The second impeachment of Donald Trump has begun with a deceptively edited video in an attempt to convince Senators to convict the former President. Lead Impeachment Manager Jamie Raskin presented the nearly twelve-minute long video to applause from the mainstream media and those who support impeachment, but groans of unfairness from those who oppose it. Although all of the scenes in the video did happen, they are totally divorced from context.
The video focused on the events that transpired on January 6th, 2021 at the US Capitol building in Washington DC. The strategy from impeachment managers is to link Donald Trump to the riot that happened at the Capitol by saying that his speech incited and provoked the violence. They did their best to prove this by using a heavily deceptive video but there is one key issue. Trump specifically called for everyone listening to him speak that day to “peacefully and patriotically” have their voices heard at the Capitol. That specific piece of video is curiously left out of the impeachment managers’ deceptively edited video attempting to prove the case for impeachment and conviction.
Any attempt to convict Donald Trump on the count of “inciting a riot” during this impeachment trial is essentially doomed to fail. Impeachment conviction requires 2/3 super-majority vote of the Senate to happen. Rand Paul previously arranged a vote in the Senate to determine the constitutionality of following through with the impeachment trial of a person no longer in office. The result of Paul’s vote is that 45 of 50 Republican Senators said that this impeachment process was not constitutional. Super-majority, in this case, would require all Democrats, Independents, and 17 Republicans.
To put it simply, the math simply does not add up here. Impeachment against the president is a case that is all but dead. This is a dog and pony show if there ever was one.
SOURCES:
Rand Paul calls impeachment ‘dead on arrival’ after most Republicans signal that trial is unconstitutional – CNNPolitics
Man charged in Capitol riot says he worked for FBI, holds top secret security clearance | TheHill
Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready. — ProPublica
U.S. Senate: Impeachment
Impeachment and Removal from Office: Overview | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress