BREAKING NEWS: Trump Supporters Begin Making Public Assassination Threats Against GOP Senators Reportedly Open to Impeachment
1/ I'll admit that while I knew this was coming, this is earlier than I thought. In addition to praying for the safety of all senators of both parties, I hope senators will consider the danger Trump poses to our national security, inasmuch as he incites people to such sentiments.
2/ Remember that Trump has accused numerous federal officials who've displeased him of treason, and that the penalty for treason is death. Trump also has complained bitterly about our judicial system. That such sentiments would produce death threats from his fans was FORESEEABLE.
3/ I have not said this with other politicians of either party. Donald Trump is UNIQUELY inviting assassination threats against federal officials *of both parties* with his rhetoric, and on top of everything else, senators should consider this is deciding whether to impeach him.
4/ Trump is going around the country trolling Democrats by saying they're afraid of one legal process (election) because they think they can't beat him. Yet here we see his fans trying to shut down another legal process (impeachment) to protect him.
Both irony and horror abound.
Both irony and horror abound.
5/ These threats are another argument for impeachment being handled via a secret ballot that depoliticizes the process by protecting jurors' independence. We already know how each senator feels re: Trump; there's no harm in letting them pass rules to let their votes be anonymous.
6/ I know some oppose the secret ballot idea, but look at it this way: with these assassination threats, we're *already* at a point at which we can't know for sure if any individual senator's vote was made free of fear/intimidation regarding threats to themselves or their family.
7/ In other words, the one thing we can do in response to these threats is publicly and in calls to our elected representatives demand that the Senate vote on impeachment be a secret ballot that protects against the intimidation of any sitting senator from either political party.
8/ As I understand it, rule changes require a majority vote, meaning Democrats only need 4 GOP senators to support a secret ballot and ensure this will be a Senate vote free of the influence of threats or intimidation. And 4 senators have already allegedly been targeted for harm.
9/ Former senator Jeff Flake says that there are 75 votes in the Senate for impeachment if a secret ballot is permitted. So those Democrats who would rather sacrifice conviction and removal in order to gain additional knowledge of which 25 senators support Trump need to rethink.
10/ If 25 senators vote to acquit Trump, there will be absolutely no confusion whatsoever, based on the public statements of at least 25 senators, which ones are likely to have decided to enable Trump's betrayals of America. So I do not buy the argument against a secret ballot.
PS/ I hope it goes without saying that Trump must immediately issue a public declaration decrying any threats of any kind against Democratic/GOP senators who'll be sitting during the impeachment trial, and must make clear he wants the trial to be decided exclusively on the facts.
