Some 20,000 National Guard troops outfitted with riot gear, including 200 from Hawaii, are being deployed to support D.C. law enforcement in providing security for President-elect Joe Biden’s Wednesday inauguration. Meanwhile, the FBI has warned that in the days preceding it, we could see violent supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump staging protests at state capitols.
The U.S House has now impeached Trump — for a historic second time — and rightly so, in the aftermath of last week’s shocking U.S. Capitol insurrection. It’s clear that more than any other voice, this lame-duck president holds the ability to ignite the overheated political temperature — but it’s fervently hoped that he would call for lowering it toward peaceful means.
Following the House vote, 232-197, Trump on Wednesday released a video statement in which he appealed to supporters to refrain from any further violence or disruption of Biden’s inauguration. Given the vast White House bully-pulpit resources at his fingertips, Trump should emphatically reiterate that message — along with his recent agreement to respect 2020 election results — in an unambiguous national address.
In the absence of Trump’s Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment, through which a president may be declared unfit for office, the House rightly sought accountability via impeachment, charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly mob siege, which was clearly prodded by his repeated false claims that the election was stolen.
Moving forward, Trump’s trial in the U.S. Senate would be set to start soon after the House delivers the article of impeachment. While the current timetable is unclear, the Senate must strive to promptly tend to the new year’s other pressing legislative matters while also following through on impeachment proceedings.
On Thursday, Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan that aims to speed up vaccine rollout and provide more financial help to still-struggling individuals, states and local governments and businesses. Nearly one year after the first coronavirus infections surfaced in the United States, Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy continues to rank among the hardest-hit, and is in need of quick disbursement of more funding.
In casting his vote for impeachment, Hawaii’s U.S. Rep. Ed Case said in a statement: “For me to vote otherwise … would be in dereliction of my own oath to defend our Constitution, would approve intolerable conduct by our President, and would set a deeply damaging and unacceptable precedent for future Congresses and presidents.” Agreed. It was the only choice here that aligned with elected duty.
Still, most House Republicans voted not to impeach. Some, including lawmakers who had backed Trump’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud and egged on protesters that led to the assault on the Capitol, called for healing rather than impeachment.
Yes, healing is needed, but it does not precede effective treatment of the wound. The healing begins with upholding our democratic tenets. To that end, senators now have an obligation to act briskly to conduct the trial, even as they work to deliver COVID relief to the American people.
Of course, with less than a week left in Trump’s term, he’s due to leave office before a trial will be held. But the point of trial now would not be to oust him from office; the Constitution permits the Senate to permanently disqualify an official convicted on impeachment from holding “any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.”
All high-ranking U.S. officials — even, and especially, the president — who incite seditious violence should be stripped of their sense of impunity. And the way to do that is to impose sanctions for their actions.
