Our Best Work From a Very Tense Week for America

The aftermath of the Capitol assault, Trump's second impeachment, and Biden's opening policy moves.

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After Donald Trump surprised everyone by winning the 2016 election, I joked that “Well, if nothing else, the next four years should provide some interesting civics lessons.”

Folks, I’m sorry. I’m not usually right about such things.  

My joke wasn’t entirely a dig at the new president. But he had never held elected office, and some of his early priorities—a border wall that Mexico would pay for, a Muslim travel ban—seemed destined to invite legal and legislative challenges. And Democrats had not taken the election results well. In fact, on January 20, 2017, the Washington Post ran a story headlined, “The effort to impeach Donald Trump has begun.” Trump’s term began at noon that day; the story has a timestamp of 12:19 p.m. 

We’re quickly approaching our next Inauguration Day, and the civics lessons keep coming. On Tuesday, the House voted to impeach Trump on a single count of incitement to insurrection. Because the impeachment comes so close to the end of his term, and because the Senate won’t be back until Tuesday, there have been questions about convicting a president who is already out of office. Meanwhile, Trump is being investigated by both the Manhattan district attorney and the state of New York over his business practices, and the New York Times reported Friday that Georgia officials are considering investigating Trump over his phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pleaded for Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state and threatened him if he didn’t.

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  1. Brooklyn Expat

    The Dispatch staff is punching way, way, over its weight class not just in smart opinion journalism but in straight reporting period. It's a must-read not because it pretends to be objective, but because it offers a clear center right POV with integrity and without trying to curry favor with elected officials or flattering its readers...and while engaging other voices across the responsible political spectrum. I hope this is what the future of journalism looks like, and I'm proud to support it.

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    Gennimarietw

    Rand Paul is not heeding David’s call. He threatens to leave with 1/3 of the Republicans if they convict. Possibly the best thing that could possibly happen.

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      cheerio

      Wow, don't threaten us with a good time!

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        Gennimarietw

        LOL

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      John Kramer

      It seems like a split in the GOP is almost inevitable. If it happens, it's far better for the saner half of the party to retain the branches, the mailing lists, and the brand. Anything that provokes the lunatic fringe to leave that all behind and start their own party should be pursued with purpose, because the alternative is that the lunatics keep all that, and the moderates are left to start from nothing.

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        Gennimarietw

        This has been my thought as well. I don’t see any way for them to remain together. It would be horrible if the fringe group was left with all of the established institutions. It looks like it may happen that way though, if news from Arizona is any indication?? A lunatic is chair of the party there. It will be interesting to see how it plays out on a small scale...

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    3. Mary Stine

      Maybe that group could join my plan to ship all the Trump family to Mars, one way.

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        Gennimarietw

        If this is a subtle request for a donation to the cause, I’m in.

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    4. Jaybrown

      Agree! If that's what it takes to purge and rebuild, so be it. I may even rejoin.

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        Gennimarietw

        IKR

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    Phil H

    “Well, if nothing else, the next four years should provide some interesting civics lessons.”

    Wow. Just -- wow. That has turned into the biggest understatement since a man named Noah, who had just built a large boat, said, "Hmmm, it looks like rain."

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  4. Monty Brown

    Ok bottom line time. Provide for a trail to allow a proper defense. Due process is an important value, not just a legal requirement. Save the party for the future and end the ability for Trump to do more damage; so impeach and bar from office. Then for the PARTY set out an agenda that honors Trump's contributions but lays out goals for the future and guidance for the near and long term.

    Make no mistake this isn't hanging for the man, it is a necessary clearing of the decks to rebuild the party and open space for the new voices in the party. This does not require piling on for retribution, it is a way of saying thanks, but we must refocus to get the country on a good track. And any time wasted on purges will be met with failure and more delays and ultimately failure.

    Do the work and move on.

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    JohnM.

    Thanks as always, Rachel. I've never been happier to be a subscriber as I have this last couple of months.

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  6. The original Optimum.net

    Perhaps y’all missed it, but boebert’s comms director quit today. Lasted a scaramucci and a half. There are always offices on the house side that are revolving doors.

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      JohnM.

      Much to my shame & embarrassment, she is my representative in SW Colorado. She primaried our quiet but effective conservative congressman and won because he didn’t 'fight hard enough for Donald Trump'.

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        Dan

        It's the last part of your second sentence that concerns me--are there enough people in your district to override the Trumpers if Pelosi does bar & remove her from her seat and force a new representative? Or will another clone of her be nominated for the seat?

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          JohnM.

          Hopefully this won't happen as it would enrage her supporters. But if it does, then our Dem. governor or state legislature would name her successor. Hopefully the fever breaks before an election is held.

