Dakota Beacon

Let’s see if I have this straight. The US House of Representatives, 117^th Congress, impeached President Donald J. Trump on January 13, 2021. This was his second impeachment (a badge of honor maybe) as he overcame all attempts to eradicate his presidency – without success -- since his election in 2016. The vote on a single impeachment article – incitement of insurrection – went like this. For: 222 Democrats, 10 Republicans. Against: 0 Democrats, 197 Republicans. Not voting: four Republicans who made excuses. The US Senate received the single article of impeachment on January 15, 2021.

Impeachment. Think about two points. Is it Constitutional? If so, is there sufficient evidence to convict?

First things first. Will there even be a Senate trial complying with Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6 of the US Constitution? (Check it out.) Probably not. The Senate must agree that a trial is warranted and it does not appear that the Constitutional prerequisites have been met. For instance, the Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside for a sitting president as stipulated by the Constitution. Instead, Senate pro tempore Patrick Leahy will preside over the “trial” of a non-sitting president.

Second, consider the shoddy evidence submitted to support the charge. Trump’s second impeachment was done under the pretext of inciting an insurrection. Allegedly he urged people attending the Save America rally on January 6 to riot at the Capitol Building. There’s absolutely no evidence that the President’s words urged riot or unrest. In fact, his words mitigated against that claim.

Roughly 20 minutes before the end of his speech scuffles broke out between demonstrators and Capitol police according to the NYT's timeline. Police were seen about 1:00 pm holding off groups of demonstrators pushing up against the thin police line in front of the Capitol steps. It was then that the first police barriers were reportedly breached by the group. The timeline shows the President was still on stage and speaking when that clash started.

Even left-leaning Snopes concurred that President Trump did not explicitly tell the assembled group to “storm” or “breach” or “break into” the Capitol. Trump did tell supporters to gather at the Capitol and try to convince members of Congress to delay the process that would affirm Biden's presidency.

It was a subjective call as to whether Trump's use of phrases "you have to show strength" and "demand that Congress do the right thing" were meant to condone violence and crimes without explicitly encouraging it.

The siege might have been averted had the Capitol Police responded with increased security. But, after monitoring communications chatter, the Washington field office of the FBI never considered the rally a security threat in the first place.

Nevertheless President Trump was not only blamed for the violence, he was impeached for inciting it.

This whole impeachment fiasco demonstrates political theater at its best. How many words might describe the foolish efforts of the Democrat leadership? Farce, burlesque, comedy, lampoon, fake, counterfeit, phony, pretense, slapstick, parody, satire, persiflage, foolery, ridiculous.

But the Democrats aren’t stupid. This is not business as usual, Democrat versus Republican, otherwise known as “retail politics.” Beneath the surface and behind the curtain the real motivation for impeaching and convicting President Trump remains unreported by the mainstream media. Hate, spite, loathing, and vileness manifested in a disqualification vote by the Senate would prevent Trump from ever running for president again. Democrats may be able to twist enough arms of Never-Trump Republicans in order to convict.

The Democrats would have a pretext if the Senate passes a disqualification vote. They can’t remove him from office but they can say he’s disqualified from ever running again for federal office even though it is bogus. He’s got due process and equal protection rights. But Trump’s nemeses are going to try. If successful, they could litigate every time the GOP tried to put Trump’s name on the ballot in every jurisdiction. It would cost a lot of money and create a huge problem for Trump.

The fervent prayer of the Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans would be to get rid of Trump once and for all and to never allow him to enter the political scene again. Fat chance. President Trump accomplished more for America, the middleclass, and conservatism than any president since Ronald Reagan as articulated by Howie Carr in last week’s column. And seventy-five million people know it.

No congressional business to see here; no democracy in action. The entire charade smacks of political theater with a heavy dose of hatred, vengeance, and vitriol. Congressmen and senators deem the impeachment and conviction of a non-sitting US President of primary importance. These elected officials believe they are taken seriously as “doing the people’s business” when in fact they are promoting a political farce. We voted for them. Live with it.

May the farce be with you.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).