A few days ago I wrote about Republicans who believe the 2021 impeachment of Donald Trump is unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. Impeachment has been done before under these circumstances, but never for a president. Yesterday his lawyers did their best to present their case that this is unconstitutional.
Unfortunately for the ex-president, they did not do a very good job.
In the words of NBC news
Those senators searching for strong legal or political arguments will find none in the written filings. For example, Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., one of the House’s nine impeachment managers, pointed out that the Trump team’s brief completely misrepresents the precedent set by former Secretary of War William Belknap. Belknap, who resigned just before his impeachment trial in the late 1800s, provides strong evidence for why Trump can be impeached, not the other way around.
In another example, Trump’s legal team repeatedly cited and distorted Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt’s writings. Kalt described the Trump team’s reliance on his writing as ranging from “sloppy to disingenuous.”
Despite the lack of any sound reasoning most Republican Senators clung to their earlier view that the trial was unconstitutional. And it seems likely that they will use this faulty reasoning to acquit, which means that ex-president Trump will face no consequences for action taken while President for incitement of insurrection in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Will this be a precedent that any president who does not like the results of an election is free to lead an insurrection against the United States? This does not seem to bode well for our future as a free country.
Although the ex-president cannot be removed from an office he no longer holds, there are consequences. If he found guilty, he can be barred from holding office again.
This may actually be a good outcome for the Republican party and Republican politicians, Donald trump has said he will run again for President. If he cannot run, the party can have a more normal presidential primary and this could benefit the candidates for the nomination.