Republican Senators are giving an attempted impeachment of former US President Donald Trump a thumbs down, as noted by Politico:
Senate Republicans are coalescing around a long-shot bid to dismiss the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump before it even begins, relying on a disputed legal argument that says putting an ex-president on trial is unconstitutional.
and..
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview that concerns about the constitutionality of putting a former officeholder on trial were top of mind among GOP senators — even those who are open to voting to convict Trump on the House’s charge that he incited the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 that left five people dead.
“Our members, irrespective of what they might think about the merits, just believe that this is an exercise that really isn’t grounded constitutionally and, from a practical standpoint, just makes no sense,” Thune said.
Let’s just move on.
President Trump shouldn’t have goaded on those people to go to the capital. But let us move forward.
Actually, Elaine, he did not goad anybody to do anything of the sort. If you bothered to read his remarks, then perhaps you would know this. But you would rather remove from office someone who is not even in offic.
Thune and the rest of his swamp buddies are looking for cover when they have to vote not guilty. They love to claim conscience when bashing Trump, but when the rubber actually meets the road, it’s ALWAYS self preservation.
“Go home. We love you, you’re very special.”
AFTER the Capitol was attacked… and four people died… who said this?
Then there is that “trial by combat” quote by Rudy Giuliani encouraging the Capitol attack.
You can let these folks continue to direct the Republican Party but you will end the party, or America. One or the other.
Elk – Serious question What do you think about the following:
-Tim Kaine calls on liberals to “fight in the streets” against Trump and his supporters.
-Obama-appointed Attorney General Loretta Lynch calls for liberals to march, bleed and die in the streets as they “resist” Trump.
-Vulgar liberal comedienne Sarah Silverman calls for a military coup against our duly-elected president.
-Madonna publicly fantasizes about blowing up the White House at the Women’s March in Washington, DC.
-“I’m counting down the hours ‘til he’s gone. I plan to pull him out of there by his hair, his little hands and his feet,” said Pelosi of Trump.
“He better have an army if he thinks he’s gonna walk down the street in New York. New Yorkers don’t want to have anything to do with him,” said Cuomo. “He can’t have enough bodyguards to walk through New York City.”
-“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” said Schumer
-“You get out and create a crowd and push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” waters said.
“And so it’s time for everybody to stand up. All hands on deck to refuse this president these fake emergency powers that he would like the have. And so I’m urging everybody get together —rally in every community across this country all this weekend, send a message to Washington, D.C., ‘No, Mr. President, we’re not going allow you to do this,” said Waters.
-Hillary Clinton: “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for”
-You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there’s unrest in our lives and unfortunately there’s plenty to go around,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley said.
-“They’re not gonna stop, and everyone beware, because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not gonna stop after Election Day. Everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they’re not going to let up — and they should not. And we should not,” said Harris.
-“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors,” Obama said on the presidential campaign trail in September 2008. “I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face,” Obama said
-“Please don’t just come here today and then go home,” Booker said. ”Go to the Hill today. Get up and, please, get up in the face of some congresspeople.”
-“I said, if we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.- Joe Biden
Lets also not forget how many on the Left Cheered when Rand Paul was attacked by his neighbor and how the Left has sat by for almost a year and called the riots “peaceful protesters.
This is just small glimpse of remarks folks on the Left have that instigate violence yet we want to forget ALL this hate and rhetoric the Left has spewed for the last 4 years. I would like you do DEFEND these comments and ACTIONS by your side of the Fence. If you had a shred of integrity you would call a spade a spade. Either violence and rhetoric are bad across the board and you can’t then I guess we can just continue to ignore your Half Brained logic and Hipocrisy
A President has enormous power. Their words are taken seriously by followers even when those words are reckless lies.
He invited this crowd to be there at the exact time of the electoral count. He incited them to violence along with Giuliani and Don Jr. And following the attack, he said: “Go home. We love you, you’re very special.”
Give me a break. Of course other people have said things that are over the top. That doesn’t have anything to do with this.
And here Elk goes again self-excusing his hypocrisy.
Well, let’s take a little hypocrisy test, Steve. What would you have thought had Obama called the Secretary of State of Michigan as well as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016? Demanding an increase in Clinton’s vote count? Hmm?
Yea. I thought so.
But I would have had a fit then too. It’s called… being consistent.
Ilk
That you’ve never been.
