Wade Argues that Republicans Damage the Conservative Cause by Rejecting Joe Biden as President (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla)
The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
During the January 12th impeachment hearing, a little-known Republican Congressman named Dan Newhouse (WA-04) rose to a podium in the House of Representatives Chamber, and was recognized by the Speaker for one minute of remarks. He explained that he would be joining nine other Republicans to vote “yes” on the articles of impeachment. “This is a sad day in our republic, but not as sad or disheartening as the violence we witnessed in the Capitol last Wednesday,” Newhouse said. “We are all responsible. My colleagues are responsible for not condemning rioters this past year, like those who barricaded the doors of the Seattle Police Department and attempted to murder the officers inside. Others, including myself, are responsible for not speaking out sooner, before the president misinformed and inflamed a violent mob who tore down the American flag and brutally beat Capitol Police officers.”
Newhouse is correct. The Democrats’ justifications and appeasement of left-wing rioters over the summer was wrong and emboldened many on the right who saw through the hypocrisy. On the other side, Newhouse and many of his Republican colleagues were also wrong for promulgating the lie that Congress could overturn a fair election and that the election was anything other than foundationally secure. Both the Left and the Right share blame for our modern political climate, but we can’t let our finger-pointing and “whataboutisms” distract us from the next—and correct—step: convict, expel, and bar President Donald J. Trump from public office.
Impeachment is a two-fold process. First, the House votes by simple majority on articles of impeachment which are then sent to the Senate for a trial, needing a 2/3rds majority to convict the President. Additionally, the Senate may add to those articles by a majority vote to bar the impeached person from holding public office in the future. The first step of this process is complete. Trump has been impeached (again), and his fate is now in the hands of the Senate.
Even before the Capitol riot, Trump had shown himself to be unfit for office. For example, his premeditated attempt to steal the presidential election while claiming it was stolen from him exposes him as the worst kind of loser—the kind that cannot accept defeat. For two months, he and his legal team made incredible claims in press conferences about voter fraud, while submitting evidence-free, typo-ridden lawsuits in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. The crusade was so ridiculous that the conservative legal movement distanced itself from Trump, and the President had to rely on disgraced lawyers Rudy Guliani and “the Kraken” Sidney Powell, who now faces a $1.3 Billion dollar defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. Even the Republican lawyers who litigated the 2000 Florida election results wanted nothing to do with it.
Trump tried and failed. He has lost in court repeatedly on this election issue. And if there is anything that Trump hates, it is losing the optics battle. He won the election in 2016 as an underdog and has done everything since to ensure he is seen as a “winner.” That pride has driven him to reject reality and threaten those who defy him, including the Georgia Secretary of State and even his Vice President. It is for that reason he must lose. And lose “bigly.”
The riots at the Capitol Building were horrifying to watch on January 6th, and that horror has only increased with the release of video footage detailing the raw chaos in the citadel of our democracy. Five deaths—including the murder of a police officer by “Blue Lives Matter” flag-waving assailants—and many other injuries, were entirely avoidable, including the symbolic damage conferred by a confederate battle flag being paraded inside the Capitol rotunda and guns drawn within the House chambers. Those images will not be soon forgotten by both our allies and adversaries. Donald Trump has become the spiritual leader of an anti-constitutional movement that claims to be “patriotic” while subverting the principles that make America great. Maybe the President himself doesn’t subscribe to the most extreme fringes of that movement but his refusal to denounce those perpetrators (during the riot itself he called them “special” and expressed his love for them) coupled with his spurious campaign to delegitimize the electoral process present a man who is unfit to hold federal office in the United States.
So what’s next?
Unlike the first impeachment vote, the majority Democratic house was joined by 10 house Republicans, including the 3rd ranking Republican, Liz Cheney (WY). Certainly, Trump and his antics have lost public support from many in his own party. One of the most concerning reports from the second impeachment vote was from House Republicans, who admitted “that threats made toward them and their families could factor into their decision whether to impeach President Trump.” After January 6th, those threats hold more weight than they would otherwise. If these reports are true, then it highlights the importance of ensuring the destruction of the insurgent and violent movement supporting the overturning of our election.
Recently, Brian Kilmeade on Fox News made the argument that impeaching Trump will make his supporters only more radical and violent. The same sentiment was echoed by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and others. The Constitution of the United States was ratified to protect the causes of freedom and liberty through democratic institutions, yet what these men suggest is submission to mob rule. Mob rule and political violence do not evaporate with appeasement. If Congress members fear for their re-election prospects by denouncing the President’s actions, then they should internalize what Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) asked the Senate on January 6th, “Do we weigh our own political fortunes more heavily than we weigh the strength of our Republic, the strength of our democracy, and the cause of freedom?”
I do not understand those on the right whose first—or only—defense of Trump is that the Democrats are hypocrites and have double standards. In effect, they are arguing that the Left dictates their own standards. If you argue that Trump cannot or should not be held accountable because the Left did not hold their own side accountable for similar incitement or behavior, you are conveying that you care less about your own principles than the hypocrisy of the Left. The Left’s shifting standards should not change conservatism’s standards. Just because the Left is outraged that the President lied about the election’s integrity to a degree that it prompted his supporters to kill people does not mean that conservatives should not be outraged by it. Even if you think their outrage is hypocritical or partisan, that should not decrease your own outrage. In fact, to quote Jonah Goldberg, “you should be angrier because this wannabe celebrity despot implicitly and explicitly claims to be acting and speaking for you. You should be screaming, ‘This isn’t who we are’ or ‘Not my name you staggering jackwad.’ Not bleating about how some Democrat is a hypocrite.” As conservatives, we (claim to) champion moral clarity and serious notions of right and wrong, but if your response to every misdeed on our side is to condemn the other, then hackery has replaced principled conservatism.
The starting point of bi-partisan unity should be the Senate conviction and barring Trump from future public office. The odds of that happening before Biden’s inauguration are low, but they become more probable after the new Congress is sworn in because there will be four fewer Republican Senators and four fewer votes to change to ensure Trump’s political career comes to an end. Mitch McConnell’s apparent openness to conviction (possibly influenced by his wife’s resignation from Trump’s cabinet) means that Trump may be the first U.S. President ever convicted in the Senate. Some Republicans (including Senator Tom Cotton) will argue that such conviction is unconstitutional if done while the perpetrator is no longer in office, but historical precedent exists that allows for conviction even after having left office (see the case of Secretary of War William Belknap in 1878).
To those who worry about the electoral future of the Republican Party if Trump were to be expelled, that is the least of our concerns. I am sure that history will look more kindly on those who stood up to mob rule and for the Constitution than those who took the expedient path. 2021 will be a soul-searching year for the Republican party and the future is brightest without Trump at the helm.
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