Saturday, February 13, 2021

WATCH LIVE: Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial Concludes in Senate | Day 5

by Nomad

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"Ordinary Political Rhetoric" 

On Friday, Trump's defense team took the helm and attempted to weaken the Impeachment managers' case against the former president in his second impeachment trial. 

Since Republican Senators seem to be absolutely unwilling to indict Trump, the task for the defense was straightforward. For the most part, it involved downplaying the crime and playing up the seeming hypocrisy of Democrats.  For example, attorneys David Schoen and Michael van der Veen attempted to equate the protests and rioting that erupted last summer with the lethal attack on the Senate.

The defense team ignored the prosecution's well-established timeline of support for extremism by the former president. The team instead claimed that Trump's words were "ordinary political rhetoric" that is "virtually indistinguishable from the language that has been used by people across the political spectrum for hundreds of years."

Furthermore, video clips were shown of property destruction and violence alongside videos of Democratic lawmakers speaking in support of the demonstrations. In some protests for racial justice, sporadic looting and violence took place.
As NPR points out, many Democratic leaders, including now-President Biden, condemned the looting and violence that occurred around the protests.

Trump as the Victim

Mr. Trump's attorneys went on to argue the former president was being hounded by a political vendetta and said his actions were protected by the First Amendment. In reality, the Supreme Court declared incitement is not protected by the First Amendment as long as incitement speech is “directed to inciting imminent lawless action and is likely to produce such action.” 
And by that definition, that's precisely what Trump did when he told the armed crowd- a crowd he himself invited to Washington- to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell."

Fact-checkers noted other misrepresentations. For example, van der Veen falsely alleged that members of Antifa had infiltrated the Capitol rioters and were stoking the violence. He even claimed- without any evidence whatsoever- that "one of the first people arrested was a leader of Antifa."
None of the 230 people arrested for alleged participation in the Capitol attacks were linked to any left-wing movement. There is no evidence that Sullivan was a member of Antifa, Black Lives Matter or any other left-leaning group, especially a "leader" of Antifa.

And with that, the attorneys for the defense proved that they were just as willing to spread lies as their client.

Worse Experience in Washington

Throughout the day Van der Veen pushed all the right buttons for Republicans. His words seemed, at times, to have been written by Trump himself: 
"Like every other politically motivated witch hunt the left has engaged in over the past four years, this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts, the evidence and the interest of the American people. The Senate should promptly and decisively vote to reject it.. It is constitutional cancel culture." 
In fact, the defense presentation was relatively brief, lasting only about three hours. 
The most interesting part of the day was the two-and-a-half hours of questioning from senators. For the most part, the questions were intelligent and suggested that things were not so cut-and-dry for Republicans. Impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett (called the "breakout star" of the trial) provided an impassioned and clear rebuttal to the defense's objections. 

Here she is explaining why and how the outcome of this trial will impact the nation's future.   


There were other moments worth noting. When Van der Veen described this impeachment trial as his "worst experience in Washington," Lead Impeachment Manager Jamie Raskin responded later, saying "Man, you should have been here on January 6." 

Unless there are some surprise changes to the schedule, the trial will wrap up with a morning vote in the Senate. With a required two-thirds majority, 17 or more Republicans will need to vote outside party lines. Sadly, that is unlikely. Most minds were likely made up before the trial began. 

An acquittal will send the worst possible message. For the next Trump wanna-be who decides to use violence to achieve his political aims, the message is: Go for it. Do whatever it takes to take control but be sure that once you start your attack on democracy, you finish what you start.


If you'd like to watch the conclusion to this historic trial with us at Nomadic Politics- with running commentary provided by the community- the live feed link will begin sometime before 10:30 EST
 

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