As the Senate prepares to move forward with disgraced former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) is trying to shut it down by threatening to impeach former Democratic presidents.
The House passed a single article of impeachment against Trump earlier this month for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol that resulted in several deaths. Trump is now the first president to ever be impeached twice and could be the first ever convicted by the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says the article of impeachment will be transmitted to the senate on Monday and the trial will begin on February 9th.
But some Republicans would rather forget the failed insurrection ever happened and think unity means not holding Trump accountable for his crimes. In an attempt to force Democrats to drop the trial, Cornyn threatened to impeach former Democratic presidents even though they have been out of office for years.
“It’s unnecessarily vindictive, and I would say even petty to insist on trying somebody who’s not even in office anymore,” Cornyn said of Trump’s second impeachment. “And sacrifice or squander, really, the ability to actually do what President Biden has said he wanted us to do and that’s come together and get some things done.”
“If it is a good idea to impeach and try former presidents, what about former Democratic presidents when Republicans get the majority in 2022?” Cornyn continued. “Think about it and let’s do what is best for the country.”
The Democratic presidents Cornyn is threatening to impeach did not incite an insurrection to stay in power. Trump did. And impeachment is not just about holding Trump accountable, it’s about barring him from running for public office again. Because that should be a consequence for his actions.
Trump did something illegal to warrant this impeachment. There’s plenty of evidence. Even his own supporters who participated in the terrorist attack are throwing him under the bus. Meanwhile, Republicans would have to make up an imaginary excuse to impeach former Presidents Obama, Clinton, or Carter. That would make any impeachment they try to execute a truly vindictive one and a highly partisan one at that just like the ridiculous impeachment a right-wing congresswoman recently filed against President Joe Biden.
Carter is too old to run again and Clinton and Obama have already served two terms. Impeaching them would truly be a useless exercise. Trump only served a single term, so impeaching him makes more sense, especially since he committed an actual impeachable act.
Frankly, Cornyn’s threat to use impeachment as a tit-for-tat weapon to bully Democrats should result in his own expulsion from the Senate. He can join Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on the unemployment line because they should be tossed out, too.
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