For the second time, Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for conducting activities that violate Federal law when he was President of the United States. For the second time, the Senate acquitted Trump of his role in those activities. He became the only President to avoid being removed from office. Twice.
The now-former President had been accused of instigating some of his followers on 1/6/21 to storm the U.S. Capitol, temporarily stopping a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College vote that confirmed Joe Biden had been elected President. The result of the melee was five dead, scores of members of Congress and others hiding in "safe" places, Vice President Mike Pence getting put in danger, and plenty of video footage of mostly unmasked protesters going into places they shouldn't be.
The Senate voted 57-43 to convict Trump, but needed ten more to make sure he never runs for public office again. Significantly, seven Republican senators crossed party lines to vote for conviction, apparently not concerned about what this will do to their lives and careers in this gridlocked era. It makes the rest of the GOP and its followers seem like whipped animals afraid to challenge their master.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had as much to do with Trump's acquittal as any other Republican. As Majority Leader, he got the impeachment trial moved from January to February because it was too close to Biden's Inauguration. As Minority Leader, McConnell voted to acquit the former president because he is one, then ripped into him following the vote for his role in the insurrection. You can call it having it both ways. You can also call it continuing to call the shots in the Senate, even though the Democrats now control both houses of Congress.
Even without Trump in Washington, there's still plenty of disciples ready to continue his work, Such as Margaret Taylor Greene, the newly-elected GOP Congresswoman from Georgia who apparently thinks nothing of harassing anyone who doesn't share her worldview of conspiracy theories. Or Mike Lindell, better known as the guy who sells pillows on TV. He was seen hanging around the White House in the remaining days of Trump's administration, hoping to convince the President that martial law was the way to overturn an election that had been "stolen" from him. Lindell, like Trump, has since been kicked off of Twitter (twice) for espousing such alternative views.
And what has President Joe Biden been doing during all this? He mostly stayed away from the trial, but did leave a statement after the vote. He's also been shoring up some of the mess Trump left behind, which includes undoing many of his policies, getting as many COVID-19 vaccines going as possible (the death toll is inching toward the half-million mark), and working with Congress on a new economic stimulus package. Biden's being what most Americans seem to want these days--a functioning President.
Now Donald Trump is free to do whatever he wants. Start his own TV network, run for a second term in 2024, intimidate the remaining members of the GOP, anything he wants. But he can't tweet any more, and he's got legal issues up the wazoo that'll keep him in and out of court. In the end, though, it's more likely the former President of the United States will be seeing more time in the poorhouse than in the slammer. Sooner or later, his life of getting lucky might run out. But you can never count him out.
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Rush Limbaugh (1951-2021), the conservative talk radio host who more than anyone else transformed radio and politics into what they are today, died at 70 Wednesday after being diagnosed with lung cancer a year earlier. He made millions of dollars and won millions of listeners for the dying AM radio band preaching the conservative gospel while ridiculing liberals, feminists, minorities, etc. Limbaugh also helped turn the Republican Party into a right-leaning vehicle long before Donald Trump got his hands on it. The "ditto heads" will miss him, but not too many others.
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