Impeachment reactions reveal how divided Americans are
Posted by Annie May / February 16, 2021
Seven Republican Senators voted to impeach Trump, which makes the impeachment with the most bipartisan support in American history. That does not signal a closing political gap in the nation, unfortunately. Fifty-eight percent of Americans think Trump should have been convicted, hardly an overwhelming majority. Worse, 77% of Americans think Senators voted purely based on partisanship and not on the facts presented to them.
A Senate Republican called for Trump and Pence aides to come forward to and tell the Senate what they know about Trump’s conduct during the riots, further sign of and anti-Trump groundswell within the party. And, most damning of all, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell savaged Trump in a blistering speech in which he said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6 Riots.
The early stages of Trump’s impeachment trial did not look good for Trump. His lawyer’s defense has been universally derided as terrible. Even Alan Dershowitz admitted he had “no idea” what was going on. Trump, for his part, was apparently “borderline screaming” and “deeply unhappy” about the first day. But apparently that doesn’t matter––several Republican Senators didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the impeachment trial, including Rand Paul who simply doodled, skipped out early, and also snuck a note to Trump’s attorneys.
According to a Marist Poll, half of Americans want Trump impeached. That’s down about 6% from last week, when a Monmouth University poll revealed that 56% of Americans approve of Trump’s impeachment, three percent more than approved of his first impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi announced her determination to cary out the impeachment process. Without justice, she said, there would be no unity: “Just because he’s gone now ― thank god ― you don’t say to a president, ‘Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration’ … because people think we should make nice-nice and forget that people died here, that [Trump attempted] to undermine our election, to undermine our democracy, to dishonor our Constitution.”
Democrat lawmakers announced a potential Article of Impeachment against Donald Trump almost immediately following the Capitol riots. Days later, Donald Trump has made history by being the only president ever impeached twice. The case will likely not go to the Senate until Joe Biden is president.
Newspapers around the country, including The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today have all published vehement criticisms of Donald Trump, following the violence he stoked among right-wing rioters, which led to the storming and brief occupation of the U.S. Capitol. That event followed a rally in which Donald Trump once more claimed to have been the victim of a rigged election.
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