Trump's coming impeachment trial aggravates rift among Republicans

By Susan Cornwell

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) arrives at a luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 23, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The coming second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol has aggravated a rift among his fellow Republicans that was on full display on Sunday.

 

At least one Republican, Senator Mitt Romney, said he believed the trial, which could lead to a vote banning Trump from future office, was a necessary response to the former president's inflammatory call to his supporters to "fight" his election defeat before the Jan. 6 attack.

 

Ten Republicans joined the House of Representatives in voting to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection, and the House is to present the charges to the Senate on Monday. Leaders of the narrowly divided Senate agreed to start the trial in two weeks, leaving time to confirm some of President Joe Biden's Cabinet nominees and possibly address his call for a fresh round of stimulus for a coronavirus-hammered nation.

 

"The article of impeachment that was sent over by the House suggest(s) impeachable conduct," Romney, a frequent critic of Trump who voted to convict during the first impeachment trial, told Fox News on Sunday. "It's pretty clear that over the last year or so, there has been an effort to corrupt the election of the United States and it was not by President Biden, it was by President Trump."

 

The night after Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol - an attack that left five dead, sent lawmakers into hiding and delayed Congress by a few hours in its duty to certify Biden's election win - multiple Republicans condemned the violence.

 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell last week blamed Trump for the violent attack, saying he "provoked" the mob.

But a significant number of Republican lawmakers, concerned about Trump's devoted base of voters, have raised objections to the impeachment. Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached after leaving office.

 

Senator Tom Cotton, another Republican, said the Senate was acting beyond its constitutional authority by holding a trial. "I think a lot of Americans are going to think it's strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago," Cotton told Fox News on Sunday.

 

Romney said he concurred with what he called the preponderance of legal opinion that an impeachment trial is still appropriate after someone leaves office. He said accountability required the trial, because Trump had led an effort to "corrupt" the national election that Biden won.

 

Not everyone agrees. "I think the trial is stupid," Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, saying he would vote to end it at the first opportunity. "I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it's like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire."

 

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the trial will be fair but move at a relatively fast pace.

 

"It will be a fair trial but it will move relatively quickly," Schumer told a news conference in New York. He said it should not take up too much time because "we have so much else to do."

 

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-25

 

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Rubio said: "I think the trial is stupid,” Rubio said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We already have a flaming fire in this country,” he added, saying the trial would be “a bunch of gasoline. "

He is not a leader, he is a follower of the popular sentiment  of his base, why do we need representatives like him, why not have a computer calculate the popular sentiment of a particular constituency and vote accordingly, we could save a lot of money that way. 

trump's behaviour has to have consequences, otherwise what would deter any other president , Republican or Democrat from behaving similarly? If this does not raise to the level of a guilty verdict, what does?

The act of permanently banning from politics an American president that actively over the course of several months plotted to carry out a self coup climaxing in the incitement of a violent insurrection of white nationalist terrorists attacking the U.S. congress while it was finalizing the election that he lost is hardly stupid or counterproductive. It is necessary to at least try to do the right thing. Of course I have every expectation the republican party yet again will reveal themselves as the American party that is anti democracy and pro authoritarianism and give this disgraced ex president yet another pass.  The republican party deserves to go the way of the Whigs and the Know Nothings Parties of the past.

 

 

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

<snip>The republican party deserves to go the way of the Whigs and the Know Nothings Parties of the past.

It is going away.  Been doing that for years.  The only way they can get the presidency is by gerrymandering.  They can't win the popular vote.

From a tactical point of view, It's a win in any case for the Dems. If the GOP Senators finally support Trump and he is not convicted, it may even be more positive for the Dems.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

The act of permanently banning from politics an American president that actively over the course of several months plotted to carry out a self coup climaxing in the incitement of a violent insurrection of white nationalist terrorists attacking the U.S. congress while it was finalizing the election that he lost is hardly stupid or counterproductive. It is necessary to at least try to do the right thing. Of course I have every expectation the republican party yet again will reveal themselves as the American party that is anti democracy and pro authoritarianism and give this disgraced ex president yet another pass.  The republican party deserves to go the way of the Whigs and the Know Nothings Parties of the past.

