeat it.
Sometime in the coming months, a monument should be raised outside the Capitol to commemorate the tragic events of Jan. 6, 2021. Whether or not it is, the record of Trump’s second impeachment can serve as an enduring memorial for the day American democracy almost died.