The second impeachment trial of disgraced former President Donald Trump ended on Saturday in a 57-43 vote in favor of conviction, but not the 67 votes needed to actually convict. Following the acquittal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Trump spouted hypocritical statements.

The failure to convict Trump will stand as a dereliction of duty for all time. Even Senate Democrats, who abandoned their plan to call witnesses, partly share responsibility for Trump not being held accountable for the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th.

Now he is free to run for a second term in 2024 and knows he can try to overthrow democracy and murder lawmakers without consequence.

In a statement after the vote that he obviously did not write all by himself, Trump claimed the impeachment was a “witch hunt,” suggested he intends to challenge President Joe Biden in a rematch, and hypocritically accused Democrats of denigrating the rule of law and disrespecting police.

“It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree,” Trump said.

This is quite a heavy load of bullsh*t. Trump repeatedly violated the rule of law over the course of his presidency, including by inciting an insurrection in which Capitol Police officers were brutally assaulted and murdered by his own supporters. He himself cheered on his mob of terrorists with glee as they stormed the Capitol in a bid to keep him in power, and he excused their behavior during a phone call with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and on Twitter. Trump also frequently used the Justice Department to persecute, blacklist, cancel, and suppress anyone who disagreed with or criticized him and sought vengeance on multiple occasions.

“I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate,” Trump claimed. “This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago.”

Not only is Trump’s statement full of projection, it’s full of lies, and fails to acknowledge that Biden received 7 million more votes than him.

Republicans also might as well not even bother with 2024 because Trump appears to have declared himself the front-runner.

“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun,” Trump concluded. “In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it! We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future.”

Clearly, Trump’s big grift is still going strong.

But he wasn’t the only one spouting bullsh*t on Saturday. Despite voting to acquit Trump, McConnell tried to have it both ways in remarks on the Senate floor by declaring that Trump is responsible for the insurrection and should be held accountable. Seriously.

“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said. “These criminals were carrying his banners. Hanging his flags. And screaming their loyalty to him. President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen. He didn’t get away with anything yet.”

Again, this is after McConnell and 42 other Republicans voted for acquittal, thereby not holding Trump accountable. Voting to convict would have actually held Trump accountable. But McConnell can’t resist being a total hypocrite.

He even tried to excuse his vote by claiming impeachment is unconstitutional after a president leaves office despite the fact that he’s the one who delayed the impeachment trial by refusing to schedule it before Trump left office. By the way, it’s NOT unconstitutional.

His remarks are disingenuous and Kentucky voters should be ashamed of themselves for letting this snake remain in office.

Now that impeachment is off the table, it falls to the Justice Department and the states to charge and prosecute Trump. But the shortage of spines in our government and justice system probably means we shouldn’t hold our breath that there will ever be accountability for this national travesty.

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