The GOP-led Senate did not vote to convict Trump on two counts of impeachment. Every Republican, except for Mitt Romney, completely disregarded their oath to do impartial justice and not only voted to block any kind of witnesses or documents (i.e. to hold a trial at all) but then based on nothing more than their fealty to Trump, voted to acquit him.
In a nutshell, this happened because Mitch McConnell rules the Senate with an iron fist, and because the Republican party has stayed so far from their founding ideologies that they are scrambling to get first in line to suck up to an authoritarian president. The Senate, once a formidable check on executive power, has failed.
Not only did the GOP Senators vote to acquit Trump, but not one single Republican in the House voted to impeach Trump. The evidence that Trump is the most corrupt president is overwhelming, but yet Republicans stick together and do whatever he wants–even lie for him! None of these Congressmen are patriots. No, they are democracy-destroying sycophants.
The dangers of Trump’s reign (yes, I’m using that word intentionally) have also spread to the state legislatures as well. One only needs to look at what happened in Wisconsin or North Carolina in the last year or two when voters decided they wanted to see change in their states and voted the Republicans out of power. The Republicans responded with underhanded tactics to strip Democrats of power.
David Frum was right all along:
“If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
Regular readers of Political Charge know I am not a drama queen. I was not optimistic but still hoped that the Republican Senators would decide that the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution were valuable, that holding a corrupt president was warranted, and that they had a fallback with Vice President Pence. But that was not to be. I very much feel that now that the impeachment vote has failed, that there is only one final guardrail before the U.S. becomes a dictatorship. At least in practice, if not in name.
The last guardrail is we, the voters. We have between now and November 3, 2020 to get as many people ready as possible. Not only do we have to vote in massive numbers, but we also have to be on the lookout for, and demand every election security precaution we can get our hands on.
If you feel like I do, please, start working to reach out to and activate voters. If you’re already doing this, great. Recruit a friend to help, too. I offer a lot of suggestions for how to get involved here at my blog, but there are so many more ways to get involved than what I can cover. However you do it, please get involved with organizing efforts, register voters, send reminder postcards to voters, sign up to be poll workers and election officials, donate to candidates and state/local Democratic parties, go canvassing, try phone-banking or text-banking, go work for a campaign, get involved with organizations fighting voter suppression, etc. There is something everyone can do to make sure we win every possible seat up and down the ballot in 2020.
The Republican party has outed itself as an anti-democratic party and we, the voters, are the ones to sweep them right out of office. It’s a monumental task to vote out that many Republicans, but for the health and survival of our country, we must rise up to the task. We have to do this. We are the heroes this country needs.
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Are you super busy but want to help win this election? Download Political Charge’s checklist, 19 Quick Actions to Turn Out the Vote in 2020, full of items that take 10 minutes or less to complete! Grab your guide HERE.
