Castro renews call to impeach president
San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro again called for impeaching President Donald Trump as a signal that last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is unacceptable in domestic politics and to convince other countries that the U.S. is capable of dealing with its own democratic crises.
“People have to know that there are consequences to that kind of reckless, detached-from-reality behavior that incites a riot, an insurrection against the United States government,” Castro said on an episode of the Express-News’ Puro Politics podcast published Monday. “So if you do nothing, then there’s this perception that, ‘Well, there wasn’t any price to pay for what we did. So maybe we’ll try it again.’ ”
Castro’s remarks came as House Democrats on Monday secured enough votes — 218 — to impeach the president for inciting the insurrection, which left five dead including a female rioter and a police officer.
So far, no congressional Republicans have signed on to the impeachment effort.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has threatened to move forward with impeachment if Vice President Mike Pence does not try to
remove Trump using the 25th Amendment by Wednesday.
Trump has less than two weeks remaining in office, prompting some Democrats to wonder whether impeaching the president for his role in inciting the mob is worth the effort.
But others have argued another impeachment is necessary to dissuade others from resorting to similar tactics in the future — and to keep Trump from seeking office again.
Holding the president accountable for his role in Wednesday’s violence, Castro said, would discourage other leaders from legitimizing and elevating unfounded conspiracy theories — for example, that the election was stolen from Trump — for their own gain. That in turn would provide less fuel for violent political division, Castro said.
To not attempt to punish Trump would also damage the United States’ credibility abroad when trying to enforce democratic norms and behaviors and combat authoritarian regimes in other countries, said Castro, vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee.
“They can point to you as an example and say, ‘You and your own country, when it came down to it, you didn’t do the right thing. There were no consequences for an insurrection,’ ” Castro said.
Castro had harsh words for Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who led the charge to overturn the election results in the Senate and who Castro has called on to resign.
Despite overwhelming evidence that there was no widespread fraud in the November election, Cruz still tried to hand the election to Trump in a play to win the president’s base in the 2024 Republican primary for president, Castro said.
“He’s willing to do anything,” Castro said. “It doesn’t matter how it hurts the country, how it hurts the people of Texas, Americans, who it divides. He was willing to do it. And I think he should pay a price for that.”
Beyond impeaching the president, Castro is drawing up legislation that would prevent any federal buildings from being named after Trump when he leaves office — an attempt to prevent Trump from gaining institutional legitimacy after “he inspired a mob, an insurrection that was essentially a failed coup.”
The idea is to prevent Trump from gaining reverence in American history the way that leaders of the Confederacy did in the aftermath of the Civil War, Castro said.
“I don’t want Donald Trump to become the Confederate hero or symbol of a future generation,” Castro said. “Many of those Confederate folks didn’t have things named after them until decades after the Civil War. They were not honored in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. So if it’s up to me … we don’t want to leave open that possibility for folks 40 or 50 years from now. So that 60 or 70 years from now, you have to go try to erase it.”
Outside of Wednesday’s unrest, a growing number of Democrats have called for launching congressional and Justice Department investigations into any potential lawbreaking on the part of Trump, his family and allies after he leaves office.
Castro warned that Trump’s planned visit to the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday could prompt more unrest — or lead to further spread of COVID-19 in the region, hard hit by the pandemic, as the president’s supporters gather to see him.
“The whole situation is combustible,” Castro said. “I think it’s better that he doesn’t come to Texas.”