Trump’s Continuing Threat
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 11, 2021
“Trump remains unhinged, narcissistic, and dangerous to the country. He must be challenged and countered every step of the way in the coming months and years.”
Donald Trump remains a continuing threat to our democracy.
During yesterday’s impeachment trial in the Senate, the House Impeachment Managers presented incontrovertible evidence that Trump created and incited the seditious mob insurrection that took place at the Capitol on January 6.
History will treat this documentation by the Impeachment Managers as the written record of the extraordinary and impeachable damage Trump did to our country. Yet it appears clear that most Republican Senators are prepared to ignore the fact that Trump orchestrated the invasion and desecration of the Capitol.
These Republican Senators appear prepared to ignore the threat Trump caused to their own lives, to the lives of their Democratic colleagues, to the lives of their staffs, and to the lives of the heroic police officers who were attacked, and in one case murdered, but who did their duty and stood their ground against the mob.
And, these Senators appear prepared to ignore the fact that Trump endangered, in real time, the life of his loyalist Vice President Pence and Pence’s family by tweeting an attack on him as the mob was searching for him and eventually chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”
There are a few courageous House and Senate Republicans who have risen to the occasion and called out Trump. They deserve special recognition.
But the great majority of Republicans in Congress are ignoring their oath of office and constitutional responsibilities. These officeholders are no longer members of Lincoln’s Republican Party; they are members of Trump’s Trump Party.
These Republicans apparently sit in fear that Trump might publicly attack them and, even worse, might support a primary candidate against them. So, they genuflect to Trump and follow his lead, just like the mob did in invading the Capitol.
There are reports today that a number of anti-Trump former Republican officials are engaged in talks to form a center-right third party. This would be very hard to do, but in these times, it is not clear what might happen.
In the meantime, Trump remains unhinged, narcissistic, and dangerous to the country. He must be challenged and countered every step of the way in the coming months and years.
We ignore Trump’s threat to our democracy at our own peril.
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