by Tom Shafer
February 9, 2021
U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement about the Senate initiating the second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump today:
“Welcome to the stupidest week in the Senate. While Speaker Pelosi sent these backbenchers to tie up the Senate, she sent the rest of the House home instead of carrying on the actual work of the American people. Impeachment is not something we should use flippantly. As a response to her view that President Trump demeaned the office, the House Speaker is now making a mockery of Congress and one of the most serious institutions and processes in our country. It’s disgusting.”
This statement comes straight from Cramer’s website, so clearly, at least one senator will be voting against the impeachment article. So, Senator Cramer, let’s just gather some facts for you.
- On January 23, 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump makes this statement at Dordt College, a Christian school in Sioux Center, Iowa: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
- On July 19, 2020, Trump admits in a Fox interview that he won’t commit to accepting election results if he in fact loses.
- At an August 20, 2020, rally in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, Trump speaks about a rigged election: “So this is just a way they’re trying to steal the election, and everybody knows that. Because the only way they’re going to win is by a rigged election.”
- Between April 2020 and the day of the presidential election, Trump mentions rigged elections or voter fraud more than seventy times.
- On election night (actually November 4th), the hashtag #StoptheSteal appears on Twitter after the first of many misleading videos about voter fraud go viral. After the hashtag gains over 300,000 followers, Facebook shuts it down.
- On Saturday, November 7, 2020, Trump finally loses the election when Joe Biden is declared the winner.
- Predictably, Trump does not accept the election results.
- On December 14, 2020, the Electoral College confirms Joe Biden as the next president, ratifying his November victory in a state-by-state repudiation of Trump’s refusal to concede he has lost.
- On December 19, 2020, Trump first announces his January 6th March for Trump rally. Quote: “Be there, will be wild!”
- One week before the rally, Trump tweets another invitation.
- On January 2, 2021, Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) and eleven other Republican senators (including Josh Hawley of Missouri) – as well as more than 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives – vow to object to the certification of President-elect Biden’s election.
- On rally day (January 6, 2021), several speakers stoke the crowd with inflammatory, incendiary language (most of which are lies): “Show some fight. Learn from Donald Trump, and we need to march on the Capitol today” (Eric Trump); “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass” (Rep. Mo Brooks); “Let’s have trial by combat” (Rudy Giuliani); and “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about . . . So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” (Donald Trump).
- In the aftermath of the rally and Capitol siege, four are dead, one shot just outside the House Chamber, and a capitol police officer will die a day later from injuries sustained while defending congressional members and their staffers.
- In the days that follow the rally and siege, Trump shows no remorse and continues to claim the election was stolen from him.
The direct chain of events is obvious.
Senator Cramer, you’re making it very clear. Trump would have to physically kill someone before you would consider impeachment.
But now I’m thinking, maybe even that wouldn’t be enough.
And do you know who’s “making a mockery of the Congress” if this article of impeachment is denied?
Trump – and the traitors who stormed the Capitol.
Senator, I agree with you that this is “disgusting.”
And so is your statement.
12 ARTICLE I: INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION
13 The Constitution provides that the House of Rep-
14 resentatives ‘‘shall have the sole Power of Impeachment’’
15 and that the President ‘‘shall be removed from Office on
1 Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or
2 other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’’ Further, section
3 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits
4 any person who has ‘‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion
5 against’’ the United States from ‘‘hold[ing] any office . . .
6 under the United States.’’ In his conduct while President
7 of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional
8 oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the
9 United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, pro-
10 tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,
11 and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that
12 the laws be faithfully executed—Donald John Trump en-
13 gaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting vio-
14 lence against the Government of the United States.
English rock band Radiohead
