Damning new facts show Trump may have known Pence's life was in danger when Trump attacked Pence during the insurrection. Democrats simply must call witnesses. If Trump knowingly pointed this loaded gun at Pence, we need to know the full story. New piece: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
I talked to a former Secret Service agent, who explained to me what Trump might have known about the danger Pence was in when Trump whipped up the mob against him.
This former agent says witnesses could help reconstruct what Trump knew and when:
@Timodc The chronology is increasingly damning. Live TV showed Pence being rushed to safety 11 minutes before Trump sent out that tweet casting Pence as a traitor to MAGA Nation.
And as @PostRoz and @jdawsey1 report in a great piece, Trump was watching TV:
@Timodc@PostRoz@jdawsey1 And here's @brianbeutler, making a broader case: Calling witnesses is critical to the full reckoning we need to protect the country from an authoritarian resurgence.
Mark it down: Most elected Republicans will end up comprehensively absolving Trump of any and all responsibility for inspiring the attack. His role will be erased entirely. @LindseyGrahamSC's abject toadying on Fox shows where this is all going. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
@LindseyGrahamSC News accounts keep claiming Dems have "failed to persuade" GOP senators to break with Trump. This framing is all wrong. It implies most Republicans have principled objections to the case against Trump. Everyone covering this trial knows that's nonsense:
@LindseyGrahamSC People have rightly ragged on Graham's "what did Pelosi know and when did she know it" idiocy.
But it's also worth noting that the underlying argument -- some preplanned Jan 6, and this exonerates Trump -- is also nonsense. These known facts demolish it:
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:
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: