Let's drop this bad framing which says GOP senators must choose whether to be "loyal" to Trump or not. Their choice is actually between being loyal to Trump and being faithful to their oath to defend the Constitution. Sorry: It can't be both. New piece: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Trump's lawyers will argue the Senate "lacks jurisdiction" to convict him, because he's no longer in office.
This is BS. But it also reveals how badly GOP senators want to avoid taking a stand on what Trump actually did, revealing their own dereliction:
Senators take an oath to defend the Constitution. As jurors, they pledge to be impartial.
I talked to scholar @BrettschneiderC about the role these oaths play in the constitutional scheme, and why acquitting Trump will inevitably be a betrayal of them:
Not good. Dems are worried that implicating the GOP in Trump's effort to overturn US democracy will make conviction harder. But acquittal is *preordained.* Spelling out GOP complicity is crucial in getting both the story and the politics right. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
One of the most consequential questions of the moment is whether Democrats will accept **and act upon** the full implications of the GOP's ongoing radicalization.
A full accounting into the insurrection is absolutely critical to that larger project:
Large swaths of the GOP are deeply implicated in Trump's effort to overthrow US democracy. It lasted for months, with active complicity of many Republicans.
It would be folly to insulate the GOP from this, in the belief that conviction remains possible:
Good to see: By moving on reconciliation, Dems show they're learning. They're wise to McConnell's scam, in which he used filibuster to *withhold* cooperation. Going big on spending now could boost faith in govt and undercut Trumpist populism. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Here's how Mitch's scam works:
He claims the filibuster facilitates bipartisanship. But the truth is the opposite: He uses it to *withhold* bipartisan cooperation, for cynical purposes.
Reconciliation makes bipartisanship *more* likely, as I argue here:
If Dems go big on spending now to address deep injustices revealed by the pandemic, it could revitalize faith in government and clear political space for sanity on immigration and climate.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's ideology isn't just QAnon. It's also MAGA. Greene endorses violent warfare against the opposition, just as Trump did. Republicans won't meaningfully hold her accountable for this, just as they're acquitting Trump for it. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
We still don't have an answer to this question.
At the meeting where Republicans gave Marjorie Taylor Greene a standing ovation for supposedly renouncing some of her views, did any of them confront her over her endorsement of executing Democrats?
There is a clear link between the GOP dilemmas over Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump's impeachment. In both, Republicans largely still have not unambiguously declared that political violence is wholly intolerable and has no place in their ranks. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Republicans who criticize MTG keep focusing on her conspiracy theories. They use phrases like "nutty" and "loony lies."
I call BS. Greene has also *endorsed the execution of Democrats.*
Rs should say more about that, too. But that's dicey for them:
Dems are investigating whether the suppression of DHS intelligence about violent white supremacy and right wing extremism -- done to bolster Trump's campaign agitprop -- may have helped exacerbate the insurrection at the Capitol, @RepAdamSchiff tells me: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@RepAdamSchiff The post-Trump fumigation will have to be epic.
We need a full reckoning with Trump's use of large swaths of the government to manufacture a left-wing terror threat and downplay violent right wing extremism, and the ways all this led to the insurrection:
Republicans are now openly boasting of their plot to win the House through extreme gerrymanders. This alone should dissuade Biden and Dems from negotiating down the stimulus to secure bipartisanship. Dems may have only 2 years. Make them count. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Media is getting snowed by the GOP proposal. It's a double-whammy of bad faith. It's meant to create the impression that Rs are willing to do *something* amid two major crises while also creating a bogus way to claim Biden is reneging on "unity" promise: