Ted Lieu makes the argument for why Republicans should selfishly vote to convict Trump
The second Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump is now well underway and the Democrats are steadily compiling a mountain of evidence proving that the former president incited the Capitol insurrection on January 6th and that he must be held accountable for it. People died and democracy itself was attacked all because a petulant egomaniac couldn’t bring himself to admit that he lost a fair election and chose instead to lie to his supporters, claiming that his second term was being stolen by crooked Democrats and the Deep State. How could such apocalyptic conspiracies not end in violence?
Yesterday, the Democrats unveiled disturbing new footage of the Capitol siege showcasing the violent MAGA mob attacking police as frothing Trump fanatics stormed the building. Today, Democrats continued to hammer home the undeniable fact that Donald Trump is directly responsible for everything that happened.
Impeachment manager Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) gave a particularly impressive performance when it came time for him to address the Senate today. Lieu focused on the fact that Trump has failed to show any remorse for his actions meaning that there is a risk he will try something like this insurrection again.
House impeachment manager Ted Lieu says Trump failed to show remorse in the days following the Capitol riot: "President Trump, who was commander in chief at the time, did not attend and pay respects to the officer who lay in state in the very building that he died defending" pic.twitter.com/GlP2UDGIy2
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 11, 2021
Lieu also did a great job of breaking down Trump’s motivation leading up to the Capitol attack. After his legal attempts to overturn the election based on nonexistent evidence of mass voter fraud failed and his attempts to coerce election officials to do his bidding failed he had officially run out of “nonviolent options to maintain power.” Rather than accept this reality, Trump attacked members of his party on Twitter, trying to force them to help him steal a second term or else face consequences. Those consequences turned out to be a violent riot.
“President Donald J. Trump ran out of nonviolent options to maintain power,” House impeachment manager Ted Lieu said, describing Trump's efforts to threaten officials and call out senators https://t.co/pDhbKMZndM pic.twitter.com/NjyLLZeshK
— CNN (@CNN) February 10, 2021
Rep. Ted Lieu: ‘In his desperation, [Trump] turned on his own vice president … As a veteran, I find it deeply dishonorable that our former president and commander-in-chief equated patriotism with violating the Constitution and overturning the election’ pic.twitter.com/c510vW6y9L
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 11, 2021
David Frum, a former member of the George W. Bush administration and a frequent critic of Donald Trump, pointed out that the main thrust of Lieu’s speech was straightforward: Republican senators who refuse to convict Trump will be essentially cutting attack ads for their opponents next election cycle. An acquittal of a blatantly criminal ex-president will be an albatross around their neck that will be exploited again and again by political enemies.
Hopefully, GOP senators see the wisdom of this argument and vote against Trump. Failing that—the likeliest outcome given the deep-rooted cowardice that has immobilized the Republican Party for four years in the fact of a flagrantly unfit president—they must be made to pay at the ballot box.
"President Trump's own cabinet – four Republican governors – called Trump's actions a violent attack on our democracy. Senator YOUR NAME HERE called it … no big deal."
— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 11, 2021
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