"I hope this trial reminds America how personal Democracy is."
The quote in the headline for this post is from Congressman Marcus Raskin.
He presented a thirteen+ minute video compilation of the events of January 6th. It gives you a real feel of what it was like to be there. And the fingerprints of the ex-President can be seen everywhere.
This video is a must-see.
https://youtu.be/ERIbhsCzZwk
Aside from the Constitutional arguments (their primary source says they twisted his words) the ex-President's lawyers are presenting, they're also trying to rewrite history, something that is apparently a necessary skill for adherents of the GQP.
Here's Mark Sumner at Daily Kos:
As The Washington Post has reported, “Trump was initially pleased” by the assault on the Capitol and the resulting halt in the counting of electoral votes. According to Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, Trump was “walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building.” Witnesses said that Trump “belatedly and reluctantly” called for peace only after ignoring people both inside and outside the White House trying to get him to stop his supporters. Then, when Trump finally appeared before the public—following a demand that he do so by Joe Biden—Trump told the people smearing feces along the halls of Congress, “We love you, you’re very special.”
The claims that Trump was immediately horrified and that he acted quickly to restore order are both clearly contradicted by events and statements on that day. In making these claims, Trump’s legal team makes it more likely that witnesses will be summoned to directly counter these false statements and show that Trump is still lying to the American people.
But there’s one last thing about Trump’s final response that may make it even more necessary to call witnesses, no matter what kind of strange threat Lindsey Graham makes. That’s because Trump has apparently made it clear to his attorneys that at no point can they admit he lost the election. Instead, as The Daily Beast reports, every mention of President Biden is only as “former Vice President Joe Biden” and at no time can the attorneys admit that Trump’s lies about voting machines, dead people voting, truckloads of ballots, sharpies affecting outcomes, or any of the other conspiracy theories raised over the course of months … are lies.
Trump is insisting on running a defense that doesn’t just make false claims about his actions on Jan. 6, but one that extends his incitement to violence right into the impeachment trial itself. And that needs to be made clear enough that no flimsy shelter of “we’re only here to talk about technical issues” can protect Republicans when they give the last scrap of their party to Trump.
Donald Trump's word salads about the election being stolen and massive voter fraud were largely worded in a way designed to protect him from direct involvement. Think of how Mafia Dons use language to convey a meaning without incriminating themselves.
As for the crowd that breached the Capitol, they knew what they were being told to do. According to Mother Jones, a baker's dozen of them have already told the courts they intend to use the President's words to somehow justify their actions.
At least three suspects who said Trump compelled them to join the siege were seen in video footage amid violent altercations: One who allegedly struck a police officer with a fire extinguisher, another who allegedly struck an officer with a baseball bat, and another who was among a group breaching the speaker’s lobby doors just before one pro-Trump rioter was fatally shot by a police officer. Among those charged in the insurrection to date are at least five members of the neofascist Proud Boys, whose Long Island chapter announced on social media in December that Trump had given them “the green light” for January 6.
A few words about the quality of Trump legal defense... I'll defer to the former acting Solicitor General of the United States:
https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1359233366575448067?s=20
Or this review of the defense argument:
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1359235781890633729?s=20
The thing is, it probably doesn't make a difference. Trump could have Fred Flintstone yelling "yabba-dabba-do" and the vast majority of Republican Senators won't vote to convict.
***
Finally, let's look back at where this all started. Remember the 'Mexicans are sending us rapists bit' that Trump kicked off his campaign with?
Fox News is angling for a repeat from whatever demagogue comes next:
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