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Donald Trump acquitted by Senate in second impeachment trial:
The Senate has voted to acquit the former president of the United States after the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump concluded Saturday. The vote came after a five-day trial where arguments centered around whether Trump incited the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, and whether it is constitutional to hear the impeachment trial of a former president who is now a private citizen.
Despite a compelling prosecution, an acquittal isn't unexpected. While the Senate is split 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tie-break vote as president of the Senate when necessary, the impeachment trial required a two-thirds supermajority for conviction.
This meant 17 Republican senators would have had to vote to convict Trump, an unlikely ask from the beginning. This was indicated in a Jan. 25 vote led by Sen. Rand Paul on whether the impeachment trial of a former president was "unconstitutional," during which just five Republicans voted against the motion. The first day of the impeachment trial this week then saw a similar vote, during which six Republicans voted with Democrats to continue the trial.
In the end, the vote was 57-43 to convict Trump, with all 48 Democrats, two independents and seven Republicans finding Trump guilty. The only members of the GOP who voted alongside the Democrat senators were Sens. Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey, Bill Cassidy and Richard Burr.
Also at: CNN, Al Jazera, Time, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 14 2021, @12:04AM (7 children)
"They all know Trump incited this riot."
Evidence?
He, and his supporters, were half an hour away when it started, so it's hard to see. Even if you pretend they were there, what he said still wouldn't constitute incitement. And if that did constitute incitement, then a bunch of house democrats would be going down for it as well.
Trump was a bad president, but a conviction on such nonsensical charges would have still been even worse precedent.
(Score: 1) by Sally_G on Sunday February 14 2021, @12:21AM (4 children)
Sorry man, that "half hour away" bit doesn't cut it. This is the age of the interconnected cross sectionalists. Trump's words were heard from one end of this country, to the other, within a couple MillyCyreses. Instantly, for all intents and purposes. And, yes, the internets even work in backwoods Washington, D.C. People clustered around the Capitol could have, would have, acted on the President's words instantly, had those words been inciting. There's not much lag from any one point within D.C. to any other point in D.C. unless you're proxying through Hong Kong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 14 2021, @12:40AM (3 children)
> Sorry man, that "half hour away" bit doesn't cut it.
The capitol had already been breached before Trump's comments which dems presented out of context as "evidence" were even made. tbf Democrats have been the source of so much negative energy over the past 5 years that time travel could be a possibility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 14 2021, @12:50AM (1 child)
Lie? Not a big lie, like Trump's "Stop the Steel", but a lie nonetheless. Does it become easier after a long time, to just lie off the top of your head? Or is it just standard Republican operating procedure, now that Trump has thoroughly corrupted them?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 14 2021, @03:48AM
I wouldn't know. [pjmedia.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 14 2021, @03:37AM
At least two requests had been made by 2 pm for National Guard assistance. The Action Secretary of Defense, Christopher C. Miller had two days earlier made it so that only he personally could authorize deployment of the local National Guard forces. That authorization came somewhere around 4 pm - the timeline didn't give an accurate time for that. Trump doesn't actually say anything to repudiate the violence and such till over a day later.
Sure looks to me like Trump and Giuliani riled up the protesters, both before and during the protest, and then Miller deliberately delayed the official response to the protest. That's a pretty dick move.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday February 14 2021, @03:40AM (1 child)
It takes some time to work through but if you want to understand the philosophical foundation for the hypocrisy we see all around us -- the "mostly peaceful" chyron in front of a burning building being the meme version -- listen to James Lindsay's reading and discussion of Herbert Marcuse' essay Repressive Tolerance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ju2BGLAi9A [youtube.com]
For a long time I have been frustrated by the obvious hypocrisy we see. Billions burned up, businesses destroyed, lives lost and yet media, corporate America, big tech, and politicians are singing a chorus of praise. It was exasperating to think people could not see the disconnect, that they are acting so illogically. Well, it turns out they aren't being willfully blind or intentionally stupid -- this hypocrisy is a strategy and not a failure of reason. Repressive tolerance is a spear. They intentionally choose to allow, excuse, and condone violence by the left, and to repress anything, even engaging in pre-censorship (e.g. Parler) that stands in opposition to the left.
Although understanding this tactic doesn't change the evil this idea and those who wield it are wreaking in the world, for me it short circuits the exasperation. These people are not too stupid to see their hypocrisy -- they own it and are using it as a weapon. Civil discourse, reason and logic are irrelevant to them -- getting you to waste your time and energy with them is a win for them -- and upon learning that, you can spare yourself the exhaustion caused by trying to grasp how anyone could be so ridiculously hypocritical. Understanding that hypocrisy is a strategy does not solve the problem of how to address the horrors these people are inflicting, but it at least leaves you the energy to work on solutions rather than getting ground down by mistaking the strategy for sheer idiocy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 14 2021, @08:51PM
But, seriously, hemocyanin, is it truly hypocrisy, or just cognitive decline on your part? They have tests for that now. Repeat after me: „Person. Frau. Mann. Kamera. TV“