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THREAD. I had to take a little break from political Twitter to gather my thoughts on how the GOP is responding to impeachment. I find that in the face of gaslighting, it is useful to repeat things that we know to be true, and then assess the choices from there. To wit:
2. TRUTH #1: Donald Trump did not win the 2020 election. He could not accept this outcome. Because of his inability to accept this outcome, he manufactured a Big Lie that he *did* win the election, and put all of the official powers at his disposal to force this to be the case
3. TRUTH #2: As part of this effort, he attempted to 1) shakedown the Secretary of State of Georgia to manufacture 11,780 "extra" votes that would give him a victory in that state; 2) conspired with officials at DOJ to manufacture false cases of voter fraud in Georgia
4. and 3) rallied his supporters using the Big Lie to convene in Washington, D.C. to "fight" against Congress' Electoral College certification. When this became a violent insurrection at the Capitol, he refused to use his power to either verbally disavow that insurrection or
5. use his official authority to permit the National Guard and other reinforcement mechanisms to protect the official and constitutional functions of a coequal branch of government. In so doing, he violated his oath of office.
6. TRUTH #3: His words and actions, in addition to his failure to act, resulted in the death of 5 people, including law enforcement officials, and the threat to the lives of members of Congress and his own Vice President.
7. TRUTH #4: If he had succeeded, it is unclear what state of functioning our democracy would be in at this moment.
8. TRUTH #5: There are members of Congress who subscribe to the Big Lie, and are effectively representing the interests of the domestic terrorists who invaded our Capitol in our democratic processes.pic.twitter.com/kA7nwPBve4
9. Reasonable people cannot disagree on the above Truths. The question is how whether and how Trump should be held accountable for #1-5. Impeachment is one option through which he can be held accountable, and specifically whether he should be barred from holding office again.
10. If Senators hide behind procedural arguments for why Trump's actions cannot be adjudicated in an impeachment trial (on which the weight of experts agree is permitted), then they are avoiding, but not answering, the question of accountability
11. So the only questions to ask these people is: 1) Do you believe Trump should be held accountable for his actions? (yes or no) and 2) If not an impeachment, then how? (i.e., do they go on record as conceding that criminal prosecution is OK?)
12. Underlying both of these questions, of course, is the more fundamental question of: Do you disavow Trump's Big Lie? Unless GOP are willing to go on record saying YES, then they are 1) saying the insurrection was justified and 2) Trump should not be held accountable, ever /END
P.S. I am a linear thinker and I think there is a nice graph/flowchart that can be made from the above if anyone is inclined to make it!
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