No one should use powers of office to influence campaigns; they should do what is right. But since @HouseGOP seem to think it would be too risky to break from #TerroristTraitorTrump, they should rethink their notions of future electability... thehill.com/homenews/house…
You cannot campaign as being for “law & order” if you don’t stand firm against Trump’s incitement of armed insurrection against the Constitution itself. You cannot call yourself a patriot if you don’t stand firm against the seditious conspiracy & ALL of its adherents...
You will not be able to claim the mantle of Lincoln if, when your nation was attacked by Nazis & traitors, you stood by & asked that the rest of the country try to understand them. You will not be able to call yourself conservative in any way, if you stand with coup plotters.
The attackers killed a police officer who bravely defended you. Trump incited them. He took Officer Sicknick’s life & sent terrorists to kill the @VP. No one will ever take you seriously as pro-life, or even minimally loyal to anything, if you use your vote to give aid to Trump.
While the Capitol endured its first armed attack since the War of 1812 & a terrorist coup plot is still underway (in all 50 states, according to the @FBI), the nation is also under an unprecedented cyber attack. The bot army used by Trump to radicalize millions is cyber war...
It may feel daunting, if you were a pro-Trump Republican in 2020, to challenge the menacing & overwhelming force of that bot army; you may, indeed, be facing threats from pro-Trump extremists. But when that bot army is no longer aiding Trump, all anyone will see is complicity...
A vote by any Republican to aid Trump in his ongoing lifelong quest to escape justice—in the wake of a violent attack on the US Capitol, in the midst of an ongoing coup plot—signals: disloyalty to the law, disloyalty to the republic, disloyalty to all Americans & corruption...
That is what history will remember of anyone who sides with Trump after he sent terrorists to kill their fellow elected officials. History will remember any vote not to remove Trump for inciting insurrection as the shameful opposite of that nobility of valor evident at Arlington.
You will also have to campaign as someone who, while dozens of officers were harmed protecting you & one killed, refused to honor their sacrifice & instead sided with their attacker. This isn’t a D vs. R election; this is the Constitution, the republic, everything...
Many have noted that the further we get from Jan 6, the worse this is... it was a coordinated paramilitary attack intended to kill elected officials & overthrow the Constitution. It was real & it is ongoing. Decency prohibits you from using your office to condone anyone involved.
So does the law. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution states plainly that any person giving aid or comfort to insurrection is ineligible ever to hold office of any kind at any level, unless 2/3 of both houses vote to allow it... democracywitness.org/united-states-…
That 2/3 margin is the same as the 2/3 margin required for conviction in the Senate. It is not there just to “make it hard”. Many votes achieve higher margins. Senate debate about the validity of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump was ended by votes of 92-7 & 93-6...
The 2/3 margin is there as an indication that the Constitution wants all members to think about these questions outside of any question of party allegiance, as matters of transcendent moral & legal clarity, as stewards of our Constitutional democracy...
If you take the risk of appearing to be sympathetic to those who incite insurrection, you should be aware—the Constitution warns—that it would be wise to measure your choice against not what your partisans think, but the broad bipartisan majority of your colleagues...
Republicans successfully defended Trump the first time he was indicted by the House for high crimes. They made that argument then. Now, however, we are talking about insurrection, an attempted coup, attempted assassinations... treason...
However reluctant you are, as a Republican, to risk alienating pro-Trump voters who may not know all the details... the Constitution demands you be suspicious of any fellow Republican telling you it is OK to side with the insurrectionist...
Or that you can get away with saying you were just “seeking unity” or “thought it wasn’t the right time”... The Constitution clearly prohibits your use of office to aid Trump in any way, in these circumstances. You will abandon your oath if you vote to protect Trump now.
It also clearly prohibits Trump himself from giving any aid or comfort to insurrection, which he most certainly did—in public, to a crowd of insurrectionists that acted on his command, issued from behind bulletproof glass (he had perfect knowledge of what he was doing)...
To the @HouseGOP: Donald Trump betrayed his country, betrayed your voters, betrayed the Constitution, betrayed you. He sent terrorists to kill key officials & possibly you yourself. His actions violated #14thAmendmentSection3 & he now demands you do it as well, to defend him.
You have a duty to yourself, your family, your country & your God, to honor the rule of law, honor the Constitution, honor the sacrifice of Officer Sicknick & of all who rest in Arlington, to vote to impeach Donald Trump for the unforgivable crime of inciting insurrection.
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