Almost a year and a half ago, there was a tragic mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. A lunatic, driven by fear and hatred of illegal immigrants and who espoused views on them akin to rhetoric Trump used, opened fire in the parking lot of a Walmart Supercenter. 23 people were killed and just as many more were injured.
The act was labeled domestic and right-wing terrorism.
Asked about his own rhetoric’s possible impact on the man and the incident, Donald Trump doubled-down on his comments. Where he could have used the moment to heal the country, he instead used it to declare he was right and that, simultaneously he is not at fault.
That was when I vowed I would not be voting for him.
He called for unity one day, and turned around and continued to play off the already staggering divisions within our country. He is not playing the part of a grown-up in the White House, and it is making the situation worse. This is not about political strategy: It is a case of doing what is right. What is right is working to unite and heal the country. What is right is seeking conversation and communication and working to provide solutions.
What isn’t right is continuing to do what has caused this violence and has kept our country in socially dark days since Obama was in office. Playing off of divisions may look good for the base, but it is toxic to society.
I feel very strongly that Donald Trump is not fit to be President, nor was he ever. I was certain his time as the head of the Republican Party and the country would be disastrous, and while I certainly didn’t specifically have “armed riot at the Capitol” written down anywhere, I feel my fears were pretty spot on.
We are now less than a week away from Donald Trump officially being out of office.
Nothing he, his supporters, or his administration (or those left of it, anyway) can do will stop that. As of noon on January 20, Donald J. Trump will no longer be President of the United States.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for the second time. There are Republicans who crossed the aisle to side with Democrats on the impeachment issue, and the Republican Caucus is fracturing as a result.
As I mentioned yesterday, this is a problem of Trump’s own making and not the Republican Party just turning on him as part of some Establishment plot.
This time, there are some reports of Democrats trying to win Republicans over, but it is almost overwhelmingly Trump’s own behavior that has pushed Republican members of the House and the Senate to the pro-impeachment side of the debate. Furthermore, it is the Republican leadership in the House and Senate that are making no moves to whip votes against impeachment or make any arguments against it whatsoever.
This is all Trump’s doing. His unwillingness to be civil and accept election results led to a violent mob attacking the Capitol building. His unwillingness to be a team player and help Republicans keep the Senate has eroded his support. Republicans who are voicing support are doing so to hold on to his base, not him. They are skirting around their own rhetoric in order to try and mitigate the damage they did by pushing his narratives.
If I were in Congress right now, I would vote for impeachment. But I am not in Congress. I did not experience having to lock down in what is normally one of the safest places in America. I did not have to worry about myself, my staff, and the colleagues I see every day. I cannot imagine the level of fear that one might experience in that situation.
Impeachment feels like the right decision. On an emotional level, what happened last week is unconscionable and we shouldn’t allow that to happen ever again. Impeach him and remove him from office. Ban him from holding office again. We as a country cannot allow this to happen again.
But, in the back of my mind, I have to wonder if it will happen again. I don’t think Trump is going to happen again. I think his base will find a new idol, though one less unstable. Trump has everything he could ever want now. A place in history, name recognition beyond his wildest dreams, and lifetime Secret Service protection. He has talked about getting involved in future races, but I don’t think he actually will.
And his base? The unstable lunatics that committed that atrocity last week are not going to ever really amount to a high enough number that it could seriously threaten the country. As more of the rioters get publicly identified, we actually see that most of them don’t vote at all. They liked Trump but never supported him at the ballot box. What threat do they pose to any party?
If I were in Congress I would have voted for it. But I am not in Congress, and from the outside in, I don’t know that it is the most effective way to deal with the Trump problem. But, the House has voted for it. Will the Senate reach a two-thirds majority to convict? I can’t say.