NO, the Senate acquitting Donald J. Trump in his second impeachment trial did NOT mean the 45th president was not guilty of inciting the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
It only meant it did not have 10 more Republicans voting to convict, as seven others courageously did.
The final vote revealed that a majority gave a guilty verdict — 57, including seven Republicans joining Democrats, while 43 voted to acquit him, all of them Republicans. Sixty-seven votes were needed to convict.
Trump has been terrorizing the Republican Party, warning them against voting against him, threatening them and their families. Using his power over his die-hard followers, he stoked fear among the members of Congress who desperately wanted to cling on to power even if it meant selling their souls to the devil.
One month ago, the House voted 232 to 197 to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection, with ten Republicans joining Democrats.
This happened one week after the January 6 riot when an armed pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol to stop the members of Congress from fulfilling their Constitutional duty to officially declare that Joe Biden won, based on the results of the November 3rd election.
We all have seen videos of the riot that killed five people, injured 140, put the lives of the members of Congress at risk, threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence after he did not follow Trump’s will that he should reject the Electoral College vote, vandalized and looted the Capitol.
All of these were products of Trump’s hateful rhetoric, lies and disinformation even before the election, that the only way he would lose was if the election was stolen from him. After the November 3rd election, his rhetoric became even viler, continuing to claim he won by a landslide and that there was massive voter fraud — a claim that had been rejected in courts and by election officials across the country for lack of evidence.
And on January 6, Trump did nothing to stop the carnage, even praised the mob for being patriots. Those arrested and convicted said they were just following the orders of Trump.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the third highest-ranking Republican, contended that Trump summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said.
“We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor before the votes were cast. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”
After the House impeached Trump, it was the Senate’s duty to either convict or acquit Trump. McConnell could have called the Senate back to work before Biden’s inauguration, but he did not. This, even after saying that he was glad the House impeached the President as this would purge Trump out of the Republican Party. This, after he and the Republican leadership rebuked Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection.
The Senate’s acquittal of Trump a month after is glaring evidence that the Republican Party has ceased to be the party of Lincoln, the party that upholds the Constitution and the rule of law. It revealed their true color, their true reason for being in office, and that is their greed for power.
During the 2016 presidential primaries, these Republicans had warned the American people against Trump, how much he did not embody the values of the Republican Party, how much of a pathological liar and crook he was, and why he should never be trusted.
But Trump was right after all when he said that he could shoot somebody at 5th Avenue and still win the election. He was referring not only to the Republican base. He was also talking about the supposedly honorable members of the Republican Party who were accorded public trust through the public posts they hold.
These public officials, both elected and appointed, all swore to serve the people and to defend the Constitution. Unfortunately, these Republicans in Congress all betrayed their oath when they chose to be more loyal to Trump than to the Constitution.
McConnell sharply criticized his former ally in a speech on the Senate floor shortly after Trump was cleared in a 57-43 vote, saying the rioters had been “fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry he’d lost an election,” CNN reported.
“Former President Trump’s actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty,” added McConnell. “Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”
But they acquitted him anyway. They failed to fulfill their duties of checks and balances and accountability as mandated by the Constitution because, like Trump, they wanted to hold on to power. Birds of the same feather flock together. They were complicit. They were all as guilty as Trump.
These Republicans are not true public servants. They failed us. They failed to honor our will. We, the People have spoken. We voted out Trump. We voted out Republicans in the Senate and the House. Let us continue to guard our democracy — the government of the people, for the people, by the people.
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Gel Santos Relos has been in news, talk, public service and educational broadcasting since 1989 with ABS-CBN and is now serving the Filipino audience using different platforms, including digital broadcasting, and print, and is working on a new public service program for the community. You may contact her through email at [email protected], or send her a message via Facebook at Facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos.
