Trump showered with demands for a 2nd impeachment in reactions to call with GA Secretary of State
Once the full audio of yesterday’s call between Donald Trump and the Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was published by The Washington Post, people of both political parties — outraged by what they heard in the seditious conversation — began expressing their anger on social media and in interviews with the media, sending the hashtag #TrumpTreason trending on Twitter.
The leaked recording of Trump’s call — in which the president cajoled, flattered, pathetically begged, and ultimately threatened the state official in charge of Georgia’s elections with criminal prosecution if he didn’t magically “find” enough votes to reverse the already certified election results — dispelled any skepticism that the desperate, failed candidate would go to unprecedented and decidedly criminal lengths to avoid losing his presidential immunity to prosecution and inspired calls to hold the lame-duck president accountable through either impeachment or criminal prosecution.
George Conway, the notoriously anti-Trump Republican attorney and husband of former Senior Advisor to the treasonous president, cited the exact statute that Trump violated with his attempt to reverse the legitimate results of the Georgia presidential election.
52 U.S.C § 20511(2)(B):https://t.co/77RvQ2onWz) pic.twitter.com/rrvyEdZYdQ
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 3, 2021
Conway also tweeted that the recording proves that Trump’s mental capabilities are as impaired as he’s been shouting from the rafters for many months now.
This tape just shows that he's completely delusional.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 3, 2021
Kudos to the people who taped and released this.
I hope that everyone else with recordings of his delusional rants now come forward with theirs. It's important that all this be fully documented.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 3, 2021
Add your name to tell Trump: You Lost! Concede!
Another conservative Never-Trumper, political commentator Bill Kristol, pushed for at least the initiation of formal impeachment proceedings against Trump, despite the fact that in the 17 remaining days of his term there is little time to actually complete the process.
As a matter of political hygiene and constitutional precedent, the House Judiciary Committee should at least draft articles of impeachment based on this call, even if there's not time for the House to adopt them.https://t.co/L0us4YjoPQ
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 3, 2021
Former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan weighed in with a statement that denounced all efforts to overturn the lawfully decided election, increasing the schism within the Republican Party that Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat has created.
Paul Ryan, who has commented sparingly since leaving office, with a clear denunciation of senate and house efforts to block certification pic.twitter.com/d9o5VHDNyW
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 3, 2021
It wasn’t just disaffected Republicans condemning Trump’s actions, of course.
Democratic leaders vowed to prevent the dangerous losing candidate from succeeding in his mission to retain power with a soupçon of “we told you so” to the Republican Senators who acquitted Trump in his impeachment trial a year ago over a similarly threatening phone call with the president of Ukraine designed to ensure his electoral domination.
Trump’s contempt for democracy is laid bare. Once again. On tape.
Pressuring an election official to “find” the votes so he can win is potentially criminal,
And another flagrant abuse of power by a corrupt man who would be a despot, if we allowed him.
We will not. https://t.co/YH7VtLJn3x
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 3, 2021
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) called for a full-blown criminal investigation over the call.
The President is unhinged and dangerous. Those who encourage and support his conduct, including my Senate colleagues, are putting the orderly and peaceful transition of power in our nation at risk.
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) January 3, 2021
Former Clinton administration official Paul Begala pointed out that even a self-pardon couldn’t protect Trump from the violation of Georgia state law that he so obviously committed.
Okay, legal Twitter: read the Official Crim. Code of Georgia, 21-2-604. Trump's call looks to me like a plain violation of Georgia law: https://t.co/iVP1I4PSLj
Then read 52 USC 20511 to see what I think is a clear violation of federal law. https://t.co/IBaL6s57Ig
Am I wrong?— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) January 3, 2021
While Twitter is full of equally outraged posts venting anger over Trump’s latest constitutional atrocity, the editorial published this afternoon in The Washington Post by all 10 living former Secretaries of Defense warning the military not to get involved in Trump’s seditious election dispute should hopefully temper any hope that the desperate president may have of taking an even more rash and unconstitutional move when his behind the scenes political and legal maneuvering ultimately fails.
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To explain the magnitude of Trump’s transgression in his attempts to intimidate Georgia election officials, veteran journalist Carl Bernstein who broke the story that brought down President Nixon in the 1970s told CNN that this president’s actions are “far worse than what occurred in Watergate.”
“At the same time this one person subverting the very basis of our democracy, and willing to act criminally in that subversion,” said Bernstein. “But more importantly, what we hear on this tape — this is the ultimate smoking gun tape. It is the tape with the evidence of what this president is willing to do toll undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly, and immorally try to instigate a coup in which he remains the president of the United States.”
What happens between now and Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20th is anyone’s guess at this point.
Suffice it to say that American democracy is in the biggest danger it’s been in during most of our lifetimes.
Those not prepared to defend it from Trump, his minions, and his violent right-wing militias will have to be willing to give up every freedom they now enjoy.
And you thought having to wear a mask was bad.
Just wait until a Trump dictatorship is illegally installed and you’ll be looking back at 2020 as the good old days.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
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