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TRUMP ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SITUATION. As noted earlier this week, President Trump’s power and influence are ebbing by the minute. That is what happens to lame ducks, and with just 12 days to go in his presidency, Trump is the lamest of lame ducks. He no longer has any clout to force lawmakers, even those of his own party, to do much of anything.
Put on top of that the political damage he has suffered from Wednesday’s Capitol riot. Several senior aides and two cabinet secretaries — Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — have resigned. Republicans in the Senate are not expressing much support for him; one prominent ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, ran away from Trump on the night of the riot. “Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey,” Graham said. “I hate it being this way…all I can say is count me out. Enough’s enough.” (Graham has now begun praising Trump again.)
On top of that, beyond being slammed in all the usual media outlets, Trump took a hit from the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which called on him to quit. “If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign,” the board wrote.
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So on Thursday night, Trump released a new video in which he not only condemned the rioters but pointedly did not claim to have won the 2020 election:
My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy. I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.
Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.
It was a complete change in substance and tone from Trump’s claim that he won the election by a landslide and that victory had been stolen from him. And it appeared to be an acknowledgement that Trump is about to leave office and is losing support fast.
It’s not that impeachment is a real fear. Even if a majority of Republicans wanted to do it — which they don’t — there are just 12 days left in the president’s term. To deprive him of even one day in office, the House would have to pass articles of impeachment and the Senate convict in 11 days. That is crazy. Just from the standpoint of due process, would the president be offered a chance to defend himself sometime in those 11 rushed days? The only way impeachment could be done is through a reckless, radical;. corner-cutting, unjust process that would set a terrible precedent for the future.
Nevertheless, many Democrats want impeachment now, unless they can pressure Vice President Mike Pence to initiate the 25th Amendment removal process. “Give Pence till noon tomorrow,” Democratic activist Bill Kristol tweeted Thursday night. “If nothing, have an article of impeachment ready to go to the floor.”
Among the more practically minded Democrats, the idea is not to actually remove Trump from office — they’d love to do that but concede there isn’t time — but to issue a rebuke to him. He would become the first president to be impeached twice. Remember that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, driving her members to impeach Trump in 2019 in hopes of rendering him unelectable in 2020, said to Trump, “You’re impeached forever. You’re never getting rid of that scar.” The Democratic goal would be to double that on Trump’s way out.
Pelosi could make it happen — the majority party can do almost anything in the House. But it should be noted that while Democrats are talking a lot, they don’t seem to be actually gearing up for an impeachment, even a quick and dirty impeachment.
That’s because of the unchangeable fact that Trump noted in his video: “A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20.” Democrats know that. Republicans know that. The country knows that. The world knows that. The focus is inexorably shifting to a new, incoming president, no matter how angry some are at the old, outgoing one.
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