USA TODAY International Edition
Our View: Senate trial offers GOP a chance to purge Trump
The impending Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump offers Republicans a rare opportunity to begin recasting the Grand Old Party as the conservative bastion it once was — and start loosening the former president’s cult- like grip.
Seventeen Republican senators would need to join Democrats in the two- thirds vote necessary to convict Trump of inciting violence against the government in the riotous assault on the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
While the punishment for conviction — removal from office — no longer applies, a second penalty under the Constitution offers the party a path forward. By a simple majority vote, the Senate could bar Trump, who said Wednesday that “we will be back in some form,” from ever holding public office again. He would effectively be banished to the political wilderness, no longer holding the GOP captive in preparation for a possible 2024 comeback.
In one clean break, conservatives could begin the laborious process of rebuilding a party anchored on what used to be traditional Republican values: fiscal responsibility, free trade, ethical leadership, promotion of democracy and international alliances, and standing up to dictators abroad.
This would be a great service to the nation. America has long benefited from two vibrant competing parties, one of which advocates for limited government and serves as a check on progressive overreach.
Trump, however, left the GOP in turmoil. During his foul leadership, Republicans lost control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. Republican principles melted away under a leader obsessed with self- aggrandizement. Last year, the party platform was reduced to simply whatever Trump wants to do.
As the Senate takes up the Housepassed article of impeachment, evidence of Trump’s guilt is overwhelming: inciting anger among millions of followers for weeks with lies about a stolen election; exhorting thousands to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6 just as Congress was ratifying the victory of President- elect Joe Biden; and resisting pleas to call off the insurrection.
The case grows stronger with the release of every new video and the rioters’ statements that they were following the president’s direction when they ransacked the Capitol, hunting for leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then- Vice President Mike Pence. If Trump cannot be convicted for inciting this insurrectional attack against his own government, then constitutional remedies for presidential misconduct are meaningless.
To be sure, Republican senators face enormous political risks if they vote to convict a man who remains popular with nearly 90% of their party, including 74% who believe Trump’s lies that the presidential election was stolen.
Getting a third of Senate Republicans to vote to convict is a heavy, but not impossible, lift. Five have already indicated that they believe he caused the violence: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Even Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is a possible yes vote. “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
Much like a rare alignment of planets, the opportunity to purge Trump is fleeting. Republican senators fearing their own political futures might be tempted to let the moment pass and allow Trump’s corrosive control over the GOP to persist.
Or they could act with resolve — like ripping off a Band- Aid in one swift movement — and send him into welldeserved political exile.