 

Agree, how true there's a lot to do at the moment but preventing trump from coming back ever again is also critical and cannot be pushed aside. And the process doesn't need to take that long.

 

Meanwhile Biden's teams can be 100% focused on Covid 19 stuff, their work doesn't need to be delayed. I can't accept that trump stuff needs to delay other processes. 

 

Further, I wonder if it's possible to pass an order that he is prohibited for life to be involved in any way in any form of politics or hold any position, official or otherwise which connects in any way to politics, any party. 

Hopefully after this the criminal trials can begin guilty politically then guilty criminally off to prison were he belongs 

Trump tried everything he could to corrupt the election. He had his minions do all they could. From hiding and interrupting the ballot collections by removing collection boxes, have the post office sabotaged by its own head, a Trump appointee acting at the behest of Trump. Have his thugs intimidate voters at polling places the list goes on and this lying cheat says the Democrats tried to rob the election, just another outlandish lie from the king of all liars. The best place for him is have him gaoled, this would also be best for the Republican party, his follower will have deserted him by the next election...

This is enough to justify impeachment.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/22/politics/trump-doj-attorney-plan-replace-acting-ag-false-election-claims/index.html

 

New York Times: Trump and DOJ attorney had plan to replace his acting AG and undo Georgia election result

 

Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly convinced then-President Donald Trump to remove then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and use the Department of Justice to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported Friday.

 

Clark -- who appealed to the former President's false claims of election fraud -- met with Trump earlier this month and told Rosen following the meeting that the then-President was going to replace him with Clark. Clark would then move to keep Congress from certifying the election results in then-President-elect Joe Biden's favor, according to the paper.

This is a must watch.  Shows why Trump's supporters live in an alternate reality.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/01/24/fox-news-newsmax-coverage-of-biden-administration-political-divide-stelter-rs-vpx.cnn

2 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

It is going away.  Been doing that for years.  The only way they can get the presidency is by gerrymandering.  They can't win the popular vote.

Gerrymandering AND continued voter suppression as was witnessed last November with ridiculously long queues in many states.

 In the mean time, the rest of America is moving on without Trump...a pathetic and lonely man....

 

[New York (CNN Business) Many once-loyal members of Mar-a-Lago are leaving because they no longer want to have any connection to former President Donald Trump, according to the author of the definitive book about the resort.]

 

["Even here, people don't like him," Leamer said, referring to residents of Palm Beach -- many of whom voted for Trump in hopes of lower taxes and a booming stock market. "It's just another measure of how his power has declined."]

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/24/business/mar-a-lago-donald-trump-guests/index.html

 

I didn't see the talks with Kim ending to well, 

A troll/flame has been removed

A troll post and replies have been removed

Republicans want to give a pass to a president that encouraged insurrection? An insurrection that they saw with their very own eyes? An insurrection that not only claimed five lives, but, imperiled some Republican members?

 

Do they know the meaning of the word Accountability and Consequences?

 

I hope TRump starts his own party and splits the right-wing vote so that they can never come to power again. Stick that where the sun don't shine Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell, the enablers in chief.

Odds on that he gets impeached, because the republican party will have realized by now, that he is completely off his rocker. His most ardent followers are of the same ilk, and who wants to be associated with QAnon etc. now that the fog of Trumpism is finally lifting from America? 

Marco just doesn't get it.

It's not about removing a man from office that has already gone.

It's about the Republican party ensuring it's survival by not having to compete against a rabid Trumpist party and trying to save a scrap of its remaining credibility.

Watch 'em mess it all up.

12 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Odds on that he gets impeached, because the republican party will have realized by now, that he is completely off his rocker. His most ardent followers are of the same ilk, and who wants to be associated with QAnon etc. now that the fog of Trumpism is finally lifting from America? 

He's slready been impeached by the House. Odds are virtually zero that the Senate convicts him. Republican Senators can read the polls. They know that Trump is still immensely popular among Republicsns.  Voting to convict Ttump would be electoral suicide.

Just now, placeholder said:

He's been impeached. Odds are virtually zero that the Senate convicts him. Republican Senators can read the polls. They know that Trump is still immensely popular among Republicsns.  Voting to convict Ttump would be electoral suicide.

 

How about that quaint idea of Country over Party?

