I’ve been thinking all day about how the leaders of our democracy should respond to the foot soldiers and leaders of Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol. The one who entered should be identified, easy enough to do for most given the face recognition I see daily in my own Facebook posts. They then should be charged, arrested, and tried. The instigators – Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, Jr., who spoke to the crowd that day and urged them to march on the Capitol, also broke laws, and should be treated appropriately.
The current President is a special case. At first, I thought making a martyr of him would only make things worse, by inflaming his supporters and risking further insurrections at the state and federal levels. I thought he could only be corralled from within – either via his cabinet and Vice-President or his own resignation. Since that is not going to happen, the two options left are immediate impeachment and conviction, or await the end of his term, and bring charges then. Both may still happen. Would that be bad for the country, or good?
I concluded that his supporters will not change their emotions or thoughts in any event, no matter the course taken. Therefore, their potential future behavior should not be a consideration. It is much less important than a clear statement of what is expected from our country’s leaders. The people’s elected representatives should make that clear to those whom they serve. Thus, impeachment and conviction.
Can 17 Republican Senators rise to this occasion? Off the top of my head, I believe there is potential for that. Romney. Collins. Murkowski. Grassley. Rubio. Portman. Johnson (WI). Blunt. Graham. Hassan (NH). Crapo. Paul. Burr. Toomey. Scott (SC). Thune. Lee. McConnell. All of these Senators are either running in 2022, potentially retiring then, or have expressed significant misgivings about the President’s behavior on Wednesday. And some, like McConnell, would sorely like to find a way to isolate the nastiest elements of their party so they are not tarred by that brush.
A measured impeachment and conviction of Donald Trump at the end of his term would be one route to reconciliation and drawing a red line against future potential autocrats.