I enjoyed this white whine from Stephen Miller:
However, it appears the lawyers jumped ship because Trump is insisting on defending himself on the basis of election fraud rather than constitutional issues. So that removes the Republican fig leaf of constitutional grounds. They will have to acquit someone of inciting an insurrection who is admitting he tried to incite an insurrection. Even in the likely case that the Republicans still acquit him, this opens the door for Democrats to bar him from office on the basis of the 14th Amendment.
I don’t think it matters what Trump uses as his defense, including no defense. He doesn’t even need to raise the constitutionality issue at all. The Rs will still vote to acquit on that basis.
I’m not disputing that the Republicans will vote to acquit for whatever, but if Trump bases his defense on justifying insurrection it makes it easier for Democrats to take additional action on that basis.
And, it puts the R senators on record as supporting insurrection based on the fact-free, batshit crazy notion that there was some kind of invisible, unproveable evidence free election fraud. Basically, the R Senators will have to vote in favor of a violent armed takeover of Congress.
Dominion voting machine lawyers: “Please, please, please!”
One mention of the word “Dominion” and the lawsuit will hit the courts. I think the only thing missing from the already drawn up paperwork is the date.
I’m not saying there won’t be any repercussions for Rs voting for acquittal, but Trump’s response to any legal action is screaming WITCH HUNT to rally his followers into action. The Rs might decide they’d rather have liberals pissed off at them than gun-toting Capital-raiding conservatives. Their lawyers can always tie up legal action till Doomsday, but Trump’s mob scares them.
As I posted in another thread, his defense is going to be “They stole the election from me so I did the right thing by mustering an army of brain-washed cosplaying zombies to attack Congress, and any other reasonable person would’ve done the same thing.”
And the Republicans will have to convict based on that defense. Most of them will, of course — because if they don’t they’ll lose their jobs and get harassed and maybe assaulted.
But I’ll be fun to get that on the record.
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Yes, even if Trump defends himself. (Twitter is a-buzz with people urging him to do just that—‘think of the ratings!!!’)
The ONLY thing that would change this–the only thing that could induce enough Republican Senators to vote to convict–is news like this:
These particular numbers should be giving GOP Senators pause. But, of course, should the numbers move even more dramatically in the time between now and the vote–and they could, given the evidence the Dems will be presenting on TV screens for days–we could see some of the ‘never hold Trump accountable’ faithful starting to waver.
I’m sure Susan Collins has learned her lesson.
What is needed are numbers that will move Susan from “I’m very concerned” to “I’m losing registered voters in Maine at a clip that makes me more terrified about my 2026 prospects, than about Trump’s ability to send armed thugs after me.”
Repeat for another 19 Republican Senators, and we might see something the world has never before witnessed: Donald Trump being held accountable for his actions.
I bet he’s a marginal illiterate who Randomly Capitalizes his Tweets for Emphasis and sometimes goes into full all-caps mode.
Did you perhaps misspell “acquit,” or am I having difficulty parsing your post?
That’s how I read it.
Yes, I did. Sorry
I’m picturing a Captain Queeg moment, should Trump attempt to defend himself.
The problem is the assumption that this would make a difference. Republicans now are either full-on delusional and don’t believe that Trump ever did anything wrong and it’s all been made up by the lying media, or they’ve gone into Collinsesque handwringing about how, yes, it’s all extremely regrettable and obviously it would be bad if it happened again but anyway the Democrats would be worse and also abortion and/or judges so they have to keep on voting Republican.
This is where we are as a country.
Having seen That Scene from “A Few Good Men” recently…
Tom Cruise stands at the door of the courtroom. He adjusts his uniform, takes a deep breath, and opens the door…
Trump [yelling from the witness stand]: YOU’RE GOD-DAMNED RIGHT I ORDERED THE INSURRECTION!
In other news, Crazy Uncle Rudy claimed on Steve Bannon’s internet show that the Lincoln Project was responsible for the January 6 attack, a claim that made even Bannon go “Whoa there…”.
The Lincoln Project lawyers have responded, and it is a thing of beauty.
Between this and Dominion and not getting paid by Trump, Rudy is going to spend his last days living in a cardboard box on the street at this rate.