Mitch McConnell: a study in yellow
Mitch McConnell, February 13, 2021. (CNP/ABACAPRESS.COM)
Donald Trump is still a loser. The former President was defeated by 57 votes to 43 at the end of his trial before the Senate on Saturday. Only the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority enabled him to escape impeachment for a second time.
In truth, there were no winners in the spectacle of the Republican senators evading the reality of what happened on and before January 6 in order to hang onto their supporters and donors. By voting to exonerate Trump they were keeping many of the 74 million who voted for him in denial about his responsibility for the sack of the Capitol. The 43 senators who voted, first to deny that the impeachment of a former President was constitutional and, secondly, to acquit him of the “high crimes and misdemeanours” of which he was manifestly guilty, thereby rendered themselves complicit. Their conduct was no less dishonourable, even if less culpable, than that of Trump himself.
Of all these Republican senators, the one who most deserves to hang his head in shame is their leader, Mitch McConnell. Throughout this process, the senator for Kentucky had led many to think that he was wrestling with his conscience. His comments since January 6 have left nobody in any doubt about where he stands. Yet he still voted with fellow senators who remain fanatical Trump loyalists and who have vowed to take revenge on members of Congress who sided against their hero, including McConnell himself.
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” McConnell said in his speech before the Senate, moments after voting for acquittal. Yet it was he and his fellow Republican senators who delayed the trial for more than a week until after Joe Biden was sworn in as President. This meant that by the time his trial began, Trump was a private citizen. And in the eyes of Senator McConnell and 42 of his colleagues, this meant that he could no longer be impeached.
Their tortuous arguments betrayed their insincerity. There was no precedent for such an impeachment, they claimed — falsely. In fact, a 19th-century Defense Secretary had been tried by the Senate after leaving office, even though he was acquitted. In any case, there is no precedent either for the events of January 6 or for Trump’s attempts to reverse the result of the election. If the power to impeach is to be a meaningful deterrent, it cannot be bound by precedent. It is there to be used in defence of the Republic and its Constitution against attempts to undermine them by officials who have sworn an oath to uphold them. What is the point of impeachment if it cannot be deployed against a former President who is accused of inciting a lethal assault on Congress, aimed at preventing the certification of the results of a general election?
The main constitutional argument the Republicans relied on was the claim that to impeach a former President would set a precedent that would place every citizen in jeopardy. Yet this argument, too, is spurious. The Constitution states that impeachment applies to “the President, Vice President and all civil Officers” — and nobody else. It confers no power to impeach those who have not been entrusted with office, but it is clearly not intended to offer officials a “get out of jail free” card simply by virtue of leaving office. Otherwise officials could commit crimes with impunity merely by resigning their offices.
By requiring a two-thirds majority of senators, the Constitution sets a high bar for impeachment. The notion of a tyrannical Congress abusing its power to impeach by proscribing former Presidents or other politicians, like some tin-pot dictatorship, belongs to the realm of fantasy.
By tradition, Americans address presidents, senators and other notables by their official titles even after they leave office. Trump still enjoys the dignity and some of the privileges of office. The quid pro quo is that he should also still be held accountable.
As McConnell himself pointed out in his speech, the fact that Trump has again escaped impeachment does not mean that his actions in office are above the law. “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen,” he told the Senate. “[He] didn’t get away with anything yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”
It is a fact that prosecutors in several states are already examining evidence against Trump; he may indeed yet face multiple charges, civil and criminal. But this is all the more reason why McConnell ought to have followed the logic of his position and voted to impeach. Trump’s aura of immunity derives not only from the fact that he has been President, but from the possibility that he might return to office in 2024. The mere possibility of such an unscrupulous and vindictive man wielding the powers of the presidency is enough to make any official think twice before bringing a case against him.
For all these reasons, McConnell ought to have set an example to his colleagues and the country by voting with his conscience. He told them that Trump had committed “a disgraceful dereliction of duty” by his actions before and during the insurrection of January 6. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
If this is what the Senate minority leader believes, why did he not have the guts to impeach? After all, as the Trump loyalist Senator Lindsay Graham declared afterwards, McConnell’s speech makes him an “outlier” among Republican politicians and it will undoubtedly be used by Democrats against them in mid-term campaigning. Having accepted this collateral damage, McConnell might as well have done the decent and the right thing. His own seat is safe, having just been re-elected, so he does not need to fear the wrath of his constituents. His physical safety may be at risk from trigger-happy Trump-diehards, but that would be the case anyway.
One can only conclude that Mitch McConnell — hitherto a man of some stature — is sadly representative of the moral cowardice of his party. When he was put to the test, he failed to rise to the occasion. The Grand Old Party has forfeited its grandeur. With a few honourable exceptions, the Republicans have come out in their true colours: red no longer, but yellow.
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