Trump's two impeachments hold same lesson: Republicans can't be trusted with our democracy

[mdbl]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/15/trump-acquitted-democrats-end-filibuster-fix-democracy-column/4482660001/

Jason Sattler
Opinion columnist

A grand total of seven Republican senators.

That’s how many members of the so-called world's greatest deliberative body were willing to convict ex-President Donald Trump of the most documented — and possibly most heinous — crime any American president has ever committed against our constitutional order. It can't get much worse than inciting an insurrection that killed five and easily could have taken out several if not dozens more, including the same Republican senators who voted to acquit Trump.

To be fair, seven issix more Republicans than were willing to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial, which dealt with a lesser crime that also demanded removal, also related to Trump attempting to steal the 2020 election. But the lessons of both impeachments were the same: The Republican Party cannot be trusted with our democracy. Sure, we should have known this before both trials. Yet Democrats had no choice but to document Trump’s high crimes for history, along with Republican complicity in those crimes, and hope to make them pay a political price for both. And you can argue that this strategy, though probably too limited to capture the monstrous scope of Trump’s crimes, succeeded.
America rejected the Party of Trump

Under Trump, Republicans lost the White House, the House and the Senate in one term — something that hasn’t happened since Herbert Hoover was president. But Trump also is the first modern president to leave office with fewer Americans employed than when he came in — something that also hasn’t happened since Hoover. And there was the pandemic that left more than 400,000 Americans dead on Trump’s watch, with 40% of those deaths being avoidable, according to the recent findings of a Lancet Commission.

So it’s hard to tell exactly what made this country reject Trump’s GOP so quickly. What is clear is Democrats now have less than two years to do everything they can to make sure America never faces another president who would turn a deadly mob on his own running mate and our government. We have now seen the limits of the Republicans who believe they have any responsibility to govern, especially when a Democrat is president: exactly seven Republicans. But to make almost anything happen in Congress, you need 10 Republican senators because of the Senate filibuster. Actually, let’s be precise. Because of Mitch’s Filibuster™.

read the rest...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/15/trump-acquitted-democrats-end-filibuster-fix-democracy-column/4482660001/

[Joinfortmill]

1. Totally agree. Dems need to get tough and stay tough.

[TryLogic]

9. "Republicans cannot be trusted with our democracy"

Democrats, please hammer this over and over and over. PLEASE.

[Laelth]

2. No. They can not.

They hate democracy and they are suspicious of our republic.

It’s not “Republicans” who are the real problem, It’s “conservatives,” no matter what party they embrace at a given moment in time. They have always been suspicious of the Federal Government of the United States. They have NEVER fully embraced it. In 1861, they went to war against it. They resisted it during Reconstruction. Some of them still dream of seceding from it. In the 1930s they plotted a coup to overthrow Roosevelt. They resisted it with all their might in the 50s, 60s, and 70s in response to desegregation and civil rights. Since 1980, they have been arguing that government is, essentially, EVIL ... as preached by their hero, Ronald Reagan.

No. Conservatives are not patriots. They are “conditional” Americans—ones who like government only when it bends to their prerogatives. They fear and secretly loathe the Federal Government, while they greedily and ungratefully reap the lion’s share of its benefits. This isn’t really anything new.

-Laelth

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yes and they take/steal as much of the taxpayer dollars as they can.

They are more like a crime syndicate than a party.

[mdbl]

5. Well stated.

[Aussie105]

4. Biden and the whole Democratic party have a big job ahead of them.

Firstly, undo the damage Trump's party has done in the last 4 years.

Secondly, get seriously active on the COVID response.

Thirdly, prove to Republicans, on a daily basis, that they are no longer in power, their rhetoric has no value, and they should cooperate or shut up.

Somewhere along the line people who voted Republican may wake up to realize the way of the Democratic party is a much better option.

Busy, busy! But I'm confident it can be done.

[Jon King]

6. They can never hold the Presidency again...

PA, MI, WI, AZ, GA must be held through a dedicated and year round ground game and whatever perks Dems can give. Try to flip NC next. But for the future of the country and the planet, Repubs can never, ever win the Presidency again. Way too much damage can be done when they hold that office.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Yes, the political divide has become more than just partisan

It's reached the roots and justification for the system of government itself.

GQP policies even undermine the Declaration of Independence and the Enlightenment. No surprise there - the anti-science posture strikes at the foundation of reason, thought, logic, even culture.

[TryLogic]

8. The Republican party is about greed, racism, and evangelical fundamentalism.

The number one psychological characteristic of their voters is fearfulness (my perception, and experience).
Fearfulness is the number one characteristic of conservatism (my logic).
They have a sad existence. I wish they would not try to make everyone else share in that.

[Nitram]

10. "Republicans can't be trusted with our democracy"

This.