On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump became the first president in U.S. history to be impeached for a second time, after inciting a violent mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow democracy. Clearly this is all uncharted territory, but there should probably be a rule that if someone is impeached twice—for whatever reason, but especially if it involves an insurrection—he is immediately removed from office. Literally: a team of Secret Service agents should be standing at the ready to escort him out of the White House, his belongings forwarded to him at his next destination. Instead, Trump is likely going to get to serve out his full term, and like most terrible things, we have Mitch McConnell to thank for that.
Yes, after seemingly leaking to the press that he was pleased Democrats were moving forward with impeachment, McConnell announced today that he will not bring the Senate back from recess until January 19, all but ensuring a trial won’t begin until after Joe Biden is inaugurated. According to CNN, the Senate majority leader “made that clear to Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer‘s aides on Wednesday,“ and also sent a note to Republican colleagues telling them the same, writing “the Senate trial [will] begin after President Trump’s term has expired.” Obviously, given the seven days until Trump’s term ends, lawmakers would be on an extremely tight timeline, but there is seemingly no (good) reason not to immediately move forward with the Senate‘s proceedings. CNN reports that Schumer called on McConnell to activate the emergency authority created in 2004 to reconvene the Senate, which merely requires the two leaders to bring the chamber back. And, of course, it’s not as though the senator from Kentucky hasn’t moved quickly on things when they were in his interest:
So now, because removing a clear and present danger to society is apparently a less pressing issue than installing a terrifyingly conservative judge on the Supreme Court, Trump will not only get to walk out of the White House on his own accord but also suck all the oxygen out of the room during the first few weeks of Biden’s presidency:
This all comes as the president of the United States poses such a threat to the country that an additional 5,000 members of the National Guard might have to be called in to protect the Capitol on Inauguration Day, which would bring the total to at least 20,000. Meanwhile, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that she wasn’t sure she was going to “make it to the end of [last Wednesday] alive,” and that it is “not an exaggeration” to say that many congresspeople were “nearly assassinated.” Thanks, of course, to Donald Trump, who still—still!—insists he did nothing wrong. That’s definitely the sort of person who should be allowed to just hang around the White House, and all the power that comes with it, for another seven days.
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Republicans decry lack of First Amendment rights while giving public, televised speeches on the House floor
“Do you have a functioning First Amendment when the cancel culture only allows one side to talk?” Rep. Jim Jordan asked on Wednesday, very much exercising his First Amendment rights. “When you can’t even have a debate in this country, this great country, the greatest country ever?” Apparently trying to make a similar point was QAnon-supporting Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wore a mask with the word “CENSORED” on it while speaking into a microphone to millions of people:
Corporate America, like most of America, thinks Trump shouldn’t be allowed within 10,000 feet of the Oval Office