I want to break down Lindsey's letter, because it is breath…

I want to break down Lindsey's letter, because it is breathtakingly hypocritical and stoking division with every sentence, despite claiming to be concerned with healing.

My letter to Democratic Leader Schumer.

The Senate should vote to dismiss the article of impeachment once it is received in the Senate. We will be delaying indefinitely, if not forever, the healing of this great Nation if we do otherwise. pic.twitter.com/fjVcf7iVPf
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 17, 2021

1) "But now, in your first act as Majority Leader, rather than begin the national healing that the country so desperately yearns for, you seek vengeance and political retaliation instead."

Trump incited an attack on the Capitol, on Congress, and on a free & fair election.

Trump has yet to concede, to apologize, or to admit he was lying about the outcome of the election. He has done nothing that demonstrates he does not continue to present a danger to our nation.

Trump's supporters continue to conspire to overthrow the government--with Trump's implicit, and quite possibly explicit--support. At this very moment, over 20,000 troops are stationed in our nation's capital to ensure the inauguration of President-Elect Biden can be completed.

It is not "vengeance" or "political retaliation" to insist a man that has fomented and continues to inspire a violent insurrection against the government is unfit ever to hold office again.

This is, in fact, a bare minimum protection for our country against future harm by Trump.

2) Graham insists the impeachment of a non-sitting president is unconstitutional. The House has already impeached the sitting president. The Constitution says nothing about the Senate trial needing to be completed before his term ends.

Graham cites "removal and disqualification" as "the only remedies for an impeachment that is constitutional."

Even if Trump is out of office, there is still the issue that he could run and re-elected again. A man who so abuses power should never be allowed to hold office again.

Disqualification is still a remedy, as Graham acknowledges, and it is one that MUST be employed if the current Senate Majority Leader is too cowardly to start the trial.

3) Graham raises the question "What if Republicans had impeached Obama over Benghazi?"

We can assume the GOP spent more time investigating Benghazi than they did 9/11 for precisely that end, and the only reason they did not impeach Obama is because they never found wrongdoing.

By raising the specter of Benghazi, Graham seeks to downplay Trump's violent insurrection, and pretend Obama's actions with regards to Benghazi rose to the level of criminal.

There is no comparison between Trump's coup attempt and the mistakes made in Benghazi.

It's also worth noting that we HAVE seen the kind of petty foolishness Republicans would elevate to the level of impeachment, when they attempted to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998.

If perjury and obstruction merit impeachment, certainly inciting rebellion should.

4) "Should Democrats...disqualify Trump administration officials from future office while they hold both chambers, just because they can?"

Republicans established the "Just Because We Can" doctrine with the Barrett nomination. Why should that be off the table now?

More importantly, though, Democrats would not be disqualifying Trump administration officials from future office "just because they can."

They would be doing so because anyone who foments a rebellion against our nation should never be allowed to hold office. Period.

5) Graham insists pursuing conviction in the Senate will only "incite further division."

We are already divided. The president sent thousands of his supporters to attack the Capitol, murder members of Congress and the Vice President, and overturn the 2020 election.

25,000 troops are stationed in Washington, D.C. to ensure the next president can be sworn in. Heavily armed Trump supporters have already been arrested for further attempts at violence, and others continue to plot attacks on our government.

We're already divided.

Allowing insurrection to go unpunished, to allow our Capitol to be attacked and desecrated, our Congress and the results of a free & fair election threatened is not healing or unity.

It's allowing crime to go unpunished. It is a pointed absence of justice for those wronged.

6) "The Vice President withstood immense and unprecedented partisan pressure and fulfilled his oath to the Constitution..."

Pence doesn't get cookies for abiding the law. Following the Constitution is not a heroic act. It is the bare minimum standard for those who hold office.

Furthermore, the only pressure Pence received to follow the law was from President Trump, Republican members of Congress, and the thousands of pro-Trump insurrectionists who chanted to hang the Vice President from the Capitol steps.

Pointing out the the President attempted to have the Vice President murdered for following the Constitution only highlights how egregious and heinous Trump's crimes truly are, @LindseyGrahamSC.

Trump belongs in prison. Impeachment should be a mere formality.

7) "History will judge us harshly...if we do not rise to the occasion of this historic moment in our history."

If the GOP is too cowardly, craven, and self-interested to punish a Republican president for insurrection, then yes, history will certainly judge them harshly.

Trump refused to accept the results of the election. He sought to disenfranchise the 81.2 million voters who voted against him. He rejected a peaceful transition of power in favor of a violent coup attempt, which resulted in 5 dead.

Trump CONTINUES to foment rebellion, and his supporters even now threaten our Capitol, our President-elect, and the very foundation of our nation as a democratic Republic.

No history book would judge anyone harshly for ensuring such a man never held office again.

We have long known that @LindseyGrahamSC is a hypocrite, a liar, a coward, and a self-interested opportunist of the worst kind. He would look the other way at an attack on our nation purely because the ringleader of the rebellion was a man of his own party.

It's shameless.

We need healing and unity, but it will not happen as long as we have leaders in our country who will tell any lie, ignore any crime, and engage in rank whataboutism, all to ensure they are once again elected to high office.

Trump should be impeached. Graham should be voted out.

And the history books will certainly remember Graham, who hated Trump then became his staunchest defender, who pressured election officials to change the outcomes of an election for partisan benefit, and who cheerleaded a Democratic president's impeachment for petty reasons...

...while TWICE excusing the egregious and outrageous abuses of office--up to and including TREASON--from a Republican president, as a malignant figure who gladly helped destroy the fabric of this nation, so long as it helped him cling to political power.

I want to break down Lindsey's letter, because it is breathtakingly hypocritical and stoking division with every sentence, despite claiming to be concerned with healing.

More from Cate Eland

More from For later read

You May Also Like