BONOKOSKI: The case against indicting or ousting President Trump
It is best to let Trump die on his own vine and be judged by history's unrelenting memory.
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After Wednesday’s disgraceful assault on the U.S. Capitol by predominately violent anarchists, insurrectionists and right-wing mobsters, there is more than enough evidence to indict President Donald Trump for the bare minimum of inciting a riot.
But it must not be done.
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It would be seen by even law-and-order Americans as the weaponizing of politics and by the rest of the world as the democracy of the most-powerful military force on the globe unravelling.
It is best, instead, to let Trump die on his own vine and be judged by history’s unrelenting memory.
It will not be kind.
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Even Twitter, the social-media platform where decorum increasingly goes to die, suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours, thereby silencing overnight the outgoing president’s main microphone for spreading more of his outright lies, his baitings, and his conspiracy conjurings.
This was a joke, right? Twelve hours??
And Facebook for two weeks?
One U.S. administration official described Trump’s social-media behaviour Wednesday — inciting the violence and then saying, “we love you” to the terrorists — as that of “a total monster.”
But that “monster” is still on the loose.
It will be tempting, therefore, to invoke the 25th Amendment, an extraordinary measure added to the Constitution in 1965, to have Trump booted from office before his term expires on Jan. 20 out of fear of what he possibly has next up his sleeve to bring down the very principles of U.S. democracy through more violence and even more death.
Under the 25th Amendment, the president can be removed from office by the vice-president plus a majority of the Cabinet, or by the vice-president and a body established by Congress, if they determine he “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
But, again, this must not be done.
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Trump is not “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” He is just defiantly and stubbornly reluctant and still unable to accept the undeniable truth that he lost the election.
Once Congress certified President-elect Joe Biden’s victory early Thursday morning, Trump issued a statement that never even mentioned the violence and death on Capitol Hill.
It read: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.”
But he could not stop himself from lying once again, and letting his zeppelin-sized ego continue to boast of nonexistent triumphs.
A protester holds a Trump flag inside the US Capitol Building near the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A protester is seen hanging from the balcony in the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A pro-Trump protester carries the lectern of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi through the Roturnda of the U.S. Capitol Building after a pro-Trump mob stormed the building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A pro-Trump mob breaks into the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A member of a pro-Trump mob bashes an entrance of the Capitol Building in an attempt to gain access on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump climb on walls at the U.S. Capitol during a protest against the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump yells at counter-demonstrators and members of the press at a rally in support of Trump at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Oregon, U.S. January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester
Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
A pro-Trump mob confronts U.S. Capitol police outside the Senate chamber of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. Photo by Shannon Stapleton /REUTERS
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump fight with riot police outside the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.Photo by Roberto Schmidt /AFP via Getty Images
Pro-Trump protesters attempt to tear down a police barricade during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by Shannon Stapleton
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump protest in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., on Jan. 6, 2021.Photo by Stephanie Keith /REUTERS
A supporter of President Donald Trump sits inside the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as he protest inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 6, 2021. Photo by SAUL LOEB /AFP via Getty Images
Supporters of President Donald Trump enter the U.S. Capitol's Rotunda as tear gas smoke fills a corridor on Jan 6, 2021, in Washington.Photo by SAUL LOEB /AFP via Getty Images
Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in the US Capitol Rotunda on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6, 2021. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in the US Capitol Rotunda on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in the US Capitol Rotunda on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol as tear gas fills the corridor on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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As the Washington Post put it, “Trump is destined to go down in history as an impeached, disgraced president. He presided over four years of chaos culminating in a disastrously failed pandemic response and an unprecedented effort to undermine faith in our elections. He is one of only a handful of incumbents to lose re-election. He did not ‘get away with it’…
“The country saw his behaviour and booted him.”
So let him be. Let history be the judge, not a jury. Let history not see the weaponization of politics to bring down a rival, but let it see instead a vine slowly wilting by the buildup of one disgrace after another.
With the time of his presidency running out, be assured that Trump will continue to derail as a private citizen as history bears witness.
He and his ego will not fare well.
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