Impeach the president and threaten the 25th
Condemn his behavior to start unifying America
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has confirmed that the Senate won’t be back until Jan. 19, a day before President Donald Trump’s term ends. That dashes hopes of a quick Senate impeachment trial and conviction that would cut his tenure short. Between now and Jan. 20, only one person can safeguard America against an increasingly erratic commander in chief: Vice President Mike Pence.
While Pence is, apparently, not eager to invoke the 25th Amendment, he should not throw that leverage away. Instead, he should write a formal letter to Trump on vice presidential letterhead and tell him: “I am not currently in favor of invoking the 25th Amendment and temporarily assuming the powers and duties of the presidency. In an abundance of caution, however, I have consulted with the 15 principal officers of the executive departments.
“In the event that you fail to fully assist in a peaceful transition of power to your successor, further foment domestic unrest, or engage in any other dangerous or erratic behavior, I will have no choice but to conclude you are unable to effectively carry out your duties as president and transmit the declaration necessary for me to assume those duties pursuant to the 25th Amendment.”
Pence should then send copies of this letter to the House speaker and the Senate president pro tempore, and cross his fingers. If Trump does further damage to this country over the next several days, he and he alone bears the responsibility for his failure to intervene. May he choose wisely.
Though impeachment cannot be completed in time to protect us from an unstable president in the dying days of his presidency, it is still important. We should impeach Trump to purge the stain of what he has done.
Reveling in naked violence
The case against Trump is simple. The president of the United States used a violent mob to attack the Congress to prevent it from confirming the result of a presidential election. Trump’s role in inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol was bad enough; his failure to take immediate action to end it and his refusal to condemn it are even more damning.
One of the last tweets Trump posted before Twitter suspended his account read, “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
In short: This is your fault, America. You brought this on yourselves.
There are many people calling for unity and healing. The best way to achieve both is for a sweeping bipartisan majority in Congress to officially condemn this behavior.
There will be, no doubt, some who attempt to defend what the president has done, to justify it, to rationalize it. I will save the Senate’s resident constitutional scholar, Ted Cruz, a lot of time and trouble: There is no possible reading of the Constitution where inciting a mob to attack Congress and then refusing to call it off is acceptable presidential behavior. If we cannot impeach a president for reveling in naked violence directed at another branch of government, what can a president be impeached for?
Even if the president avoided conviction, however, the effort to impeach him would be worthwhile. If there are those in Congress who believe mob violence is a legitimate form of political expression and think that the president’s behavior is acceptable, even laudable, let us identify them now. Our democracy is not safe in their hands.
Judged by our response
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy claimed Friday that impeaching Trump “with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more.” He may be right. If so, let’s divide the sheep from the goats. Anyone who endorses the attack and Trump’s role in it is a future minion of autocracy.
If this division actually exists, if the value of democracy is now in question, the country is already divided and pretending it is not will simply make the eventual reckoning that much worse.
I think McCarthy is wrong. A dignified proceeding and a bipartisan vote to condemn the president’s actions will unite the country. And if it won’t, nothing else will, so it is incumbent on Congress to try.
The House is moving quickly to formally impeach Trump while he is in office, and the Senate could hold his trial after he leaves. If convicted, Trump can be barred from holding future office, so an impeachment proceeding would be both cathartic and meaningful. And as she did a year ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could wait to transmit the impeachment to the Senate until at least some of President-Elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet officers are confirmed.
If Trump were not so incompetent and foolish, the Capitol attack would have been the prelude to installing him as a dictator. The next person who tries this will be neither incompetent nor foolish. They will be prepared and in deadly earnest. Congress was the victim of this attack, and it is up to Congress to condemn it. There is a time to engage in political calculation and a time to stand up for principle.
When the histories of this time are written, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, will not define America. How we responded to those events will.