The Case for the Second Impeachment of the Former President

Greetings, Beautiful People!

I am writing this article on the third day of the Second Impeachment Trial of Donald Trump. I feel compelled to write because I have been struck by the evidence presented by the Democratic Impeachment Managers over the past two days. They have concisely laid out the overwhelming evidence against the former President with video footage, resources from academic scholars, and personal testimony. Given the disdainful actions and words of Trump over the past four years, I thought that he was guilty of inciting the riot. After the evidence presented, I now know how and why he is guilty and have facts to support this opinion. I will lay them out in this article so you can come to your own conclusions based on fact.

Tomorrow, Trump's defense lawyers will make their case on why they think that Trump should not be held responsible for the violent coup attempt on January 6th. Trump has a right to make his case; but his defense is weak at best. On the first day of Impeachment Proceedings, his defense team tried to assert that the Impeachment trial was unconstitutional due to Trump no longer being in office (even though he was impeached in the House during his presidency and the Republicans purposely delayed the trial). With a 56-44 vote, the Senate determined that it is constitutional to hold this trial so Trump's defense can no longer use that argument. It will be interesting to see how they defend the former President's actions given the unimpressive nature of their first performance.

For those of you who haven't been watching the Impeachment Trial, I encourage you to watch the highlights here. In addition to that, please read through the following points below. Keep in mind though, that I am writing as someone who has already made up their mind based on the facts. I encourage you to seek out further resources to inform your own opinion.

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Throughout his presidency, Trump has consistently made incendiary remarks. He has ridiculed a disabled person, told his supporters to be violent at a campaign event, and referred to some white supremacists as "very fine people", and defended the teenager who killed two BLM protestors last year. At the event that preceded the insurrection attempt on Jan. 6th, he told his supporters these things: "walk down to the Capitol", "you will never take back our country with weakness", "fight like hell", "you have to show strength, and you have to be strong", and "we're going to take it back". Of course, these are only a small part of his speech that day so you can read the full transcript here. It is important to point out the violent rhetoric because that is what incited his followers. One can say eight amazing things and two violent things but be held responsible for the two bad things. People aren't prosecuted based on what they did right but what they did wrong. Those quotes were wrong of Trump to say so it's just to hold him accountable for them.

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You must keep in mind that he spoke at this event on the day that the votes of the 2020 election were being certified by Congress. He spent weeks emailing and tweeting for people to attend the event knowing full well the importance of that day. As I'm sure you know, Trump has perpetuated the lie of his own making that the election was stolen. It is disgusting for a President to lie to his supporters about his loss which is why Trump is the first to do so. He lost by 7mil votes in the popular vote and lost 306-232 in the Electoral College. All of our intelligence agencies and voting officials have said that the 2020 election was secure, fair, and free. That is fact. Anything else is a lie and a conspiracy. That means, Trump has knowingly spread lies about the election. Why? Was the lie told with the intent of stealing power? Is the lie being spread to soothe his ego? Regardless, it demonstrates a man who lacks integrity. If he can shamelessly lie to millions of people who follow him blindly, why wouldn't he then incite those very people to attempt a coup on his behalf?

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I urge you to remember that it took him over two hours to address the rioters once they had breached the Capitol. Why? He was the one who gave them instructions to go to the Capitol. If he genuinely didn't mean to incite the insurrection, wouldn't he have immediately condemned the act? Trump's dereliction of duty is damning. When he finally put out a video, he told the rioters to go home in peace and he said these statements: "Go home, we love you, and you're special", "There's never been such a time ... where they could take it away", and "This was a fraudulent election". It took over two hours for him to double down on his lies, show love to the murdering rioters, and offer a weak request to go home.

Trump tweeted this right after Mike Pence had been evacuated...

The most loyal Republican to Trump is Mike Pence. Trump turned on his own VP and abandoned him to possible assassination at the hands of his own supporters. The rioters were only minutes away from finding Pence, Pelosi, Romney, and Schumer. When Trump sent that tweet, he had been told about the crowd chanting "Hang Pence" and knew that they had breached the Capitol. He had time to call Senator Tuberville to tell him to delay the certification but didn't call off his supporters. What kind of person allows that behavior? The same person who incited it.

Trump never gave the order to send the National Guard. Mike Pence was eventually the one to give the order. I cannot fathom any other President refusing to send the National Guard in that situation. Particularly, I would think the same President who ordered peaceful BLM protesters to be violently removed for a vanity picture would have done the same thing on January 6th unless he wanted it to continue. He said that he "loves" the people who stormed the Capitol and beat a police officer to death; but he has refused to say anything positive about people who protest for justice.

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Donald Trump is a man who embraces white supremacy but vilifies anyone who disagrees with him. As a man who is fully aware of his power over his followers, he used his platform to enlist violent extremists to "Stop the Steal". Had he not spread the election lie, our democracy would be stronger. Had he not invited the rioters to go to the Capitol, Officer Sicknick would be alive today. Had he called them off and called in the National Guard, mostly Black and Brown janitors would not have been forced to clean blood, urine, and feces from the hallowed halls of the Capitol building. In my opinion, only a man comfortable with evil behavior could do such a thing: unfortunately for us, Trump is that man.

There is much more evidence against former President Trump; but I wanted to lay out a few points for your inspection. As you come to your own conclusions, I request that you ask yourself this question: If the incited domestic terrorist attack on January 6th isn't impeachable, what is?

Thank you for your time,

CC