It is also a vote to acquit themselves

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos summarized the first day of the second impeachment trial. The purpose of the day was to say yes, the Senate does have the right to hold the trial, even though the nasty guy is no longer in office. This time six GOP senators agreed, one more from a similar vote taken previously. A big part of this summary is the contrast between the competence of the trial’s managers from the House and the nasty guy’s personal lawyers. Rep. Jamie Raskin was highly competent in laying out the argument that presidents don’t get a January exception permitting seditious behavior. Raskin also talked about his personal experience inside the Capitol and being separated from his family. As for the defense lawyers Bruce Castor and David Schoen, Sumner wrote:

When the House managers sat down, it was time for Trump attorney Bruce Castor to rise and … what happened next is difficult to summarize. Castor provided the Senate with an hour of talking for which even the word “rambling” doesn’t seem to apply. … Finally, after reaching nothing that appeared to be a conclusion, and not even coming close to the question of the constitutionality of the trial, Castor sat down and handed things over to Trump’s second attorney David Schoen. In what was apparently a distracted cop/angry cop paring, Schoen spent the next hour haranguing the Senate with a presentation that featured lengthy diversions into topics such as bills of attainder, that verged on Giuliani-esque while never dropping below a boiling point of mixed disdain and disgust for his audience.

At the beginning of trial proceedings yesterday the prosecutors showed a video of the incitement rally and what happened during the Capitol attack. Andrew Desiderio, a reporter covering the Senate for Politico, described some reactions as senators watched the video. I get the impression many didn’t know how close they had come to danger before they got to a secure location where they didn’t see the news.

Sen. Lankford (R-Okla.) was incredibly shaken up after that last video of Officer Hodges being crushed. I and other reporters in the chamber observed Lankford appearing to get teary-eyed. Sen. Daines (R-Mont.) was comforting him and was holding his arm. While those graphic videos were playing, some senators looked away. Other stood up and leaned forward to get a closer look. Earlier, Lankford looked down and shook his head after seeing the video of Ashli Babbitt shot outside the House chamber. When video played showing cops as human barricade so senators could escape, Sens. Warner and Bennet pointed at the screen, seeming to identify themselves. Sens. Durbin and Gillibrand looked away when Officer Hodges was being crushed.

I’ve heard some of the strong seditionists got busy with their phones while the video played, or they left the Senate chamber. So after getting an emotional response to this video did any votes change? Malcolm Nance tweeted:

Today’s lesson: Armed White people can violently attack the citadel of democracy and live. Unarmed black people can try to live peacefully in a democracy and die.

Jay Stones replied with an image of what looks like a credit card. It says:

White Privilege Card Trumps everything 0045 0045 0045 0045 Member since Birth, Good through Death Cardholder Scott Free

Back in April 2018 Sarah Kendzior was already pushing for impeachment. Here’s a bit of the tweeted summary of the Gaslit Nation episode of that time.

This was previously not a controversial view, as Trump has committed a multitude of impeachable offenses, including but not limited to: violating the emoluments clause; obstruction of justice; ordering unconstitutional imprisonment of migrant families abusing the pardon power; high crimes and misdemeanors; conspiracy against the US; and conspiracy to illegally influence the 2016 election. Trump has committed these crimes in plain sight and confessed to some of them, like obstruction, on television. These are not merely constitutional violations but severe threats to national security and public safety that require immediate action – investigation and indictment as well as impeachment.

For now we’ll go with inciting insurrection. Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR talked to Sarah Longwell, publisher of the conservative site The Bulwark about what to do about elected officials who participated in trying to overturn the election. Most of these elected officials participated by contributing to the Big Lie, that the election results were fraudulent. Those who actually attacked the Capitol have been arrested. They’re at the bottom of this chain of insurrectionists. The nasty guy is at the top and is on trial. Members of Congress who are accomplices are in the middle and should also face consequences. They were a part of filling the mob’s heads with poison. One consequence is to lose an election. Alas, that will take time to play out. So it is up to the culture, using such things as shaming. Media editorial boards should relentlessly call for resignations. Corporations should withhold donations and deals to anyone who objected to this election and maintain that stance. Congress should use censure and expulsion, but that’s difficult. So many GOP members participated that they’re going to protect each other. Dems could do it on their own, but then would look political. Can they get enough GOP votes for accountability within their own party? I’ve got a couple quotes from Greg Dworkin’s pundit roundup for Kos. The first is from Jill Lawrence of USA Today. The title of her piece includes “GOP means ‘Grievances On Parade’”

Trump has spearheaded the downward redefinition of personal responsibility. The expectation is that bad behavior will carry no consequences, and if there are some, that’s liberals trying to cancel conservatives.

A tweet from John Harwood:

don’t forget: since most GOP senators either actively fostered or quietly acquiesced in Trump’s lies about the election, a vote to acquit him is also a vote to acquit themselves

Then Pippa Norris of the Washington Post. She mentioned the GOP has punished party regulars, such as Liz Cheney, but not seditionists Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

But the notion that the GOP would suddenly abandon Trumpism once Donald Trump left the White House has the basic story upside down. Trump wasn’t the cause of authoritarian populism; his success was the consequence of deeper underlying forces.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (who represents me in Congress) is a community member of Kos. A couple days ago (I saw it just today) she posted on the political situation, otherwise known as the GOP demands for bipartisanship. She started with:

First of all, what a bunch of hypocrisy.

Tlaib mentioned they ignored bipartisanship while blocking Obama’s judicial nominees and anything passed by the House in the last two years. There were no Dem votes when they gave away trillions to the 1%, but they squawk when Dems want to invest trillions for struggling families. They’ve shown they are morally bankrupt throughout the pandemic.

We can’t measure legislation’s success based on whether it was bipartisan, but on whether or not it made a difference in the lives of the people we represent.

And now the GOP is demanding we “move on.” They use tactics of abusers. They are fighting new Capitol security measures.

They don’t get to talk about “healing and unity” in their attempt to escape accountability.

After discussing voter suppression, conspiracy theories, and growing disinformation about the Capitol attack, she said we need to address this growing disinformation and the impeachment trial is a good place to start.

The Republican call for “bipartisanship,” by which they mean continuing to fail to serve the American people, is a disingenuous call on their part. The majority of voters from both parties support the bold changes that we need—changes that Democrats are pushing for.

On to other news. Joan McCarter of Kos reported Biden’s American Rescue Plan might turn out to be a bill to lift people out of poverty. In addition to the minimum wage increase there now a plan for monthly cash payments to parents of minor children – $3,600 a year for each child under 6 and $3,000 a year for children up to 17. While the original bill provides payments for a year there are already plans to make the payments permanent. It’s a politically smart plan based on the moral idea that children should not grow up in poverty.