It is okay for liberals, just not for conservatives. Sorry i didn’t quite understand.
It’s some of you folks who’ve been screaming about riots all year that now look away from this one. This attack on the foundations of democracy.
I have never condoned riots. Now, or ever. And you accuse me of hypocrisy?
You need to see a mental evaluation. THE MOST POWERFUL ENTITY ON EARTH IS THE MEDIA. They are carrying the water for the Dems and they have let this crap go on for 4+ years. The quotes above include then-Vice President Biden and now President Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Get your on some serious crack if you cannot see these people are very powerful and have been in power for 40-50 years. Your double standards are deafening but, you are a Liberal so you have No standards
If inflammatory rhetoric alone made for impeachable offenses, Trump would have been impeached a hundred times.
Keep trying ilk
And let’s not forget about election fraud. The only proven election fraud was Donald Trump demanding 11,780 votes from the Georgia Secretary of State. Easily an impeachable offense.
Amen
Impeachment is the process by which we remove top government officials. If Trump is president, you can impeach him. If Biden is president, you can impeach him.
For normal citizens, (i.e. not high officials) another process exists: indictment and prosecution. I’m sure Trump will be prosecuted. Perhaps he’ll be convicted. He could be jailed; he could be executed.
Regardless, Trump’s impeachment should be dismissed. It’s moot. Our Constitution is clear: “The president . . . shall be removed from office on impeachment and conviction. Furthermore, “judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal and disqualification.” That means the consequence – the remedy — of Senate conviction is removal from office. If you’re not president, how can you be removed?
The zealots cry, “Show me where it explicitly states we can’t impeach Trump! Point to the clause!” Sigh. Hamilton and Madison expected us to be a bit smarter. Somewhere, gazing down, they’re disappointed. In 1786, a few states allowed impeachment of former officials. The Framers could have included that provision. They didn’t. Conspicuously, our federal Constitution requires the chief justice of the USSC to preside over senate trails only “when the president of the United States is tried.” There’s no mechanism for senate trails of former presidents. There’s a reason that’s missing. It’s the dog that didn’t bank.
Some want Trump impeached & convicted to prevent him from holding future office. They fear he’ll win again. But, over and over, our federal courts have ruled that the Bill of Attainder Clause PROHIBITS such disqualifications, even on conviction.
I know lots of lawyers. Tons. Many are liberal dems. I ask: “So, do we impeach *former* presidents? Obama? Bush? Clinton?” The lawyers flash embarrassed smiles. Some blush. Some laugh & say, “Impeach? Well, err I mean, technically… No. That’s not really what it’s for. Impeachment is an improper remedy. But, you know, Trump is really awful, so….”
What is your reason for trying to confuse people with the facts?
Can you not impeach/convict a President who commits impeachable offenses in the last days of a term?
Impeachment is a process congress uses to remove a bad leader from office. When that leader’s term ends, impeachment becomes moot. If he dies, it’s moot. If he resigns, it’s moot. Because if he dies or resigns, he’s out of office. The impeachment becomes unnecessary once its goal [removal] has been achieved.
I believe that impeachment and conviction can include a remedy of forbidding the official from holding office again. A good reason to still impeach and convict after they leave office especially when the offense was late in a term.
Here is the text from the US Constitution, Article II Section 4: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Notice it says REMOVE from office. It does not say anything about someone not in office. If this were the case, then we could impeach the former President Obama for spying on the Trump campaign and his transition. Your hate shows.
Your main reason at this time for impeachment which cannot be legally done is to prevent Trump from holding office again. Interesting you want to eliminate a choice. If Trump was so bad, then you should encourage the Republicans or the replacement party to nominate him so he can lose in a landslide. But then you probably ain’t that smart.
Should Donald Trump be able to run again after trying to steal the Georgia election? With 11,780 votes demanded from the Georgia Sec. of State.
No. And that was before this latest outrage.
His incitement to attack the Capitol was close to the day he left office. I don’t know if they’ll be able to find him guilty after he’s out of office. I hope so.
