If Trump had been convicted in the impeachment trial, he could have been subjected to the punishment of future disqualification from holding federal office.
Impeachment doesn’t just exist for Presidents, but is also for other officials.
So, the Constitutional mechanism exists, it’s only the political will that’s lacking.
In the politics stream version of this meme (where I can’t comment since I’m timered), conservatives are claiming I’m seeking the end of democracy, yadda yadda.
But let’s just assume the Jan. 6 riot was treason (I think it clearly was). If we can’t impose this punishment for plain traitors, then why the hell did the Founders give it to us?
The Constitution is not a suicide pact. It contains mechanisms for rescuing ourselves from tyranny, but we have to be willing to use them.
A better solution would have been for Republicans themselves to clean up their own house and give Trump the can, and for a brief time it seemed that might happen, but the effort by more moderate Republicans collapsed in the face of the awesome power of Trump cultism. Trump himself remains the heart and soul of the Republican Party.
If Trump runs again in 2024 (and he very well might), I think the experience could cause our democracy to unravel regardless of who wins or loses. The seeds have been planted for either side to reject the results of the next election. Whether it’s Republicans crying “voter fraud” again or Democrats raising objections to the new voting restrictions being imposed along partisan lines by Republicans in state after state which they control.
Let alone the long-term distrust in the Electoral College which has been building since the 2000 election.
All of these crises are easy to define and avoidable, if we did something. But due to lack of consensus, we’re sleepwalking into them anyway. Much like climate change.
