Capitol blitzkrieg

Friday 15th January, 2021

What we witnessed in the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday, was a snap impeachment. It may even be called a legislative blitzkrieg. Its outcome came as no surprise because the Democrats control the House. Ten GOP members joined forces with them to secure the passage of the article of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

The person who is supposed to be the most powerful man on earth is in an unenviable position. The outgoing US President finds himself in a hole, well and truly. Finally, a swashbuckling Trump was at the mercy of Vice President Mike Pence, who resisted the Democrats’ determined bid to have him invoke Article 25 of the US Constitution and remove Trump as the President. Had Pence yielded to pressure from the House, Trump could have been removed, but the US would have been plunged into a bigger mess.

Pence, too, has blotted his copybook to some extent due to his fence-sitting. On the election night, he, in his wisdom, endorsed Trump’s claim of having won while votes were still being counted. Thereafter, he plucked up the courage in the face of pressure from Trump, who wanted the election overturned, to carry out his constitutional duty impartially, and certified Biden’s victory at a joint congressional session, which was disrupted by a violent mob. Thereafter, he turned down a request from the Democrats to remove Trump.

Trump has become the first twice-impeached US President. Less than one week remains of his term, which ends on 20 January, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as the new President. The Democrats’ plan to have Trump removed immediately has, however, gone pear-shaped because the Senate, where the GOP has a majority, does not want to act on the article of impeachment before the inauguration of President Biden. The Senate, however, will have to act thereon under the Biden administration to be installed shortly. Thus, trouble is far from over for Trump. Not even the GOP Congresspeople and Senators supportive of him have defended his actions during the last two weeks or so.

The manner in which Trump was impeached, on Wednesday, has left a bad taste in many a mouth. The House, in its hurry to see the back of him, telescoped the impeachment process into a couple of hours! True, Trump should be held accountable for the Capitol insurrection, but investigations are still being conducted into the riot. Most of all, the principle of natural justice should have been respected.

The battle plan of the political enemies of Trump is clear; they want to disgrace and demonise him so as to neutralise him politically and, thereby, ruin his chances of remaining active in politics and running for President in 2024 a la Grover Cleveland, who won two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897).

The US polity has split down the middle, and whether it will ever heal is in doubt. Some black Congresspersons gave the impeachment an ethnic twist by declaring that Trump had to be removed because he was a white supremacist. It would have been prudent for the Democrats to base their action against Trump on what he has said and done since the election day. Speculation is rife that Trump supporters will stage protests on the day of Biden’s inauguration. A visibly shaken Trump has called upon them to act with restraint. If only he had asked them to do so, on 6 January.

Perhaps, the Congress could have taken the wind out of Trump’s sails and prevented the unfortunate incidents at Capitol Hill if it had cared to appoint an ad hoc committee to conduct an emergency audit of the results in the disputed states in response to Trump’s call. If it had done so and been able to prove his allegations wrong, that would have helped prevent Trump from letting the far-right genie out of the bottle.

The Democrats may be able to neutralise Trump politically if their legislative action against him finds favour with the Senate before or after Biden’s inauguration. But the question is whether they will be able to tame the forces that have rallied around him all these years.