Elk, from a legal perspective, there’s no reason the state cannot *prosecute* Donald Trump. Here’s how it’ll work: A member of Biden’s DOJ, likely the new AG, will file a criminal indictment in the DC court. The indictment will accuse Trump of committing a federal crime or crimes. I suspect it would go to trial. If the AG proves Trump committed a crime, Trump will be convicted and sentenced. He could be fined, jailed, even executed. The judge can enter injunctions ordering Trump to do things or refrain from doing things. This happens every day; it’s the function of the Justice Department and our Judicial Branch. It is NOT the function of our legislature to try, convict, or sentence private citizens. Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 prohibits Congress from passing a “bill of attainder.” A bill of attainder is legislative act declaring a specific person guilty of a crime and/or prescribing a punishment. The Constitution’s bill of attainder clause reflects the fundamental principle that our legislature is not empowered to adjudicate guilt or mete out justice. As expressed in the Democrat supporting Washington Post: “a majority of the House and Senate barring Trump from future office would raise serious constitutional questions…. it violates the bill of attainder clause, and unlike many of Trump’s arguments, this one would be far from frivolous. Trump could cloak himself in the authority of Salmon Chase, an outspoken abolitionist, racial progressive, and original member of Abraham Lincoln’s team of rivals.”
Ascertaining a citizen’s guilt or innocence is what our courts were designed to accomplish. We have a code of criminal procedure. We have rights, rules, and precedents. I’m not saying the system works flawlessly — it doesn’t — but that’s how we do it.
“It’s the dog that didn’t bank.”
autocorrect is the devil
It would be nice if Tom Thune would back up a little bit from McConnell’s backside to let him what the US Constitution actually says about impeachment. If he did that, he might enjoy the fresh air.
The thing they were trying to imprach him for has been proven false anyway.
So? What’s your point? The thing they impeached him for the first time is for what the current Pretender actually did.
My point is they are both built on lies.
the problem with blaming Trump for what was happening a mile and a half away from where he was speaking was that it wasn’t the people listening to his speech who started the riot.
The New York Times has this nice explanation of the timeline, with a map, of what was going on at the Capital and what was going on at the rally, which shows it wasn’t the same people, Trump was late getting to his own rally, and talked longer than anyone had expected.
According to the New York Times, many of the people who stormed the Capital building were already assembled there before Trump even started speaking, and others left during the speech and headed for the Capital, suggesting that they were trying to get there “in time” for something which was preplanned.
It will be up to the FBI to figure out who planned it.
But it can’t be blamed on anything Trump said in his speech, because the rioters never heard it.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html
I knew there would be trouble that day. At least a week in advance. I knew it was going to be wild. You know how I knew? Because Trump said it would be “wild”.
It was obvious he was already doing illegal and unethical things to overturn the results of the election. He was contacting legislators and Governors and Secretaries of State to pressure them. He was lying about vote theft while attempting vote theft. He was hinting at trouble. His close associates were even advocating for martial law.
Yes. I knew. A lot of people knew. But, even today, some of you want excuse it with whataboutisms. Somebody else said something, sometime. And that can be used to excuse almost anything… can’t it?
His words, alone, in that speech will not convict him because he didn’t say directly to go over there and riot and kill people. He’s not that dumb. He should be convicted because he planned it, incited them to act along with others, and then even praised the attackers after the fact. He did nothing to stop it for hours.
They have to prove that all of this occurred. I believe they will.
“whataboutisms”
Ah yes…..another libtard hallmark term used to deflect away from the exposure of their sides hypocrisy they don’t want to have to account for.
“because he planned it”
Where the proof? Show us the e-mails, texts, tweets, or documents where President Trump told certain people to be here, do this or that, and this is what I want you to do. Not your speculations or wishes or opinion…..solid proof. The liberal media, who would love to be able to pin this on President Trump, has already come out with reports that the riot had been pre-planned days in advance.
From The Hill:
“As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building,” Sasse told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt in an interview. “That was happening. He was delighted.”
“I’m sure you’ve also had conversations with other senior White House officials, as I have,” Sasse told Hewitt.
Seriously….this is the proof that President Trump had this all planned out with the bad actors?
No. I didn’t say it was.
It is more information that, if proven true, would demonstrate the depravity of the man who was in the Oval Office. But I am sure you’re not interesting in finding out.
It would help determine his state of mind or intent.
“Libtard”
“…aint that smart”
“You need to see a mental evaluation.”
“…your Half Brained logic and Hipocrisy”
All of that just for stating what a majority of Americans think right now.
How nostalgic. Takes me back to Junior High every time you guys finish typing.
” Takes me back to Junior High every time you guys finish typing.”
So when can we all expect a call from your mommy?
If you hear from my mommy, you are insane. If you know what I mean.