He ain’t goin’ away, folks!
Trump has just established an official post-presidency office in Florida. “The Office of the Former President” will manage Trump’s correspondence, public statements, appearances and official activities.
According to a press release, “President Trump will always and forever be a champion for the American People.”
More A Lago
Did you expect him to vanish? : )
Most presidents seem to have a post-presidential life, and set up their offices, staff and libraries.
I’d love to be in on the library discussions. : )
Did you expect him to vanish?
I can dream, can’t I?
Senate Trial
His lawyers have laid out a two part defense for the impeachment.
The first part is that the Senate has no business messing with a private citizen and that impeachment is for Presidents and he is no longer a President. This part doesn’t hold much sway with me, since his lawyers refer to him as President Trump (as they should), and he was impeached by the House while holding office. He can’t be removed from office but could be prevented from seeking office again. If a president can’t be impeached days after leaving office for things done while in office, then I’d like to be president. That’s a great loophole to exploit in the future.
The second part of the defense is that he was exercising his first amendment rights, saying things he thought to be true, and none of it meant to incite. This is more interesting to me as a defense. At what point does a call to fight for a strong belief cross over into sedition? Politicians surely must be able to call on supporters to fight for $15. What if an actual fight started?
There’s no way for us to know for certain what Trump was thinking. He certainly has first amendment rights, as we all do. I’ll grant that he believed what he was saying to be true (though he has a record of making things up to score quick points.)
For me, it comes down to what he thought he was doing with that rally and what he thought people would do when he encouraged them to go over to congress. Did he expect them to go gather over there and chant on the lawn? Did he expect them to go find Pence and Pelosi to teach them a lesson?
There’s hard evidence that some of the people who broke in to the building planned it in advance with calls or messages. Is there any other Trump evidence? He certainly seemed to try to excite the crowd, but he likes exciting crowds.
Of course, if I’m out there getting people all worked up over something and then the group becomes a mob and takes action, I’d think I had something to do with it even if I didn’t specifically tell them to become a mob. I fanned the fire. But is that insurrection? It might just be fanning the fire.
Yes, it is Trump and everyone hates him and so he’s guilty. And yes, he’s Trump and the GOP will likely acquit.
So he’s plainly guilty and clearly innocent.
What have we learned?