Impeachment Part Two

Ten Republicans were part of a 232 to 197 vote to charge Fuckface von Clownstick with "incitement of insurrection".  Out of four presidential impeachments in U.S. history, this guy is two of them.

Update (February 9):  The trial started today and soon we will know exactly which Republican Senators are loyal to democracy and who is loyal to one man. But Amanda Marcotte fears the majority will back down from calling witnesses.

Democrats have a real chance to outline for the country not just [Dear Leader's] guilt, but the stakes if we continue down this path of having one out of two political parties increasingly reject democracy.

Democrats need to stop being such cowards. The very fate of our nation rests on their ability to show courage in the face of creeping fascism, and to marshal every tool they have towards beating it back. Democrats may fail — fighting fascism is often an uphill battle — but it shouldn't be for lack of trying. Calling witnesses is a no-brainer, a way to help draw media attention and make the case to the public about why violent authoritarianism and the party that supports it, the GOP, should be wholly rejected. If Democrats fail to make that case out of a fear of offending Republicans, they share in the complicity of letting [Fuckface] pull our nation further into darkness.

Update (February 12):  Heather Digby Parton knows what's coming.

The Impeachment managers delivered an irrefutable argument that proved the former president incited an insurrection which came horrifyingly close to causing death or injury to members of Congress, the Senate and the Vice President — and yet he is almost certain to be acquitted. A glorious triumph indeed.

[I]t's profoundly depressing. After all, if what happened on Jan. 6th does not result in any consequences for the man who incited it, then it's hard to imagine what would.

Most Republican Senators just don't give a fuck about democracy or the constituition. Parton quotes Dahlia Lithwick:

Rep. Eric Swalwell narrating in the second person what happened to United States senators was astounding. This happened. And it happened to you. A recitation of facts that were excruciating one month ago is worse today, as new details come out of colleagues, like Romney and Pence, who were closer to harm than they even realized at the time. None of this will change their minds, a fact that starts a spiral of hopeless despair as the back of one's mind asks: What else will we have to live through before the Republican Party finds its way back to fact-based decision-making?

And in a late evening story, CNN reports on the phone call Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made to Dear Leader as rioters were breaking into his office at the Capitol. The response?

Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.

This is the same asshole who attacked his own vice president by tweet after learning Pence was in danger. And yet, it still won't matter. Even McCarthy didn't vote for impeachment. 

Update (February 13):  Apparently there was a vote to have Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler testify about the McCarthy call, but then a "deal" was made to just take a written statement. Within hours, Dear Leader was acquitted by a vote of 43 to 57. So a small victory in falling "only" ten votes short.

Update (February 14):  Matthew Rozsa argues last year's acquittal set the stage for 43 cowards to signal yesterday that no Republican president will ever be held accountable for any abuse of power.

Motivated by a mixture of partisanship, career opportunism and fear of [his] increasingly fascistic supporters, they have reinforced the idea in MAGA world that if their Dear Leader doesn't win an election, that election simply does not count.