In failing to convict Donald Trump for inciting the storming of the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election, Republicans will continue to pay a heavy price for their fealty to the disgraced former president. The Grand Old Party has lost its way and remains hostage to the Trump cult of personality.
Even though Republicans acknowledge Trump was responsible for the insurrection, and the resulting death and destruction, they let him off scot-free. Not holding Trump accountable for his treasonous actions is reprehensible. When called to defend the US constitution, Republicans failed their sworn duty.
It is not insignificant that Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives with 10 Republicans voting to make it bipartisan. Nor is it insignificant that seven Republicans voted to convict Trump in the Senate. The 57-43 vote is a black mark against Trump’s presidency. Those Republicans in the majority acted with integrity and responsibility to their country.
But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell personified the deluded reality that the other Republicans find themselves in: repudiating Trump but unwilling to make him responsible for his actions. In a bizarre speech, McConnell excoriated Trump and then exonerated him.
“There’s no question, none, that president Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said. “No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.
“And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
McConnell said Trump was guilty of a “disgraceful dereliction of duty”. He said Trump’s “intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories” was “orchestrated” by him to “either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out”.
Despite this, McConnell voted to acquit Trump. He claimed it was unconstitutional to convict a former president, even though the Senate voted that it was constitutional. Moreover, McConnell refused to reconvene the Senate after the House impeached Trump on January 13, even though he remained president until January 20.
The case for impeachment and conviction was overwhelming. Trump refused to accept the outcome of the election, tried to intimidate state officials into changing votes, pressured his vice-president, Mike Pence, not to certify the electoral college vote and then encouraged his supporters to ransack the Capitol.
The rioters were directed by Trump and acted on his behalf. His name was emblazoned on their clothing and flags. The rioters believed they were acting with his authority and support. They have said as much. Some now feel betrayed by Trump. The evidence in the Senate trial showed the insurrection was more dangerous than previously thought.
The rioters came close to being face to face with members of congress. Video and audio confirmed several rioters were hunting Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi; some wanted to kill them. When Trump was phoned by Republicans pleading for him to intervene, he failed to see the urgency. Even when his vice-president’s life was in danger, he did nothing.
If a president cannot be convicted for sedition, then what on earth can they be convicted for?
The tragedy for Republicans is they fail to comprehend that Trump lost them the House in 2018, the presidency in 2020 and the Senate in 2021. This is Trump’s legacy: handing the White House and Congress over to the Democrats. The Republican Party remains in Trump’s grip yet he has been brutally bad for them and the country.
It is no longer the party of great presidents like Dwight D Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan or George HW Bush. There is little room for moderates like Thomas Dewey or Nelson Rockefeller, nor for genuine conservatives like Barry Goldwater or George W Bush. Trumpism is not a coherent ideology but rather a mix of populist nativism, protectionism and grievance coupled with deranged conspiratorial beliefs.
A Senate conviction would have been a clean break with Trump. But Republicans have ensured he remains a force within their party. There is the risk that if Trump runs for president in 2024 it could cause a split in the party. If Trump won the nomination, it could lead to a breakaway party being formed. Or if Trump failed to win the nomination, he could run as a third-party candidate.
It is a pity the Senate did not enforce the 14th amendment to the constitution, which can prohibit a former president from running for office again if they have “engaged in insurrection” or given “aid or comfort” to those who have.
It was not expected Trump would be convicted by the necessary two-thirds majority vote in the Senate. But nor was it expected that Republicans like McConnell would condemn Trump in the harshest terms, making it clear he was responsible for the Capitol insurrection, but then be too gutless and cowardly to vote for his conviction. The upshot is that Trump continues to cast a dark shadow over his party and the country.
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