Excuse Me

January 25, 2021

It’s “moot.” It’s “stupid.” It’s “unconstitutional.” It’s “divisive.” “There is blame on both sides.” “We still need to investigate election results.” These are the words and phrases that Republicans are using to deny what happened on January 6th. To push back on Mario Rubio, “It’s not stupid, you’re stupid.” Paraphrasing a popular ad on television, “We all saw it.”

Republicans are trying to parse the Constitution to make their argument. It depends on what the meaning of “sedition” is. Again, as it was with the first impeachment, they lean on process rather than rely on the facts. They say that you can’t impeach Trump because he is no longer the President. Therefore, the issue is moot. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that says you cannot impeach a former President. He is being impeached for egregious acts he committed while President. Losing an election is not a “get out of jail free” card.

There is not blame on both sides. Republicans complain about how Trump was treated from day one. I don’t remember anyone attacking the Capitol or the White House before or after Trump’s inauguration. I do remember the free press and multiple governmental security agencies raising legitimate issues about the integrity of the election and Russian interference. I don’t think this rises to the level of sedition.

And the beat goes on. Senators like Hawley, Rand, Johnson and Cruz continue to insist that we need to investigate the election because, mirabile dictu, people actually believed what they were told to believe. These are all just lame excuses. In the words of Steve Martin, “Excuse me.”