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  7. learnin4life

    I agree with Steve that time is short for the Repub senators to hitch up their big boy pants and decide whether they stand for Trumpism and their dreams of personal advancement or the Constitution of the United States. There is no middle ground or reasonable obfuscation that can spare the members of their very public choice. Trump has left them no course of action, but to disavow an unrepentant liar bent on destroying democracy, or destroy what the Republican party has stood for in recent times.

    I hope they make the right tough choice now to perpetuate the duopoly we now have because this may be their final chance.

    Sufficiently apocalyptic?

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    Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

    "The interval between the decay of the old and the formation and establishment of the new, constitutes a period of transition, which must always necessarily be one of uncertainty, confusion, error and wild and fierce fanaticism."

    Joh Calhoun

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    1. Mary Stine

      And in that interval, the players may find strange bedfellows.
      Those of us with a lifelong, steady and sober devotion to the truth and the Constitution will have to join with others of the same devotion, whatever party or no party.

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        Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

        LOL I never in a million years thought I would be lying next to Bill Kristol sharing a post-election cigarette.

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          Dan

          RIGHT?! yet... here we are. And I'm grateful for it. I'm looking forward to having intense sober-minded debates and arguments about issues of substance again... rather than whether or not God is helping Trump play 26D chess through His holy alien clones against baby-fueled Satanic lizard people.

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            Synchronize Your Dogmas (Bill B)

            No kidding. First thing on the agenda is restricted Satanic lizard people immigration.

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    Dave Conant - MO

    Outstanding end to the week, it will be interesting to see what you have to wrap up next week and whether it more closely resembles fish trimmings or late holiday gifts.
    I suspect that Mr. Biden has overreached with his stimulus package and, in large part, because he's stuck on the dollar amount instead of the impact. There is little disagreement that "something has to be done" but, rather than coming up with specific plans that might garner some support (possibly grudging) from both sides of the aisle he's throwing out more of the same. Using a shotgun approach for income reinforcement is old and enough time has passed since the economic crisis started that someone out there surely has ideas for a more directed, less expensive and more likely to work proposal than just adding $1400 to everyone. It also seems pretty clear that the equity and capital markets are in good shape and require no further assistance. Since the priority right now, after the disgraced president and his cronies are properly disciplined and removed permanently from the political scene, is getting people properly vaccinated a separate, single issue bill supporting just that would appear to be a quick and easy win. Unfortunately, it looks like a quick return to business as used to be usual with the same dismal expectations for success.

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    1. Mary Stine

      I could agree with this except for the fact that many Americans may face enormous medical
      costs due to Covid, either directly, from medical treatments for themselves or family members, or indirectly from required hygiene/safety improvements in their own business.
      Right now where I am, most clinics and hospitals are "only" taking their patients of record for vaccines, so one has to become a paying patient first. I don't blame them, they are struggling to survive also. Free testing is limited, fast testing is not cheap.. and some employers are requiring testing every week.
      Ideally, this aid would have been tied to either unemployment or medical expenses related to Covid, but instead it is just a mess.

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        Dave Conant - MO

        Where I am, no one really knows what's going on, some medical people have gotten their second round, testing is supposedly available at no cost to the patient but isn't really being used and, treatment is either covered by insurance or Medicare/Medicaid but still sucks up every bit of 'out of pocket'. A single bill dealing with Covid-19 costs for testing, vaccination and treatment if needed would be an inelegant but possibly essential response, especially in light of the responsibility government at all levels has for screwing up the situation in the first place.

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        1. Mary Stine

          Yes, it's the same here on the Texas gulf coast. Last year I couldn't get a Covid test because the state restricted those to people who had travelled out of the country or been exposed to same. Then later this summer they changed the restrictions to those who had been exposed to someone tested positive for Covid, then only people with symptoms until some of the private labs opened test sites for anyone, for a fee. Folks working for wealthy private corporations got the top tests every week free. One luxury senior living center here for active seniors got 500 doses for everyone including employees.
          One thing Biden should do is earmark vaccines, personell and reimbursement funds for rural areas and their few remaining hospitals. Even though Texas is a red state, several of the rural hospitals here report getting nothing in terms of vaccines.

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    2. Jaybrown

      Yeah, "let's give free money to everyone whether they need it or not" isn't not very smart. If the IRS can figure out who owes taxes, maybe the entirety of the federal government can figure out who this pandemic is hurting the worst and fix that?

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    Victor Clairmont

    Thanks for the round up as always Rachel.

    4 days till inauguration! What lies after that?

    Hopefully a sunrise, not a sunset!

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