House lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) can’t seem to keep straight the nature of an impeachment trial, twisting the House’s Article 1 impeachment power, suggesting high-crimes-and-misdemeanors are anything that the House wants them to be. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hastily concocted the latest impeachment article against 74-year-old former President Donald Trump, “incitement of insurrection.” Raskin was emphatic in his concluding remarks after 16 hours of redundant testimony by nine House managers, telling the Senate to convict Trump not on committing any crime but on essentially his dereliction of duty and breach of his oath of office, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Raskin handed off to 36-year-old manager Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Co.) who proceeded to contradict Raskin, insisting that Trump committed real crimes.
Neguse rehashed all 16-hours of House arguments arguing that Trump was guilty of inciting an “insurrection” because he promulgated lies about the Nov. 8, 2021 election, telling supporters in his Jan. 6 speech to “fight like hell.” Trump held over 100 rallies since first announcing for president Jan. 16, 2015, all characterized by similar rhetoric, not changing his style one iota for the last five years. Because some in his audience went ballistic Jan. 6, House managers accuse Trump of lighting a match or inciting an “insurrection,” something not even addressed in 16 hours of arguments. House managers played a lot of disturbing video of the Jan. 6 riot and mob scene but no manager explained how they charged Trump with “incitement of insurrection” when the lawbreakers did not come armed with automatic weapons, only cell phones to take selfies and pictures in the Capitol.
Raskin’s rambling speech paraphrasing Lincoln’s Nov. 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address, shows he strayed all of over the map, trying appeal to senators’ patriotism, when his musings underscored his bereft case to convict Trump. When Trump’s attorneys get their turn tomorrow, they’ll refute the House arguments that Trump participated in the Jan. 6 riot and mob scene. Raskin and other House managers repeated that Trump could have stopped the riot and mob scene by making a tweet, something so preposterous not only because he’s banned on Twitter but because who’d be listening? If only Trump had waved off the rioters somehow they’d stop and go home. If you really think about what Raskin and Neguse claimed that Trump could wave a magic wand and stop the riot that would prove that he, in fact, orchestrated the event. All indications point to right wing anarchists plotting the event.
House managers talked about the heroism of Capitol Hill police, while for months over last summer, they agreed with Black Lives Matter that police department around the country should be de-funded. House manager talked about the bloody loss of life, as if Capitol Hill rioters murdered the five individuals who died in the rampage. Only one person was shot and killed by Capitol Police. Ocean Beach resident 36-year-oldAshli Elizabeth Babbit was actively killed in the four-hour-long Jan. 6 Capitol Hill fracas. Media reports claimed that 42-year-old Capitol Hill Police officer Brian D. Sicknick was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher by an angry mob but knew reports suggest that he denied of natural causes. While Sicknick’s ashes lie in state in the Capitol Hill Rotunda, the D.C. police or FBI autopsy report has not confirmed the biased reporting from the Jan. 6 riot.
House managers narrative mirrors that of the New York Times and other liberal groups that seek Trump’s conviction whether it’s right or not. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Co.) cited angry protesters now facing long jail sentences for as proof that they followed Trump’s orders. “More and more insurrectionists are admitting that they came at Trump’s direction,” DeGette said, citing the testimony of criminals that participated in the riots and mob scene. “Today president Trump told us to fight like hell,” Troy Smocks said, faced with violent entry and disorderly conduction. How convenient to blame Trump for committing crimes, while Trump told his audiences over the last five years to “fight like hell” for their rights. Using criminals as witnesses tells the whole story for House impeachment managers, running out of arrows in the quiver to make their case that’s about to unravel with Trump’s defense team takes over.
Raskin and his nine-member team of impeachment managers have used everything but the kitchen sink to make their case of “incitement of insurrection.” House manager didn’t play video of Trump telling his Jan. 6 audience to protest peacefully while that “fight like hell” to make their voices heard about the Nov. 8, 2020 election. Raskin went to great lengths talking about the miracle of American democracy built on the Constitution and rule of law. Well it’s not the rule of law to claim that Trump’s words in a speech substituted itself for an adult citizen’s conscience when protesters decided Jan. 6 to break the law. When it comes to holding Trump accountable, House managers didn’t cite a scintilla of evidence that Trump participated or ordered anyone to storm the Capitol, deface public property or break any U.S. laws. No, House managers want Trump to pay for the misdeeds of others.