3 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

This is enough to justify impeachment.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/22/politics/trump-doj-attorney-plan-replace-acting-ag-false-election-claims/index.html

 

New York Times: Trump and DOJ attorney had plan to replace his acting AG and undo Georgia election result

 

Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark nearly convinced then-President Donald Trump to remove then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and use the Department of Justice to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported Friday.

 

Clark -- who appealed to the former President's false claims of election fraud -- met with Trump earlier this month and told Rosen following the meeting that the then-President was going to replace him with Clark. Clark would then move to keep Congress from certifying the election results in then-President-elect Joe Biden's favor, according to the paper.

I just CAN'T understand why people click "confused" on your post. It couldn't be more clear. Heavy sigh . . .

5 hours ago, candide said:

From a tactical point of view, It's a win in any case for the Dems. If the GOP Senators finally support Trump and he is not convicted, it may even be more positive for the Dems.

 

I'm not sure. I think you overestimate the intelligence of REP-voters. Look at November 3, 2016.

32 minutes ago, puck2 said:

 

I'm not sure. I think you overestimate the intelligence of REP-voters. Look at November 3, 2016.

The point is, it would rip the GOP apart. Many 45 loyalists would leave for the Patriot party, and that would be DELIGHTFUL! Neither the Patriot party nor the GOP could sustain themselves and they'd die on the vine.

 

This GOP needs to die a miserable death. Their blatant cheating via voter suppression and obscene gerrymandering is ruining the country.

47 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

How about that quaint idea of Country over Party?

 

Doesn't apply to them, they're Republicans.

Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican

 

 

1 hour ago, bendejo said:

 

Doesn't apply to them, they're Republicans.

Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican

 

 

This is ridiculous. Just plays into Trump's hands. Keeps him in the news and, if convicted, makes a martyr of him in the eyes of 74 million people. Pathetic, stupid move by Pelosi and her sycophants.

4 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

This is ridiculous. Just plays into Trump's hands. Keeps him in the news and, if convicted, makes a martyr of him in the eyes of 74 million people. Pathetic, stupid move by Pelosi and her sycophants.

Heavy sigh . . . here we go again.

 

I moved out of my house of three generations two weeks ago. Before  I left, I pushed my grandmother down the stairs, killing her. My parents want to call the authorities, have me charged for her murder. I reply "Why? What good will that do for family unity?"

 

In simpler terms:

45 did bad things. Many very bad things.

45 moved out of the house.

Injured people want him held accountable.

45 supporters are saying exactly what you post here.

 

Without accountability there can be no healing, no unity, no restoration of the country.

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

Republicans want to give a pass to a president that encouraged insurrection? An insurrection that they saw with their very own eyes? An insurrection that not only claimed five lives, but, imperiled some Republican members?

 

Do they know the meaning of the word Accountability and Consequences?

 

I hope TRump starts his own party and splits the right-wing vote so that they can never come to power again. Stick that where the sun don't shine Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell, the enablers in chief.

I would stick Ted Cruz in there to downgrade from a Dastardly Duo to a Traitorous Trio.

2 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Odds on that he gets impeached, because the republican party will have realized by now, that he is completely off his rocker. His most ardent followers are of the same ilk, and who wants to be associated with QAnon etc. now that the fog of Trumpism is finally lifting from America? 

I wish that were true but there seems to me to be a "permafog" that's enveloping around 70 mil. Americans.

2 hours ago, 2530Ubon said:

Odds on that he gets impeached, because the republican party will have realized by now, that he is completely off his rocker. His most ardent followers are of the same ilk, and who wants to be associated with QAnon etc. now that the fog of Trumpism is finally lifting from America? 

This is a fuzzy concept to grasp. He HAS been impeached, twice now.

 

The next step is for the Senate to make the charges stick aka conviction. Whether or not they convict, he will forever remain a twice impeached loser.

 

Impeachment, without the moral backbone of the Senate to be honest and not play politics, is worthless.

18 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

This is ridiculous. Just plays into Trump's hands. Keeps him in the news and, if convicted, makes a martyr of him in the eyes of 74 million people. Pathetic, stupid move by Pelosi and her sycophants.

So you should be thrilled by this, right?