Category: US Senate

Poll: 58 percent of Americans believe Trump should have been convicted

Respondents viewed the senators’ votes as acts of partisanship

Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should have been convicted in his second impeachment trial, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Monday.

While 58 percent of Americans overall believe the former president should have been convicted, the poll split largely along party lines. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats believe Trump should have been convicted, while 64 percent of independents and just 14 percent of Republicans agree.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 13 to 14 and sampled 547 adults through an online survey. Continue reading.

Key players to watch in minimum wage fight

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The battle over whether to keep a minimum wage hike in President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package is heating up, with key players on both sides of the issue digging in for the fight.

The debate is threatening to create deep divisions among Democrats as they move forward with an economic rescue package without GOP support.

Outside groups are also exerting pressure on progressive and moderate Democrats to boost the rate from $7.25, where it’s stood since 2009, to $15 an hour.

Pelosi says independent commission will examine Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Pelosi said the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex … and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.”

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. Continue reading.

‘A moment of truth’? After years of Trump’s lies, amplified by MAGA media, that proved impossible for most Republicans

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The words spoken on the Senate floor over the past few days were almost innumerable. But the ones that stayed with me through the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump were among the very first ones uttered.

“Democracy needs a ground to stand upon — and that ground is the truth,” lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin said in his opening statement, quoting his father, the political activist Marcus Raskin.

This Senate trial would not be a contest among lawyers, or between political parties, said the Maryland Democrat, who led the prosecuting team trying to make the case that the 45th president had incited the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Continue reading.

Historians issue dire warning: Trump’s acquittal could be damaging to America for years to come

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Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will likely be wrapping up over the next couple of days and, unfortunately, there is a strong possibility his acquittal could ironically fall on the most sardonic date: President’s Day. 

According to Axios, historians are focused on evaluating the bigger picture as it pertains to Trump’s controversial legacy: “the election fraud lie, the efforts to overturn the results through violence, the impeachment of a president days before his exit, and the actions of his own party to block his conviction.”

The publication notes how Trump’s impeachment trials have drastically diminished the power of the impeachment process, altogether. In fact, Renee Romano, a professor for Oberlin College, weighed in with her concerns about what a possible Trump acquittal would signify. Continue reading.

Senate GOP ready to turn page on Trump

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Senate Republicans are warning that they no longer view former President Trump as the leader of the party amid growing signs that they are ready to turn the page after a chaotic four years. 

Though only seven of the 50 GOP senators voted to find Trump “guilty” at the end of his second impeachment trial, Republicans, including those who voted to acquit, are plotting a future where Trump is no longer their center of gravity after years of dominating their day-to-day lives. 

Trump is showing no signs of going away, saying in a statement after the trial concluded that the MAGA movement was just getting started. But Republicans say he has a diminished following and competition for the party’s top spot.  Continue reading.

Opinion: Will Senate Republicans allow their louts to rule the party?

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The first of this century’s national traumas is denoted by two numbers: 9/11. One purpose of, and a sufficient justification for, the second impeachment of the 45th president was to inscribe this century’s second trauma in the nation’s memory as: 1/6.

Although not nearly as tragic as 9/11 in lives lost and radiating policy consequences, 1/6 should become, as its implications percolate into the national consciousness, even more unsettling. Long before 9/11, Americans knew that foreign fanaticisms were perennial dangers. After 1/6, Americans know what their Constitution’s Framers knew: In any democracy, domestic fanaticisms always are, potentially, rank weeds that flourish when fertilized by persons who are as unscrupulous as they are prominent.

The Framers are, to the 45th president, mere rumors. They, however, knew him, as a type — a practitioner of what Alexander Hamilton (in Federalist 68) disdainfully called “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity.” Post-1/6 America has a quickened appreciation of how those “little arts,” when magnified by modern modes of mass communication as wielded by occupants of the swollen modern presidency, make civilization’s brittle crust crumble. Continue reading.

An incomparable historic rebuke of a president by his own party

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The final chapter of Donald Trump’s presidency was written Saturday, leaving no question about how it will be perceived by history. Seven senators from his own party voted to convict him on an article of impeachment alleging that he incited an insurrection against the government, a condemnation unlike any other in American history. Trump’s second impeachment came much closer to conviction than either his first or that of Bill Clinton in 1999, precisely because so many Republicans supported the move.

The ultimate acquittal was expected. As we reported this week, only three members of the Republican caucus represent states that didn’t vote for Trump in last year’s election. Only about a third of the caucus faces reelection in 2022, which might have been expected to motivate them to appeal to a Republican base that is still strongly loyal to the former president.

Yet five Republicans from states that backed Trump supported conviction. The seven Republicans joining all 48 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents were Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah). Of those seven, only two — Burr and Toomey — have announced plans to retire, and only Murkowski faces reelection in 2022. Continue reading.

Republican Acquittal of Trump Is a Pivotal Moment for the Party

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The vote, signaling how thoroughly the party has come to be defined by the personality of one man, is likely to leave a blemish on the historical record.

During the first trial of Donald J. Trump, 13 months ago, the former president commanded near-total fealty from his party. His conservative defenders were ardent and numerous, and Republican votes to convict him — for pressuring Ukraine to help him smear Joseph R. Biden Jr. — were virtually nonexistent.

In his second trial, Mr. Trump, no longer president, received less ferocious Republican support. His apologists were sparser in number and seemed to lack enthusiasm. Far fewer conservatives defended the substance of his actions, instead dwelling on technical complaints while skirting the issue of his guilt on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

And this time, seven Republican senators voted with Democrats to convict Mr. Trump — the most bipartisan rebuke ever delivered in an impeachment process. Several others, including Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, intimated that Mr. Trump might deserve to face criminal prosecution. Continue reading.

Ron Johnson hammered for calling for Capitol riot investigation of Pelosi as Trump impeachment trial winds down

With the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump winding down and an acquittal looking all but certain, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), one of the former president’s staunchest allies in the chamber, demanded there now be an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to try to blame her for lack of security preparations in the Capitol — even though it was Trump who resisted calling in the National Guard.

“The public deserves full transparency,” said Johnson in his demand for such an investigation.

Johnson’s remark triggered immediate outrage from commenters on social media, who slammed him for attempting to blame Pelosi for the very thing he will likely acquit Trump of. Continue reading.