Today begins the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The issue, as usual, is very loudly being debated. To me, it comes down to one simple question.
Do you think Donald Trump’s actions led to the attack on the United States Capitol Building on January 6th?
The question is not whether a former president can be impeached. The question is whether or not Donald Trump’s actions should have consequences.
Everything else is secondary.
If you think that his actions helped bring about the attack on the Capitol, then why wouldn’t you want to hold him accountable? Why wouldn’t you want to prove to the world that nobody is above the law. That, in a true democracy, even a President must be held responsible for the choices he or she makes. We keep telling the world we are the greatest.
Then we must prove it.
We teach our children right and wrong. We teach them that actions have consequences. We do this so as they grow older they know that what they do, how they act, and what they say will affect the world around them. We teach this at home, at school, when they play sports, at church. Do the right thing, we tell them. If they do something wrong there is a consequence. If they break the rules, there are consequences.
What are we telling them if we let this be brushed aside simply because he is no longer President?
If we ignore what happened then it will happen again. And next time it may succeed.
Now, if you look at what happened on January 6th and think Donald Trump had no part in it, answer me this: when did you first hear about the significance of January 6th? When did you first find out that January 6th was when Congress would convene and officially certify the election? If the first time you heard about January 6th was when Donald Trump told his supporters to come to DC on that day, then Donald Trump had a hand in the attack.
There would be no mass protest in Washington DC on January 6th if Donald Trump had not told his followers to do it. He openly encouraged them to come to DC on the 6th to fight for their country. To take back their country.
And what were they coming to DC to fight for?
A lie about a stolen election.
Now, if you think the election was actually stolen then you need to stop everything and really focus on this next few sentences……the election of 2020 was not stolen. The election of 2020 was not a coup by the democrats. There was no fraud to take the Presidency from Donald Trump. Donald Trump lost. Period.
If you truly believe it was stolen then I am not exactly sure what needs to be said to you to change your mind. Why was no evidence of fraud shared in any of the 60+ court cases? Why did republican courts and republican election officials all say there was no fraud? Why is it so hard to understand that Donald Trump is lying to you?
Donald Trump is lying to you.
He is lying to you.
And his lies influenced thousands and thousands of his followers to march to DC on a very specific date.
He then stood in front of those thousands of people and told them to march to the Capitol and make sure that Congress listened. He told them Mike Pence would save them. And then, when Mike Pence didn’t overturn the election, Donald Trump tweeted out that Mike Pence failed.
So then his followers starting chanting for Mike Pence’s head. They chanted for his execution.
And then they attacked the Capitol. They smashed windows and doors. They vandalized, the stole, and they hunted members of Congress.
And they beat a police officer to death.
None of them would have been there on January 6th if Donald Trump had not lied about the election results and then invited them to DC.
None of them would have believed the country was being stolen by Democrats who, for whatever reason, weren’t capable of stealing an election four years earlier for Hillary Clinton when a Democrat actually was in charge of the country. No, they couldn’t steal an election then. But four years later they knew how to do it.
Donald Trump lied. He lied and lied and lied. And then he invited his brainwashed mob to DC and they attacked the Capitol building.
And people died.
The confederate flag flew inside the Capitol building 150 years after the Civil War ended.
Donald Trump lied. He told his supporters the country was being stolen. He told them when to come to Washington. He told them to march to the Capitol and fight for their country.
So they did.
And Donald Trump must be held accountable.
It’s as simple as that.
