Election 2020: The Doomed Impeachment

Of course, the talk of the day is impeachment (again). Shockingly, Chuck Schumer is for it; Da Caller, Schumer Says Impeachment Trial Is Necessary To Bring Healing, and Biden is at least keeping his options open Biden Says Senate Impeachment Trial ‘Has To Happen’ Just wait until it's your turn in the barrel. Then we can impeach you for Ukraine corruption if and when we get the house back. AllahPundit at Hot Air, Hawley: Holding This Impeachment Trial Would Set A “Really, Really, Really Dangerous Precedent”. Insty, DOUBTFUL: Biden put on a show of ‘unity’ — will he stick to it? "Related: To move on, drop the Trump impeachment trial."

What passes for news is that Sen. Paul Rand moved to dismiss the charges based on lack of authority for the Senate to impeach a private citizen. At Da Caller Bob (not Bill) Barr  A Motion To Dismiss For Lack Of Jurisdiction Should Swiftly End The Senate Impeachment Farce. Should and will being entirely different words. Sundance at CTH,  Rand Paul Pushes Back Against Ridiculousness of Impeachment – Likely to Initiate Points of Order to Call Out Republican Idiots.  At Da Wire, Rand Paul’s Fiery Speech Denouncing Trump Impeachment. PM, Sen Rand Paul SLAMS impeachment attempt and 'incitement' of violence by Democrats.  Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Can Rand Paul Derail The Senate Trial Before It Begins? UPDATE: Fails, 55-45. There, that saved you some suspense didn't it. As expected the vast majority of Republicans voted in favor of dismissal, and all Democrats voted against. Jake the Snake Tapper tweeted 55-45 vote against Rand Paul's motion that the impeachment is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office. Senate Minority Leader McConnell voted with Paul. At NR, McConnell Signals Support for Effort to Deem Trump Impeachment Trial ‘Unconstitutional’. NYT at MSN sobs that  Republicans Rally Against Impeachment Trial, Signaling Likely Acquittal for Trump while AP whines GOP largely sides against holding Trump impeachment trial. The point was never to win. The point was to demonstrate to Democrats that they don't have the votes to convict, and going through with the trial will be a waste of time. Althouse, 45 Senators just voted that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional, so it seems that acquittal is inevitable. Ace, Rand Paul Moves to Stop the Sham Impeachment Trial as Unconstitutional, but Five "Republicans" Defect to the Democrats -- And It's Not the Ones You'd Guess. "Just pulling your leg -- it is exactly the ones you'd guess. Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, the Abortion Twins, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, and liberal Pat Toomey." Highlight to see who. The title of this one would give it away (Sundance)

Even John Bolton atop Da Hill, currently no friend of Trump calls the  Second Trump Impeachment “Badly Conceived, Poorly Executed” well within his field of expertise. At Da Fed, John Davidson says Conservatives Should Stop Trying To Justify Impeaching Trump, and speaking of that, AllahPundit at Hot Air gleefully reports Rob Portman: I Might Still Vote To Convict Trump Despite Supporting Rand Paul’s Challenge Today. Talk about incoherent "It's unconstitutional, but I might do it anyway". Unless he has lots of followers, it's still not enough. AllahPundit prays, House Dems Wonder: Would Any Of Trump’s Former White House Aides Be Willing To Testify Against Him At The Trial?  The unsinkable Molly Hemingway at Da Fed, Liz Cheney Should Step Away From Leadership For The Sake Of GOP Voters.

The House Republican conference can tolerate a member who caters to the Democratic media complex in order to further her personal agenda. However, she can’t be in leadership. The party leadership must be unified in order to effectively fight against the left-wing assaults in the years to come.

also,  "FWIW, GOP voters aren't looking for senators who are merely against convicting the former president. That's easy. On the merits, on the Constitutional grounds, etc. They are looking for much more -- people who will fight HARD against the left-wing mobs and their falsehoods." (Tweet link).

With it becoming ever more obvious that conviction will fail, Bipartisan Senate Pitch: Let’s Censure Trump Instead Of An Impeachment Trial; Plus: A Bill Of Attainder Instead?. Good enuf for Greta, Why we need a bipartisan censure to deal with Trump, not another circus impeachment trial

A bill of attainder (also known as an act of attainder or writ of attainder or bill of penalties) is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of persons, guilty of some crime, and punishing them, often without a trial.

At Front Page, Fourteenth Amendment Follies "Desperate Democrats want to get medieval on Trump."

The constitutional provision itself, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known as the Disqualification Clause, reads:

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

If Section 3 isn’t enough to bury Trump, Section 5 gives Congress the power to enforce the 14th Amendment through “appropriate legislation.”

Some very creative scholars claim this means a simple majority of both chambers of Congress could pass a law applying a ban on future political activities to a particular former president, like Donald Trump.

Althouse asks Do you believe that Donald Trump intended to incite an insurrection? No.

That's the question I'd like to see polled.

I think that the "yes" answer needs to be quite high — at least above 50% — for the impeachment trial to make sense.

Hours after swearing in the Senators, John Sexton at Hot Air reports, Sen. Patrick Leahy Hospitalized After Not Feeling Well, then Peacock Sen. Patrick Leahy, set to preside over Trump impeachment, returns home after brief hospitalization. No word if it is the dreaded WuFlu. Stephan Kruiser at PJ Media asks How Many People Will the Democrats' Impeachment Fetish Kill?. Using Democrat math, Gajillions. 

We were constantly told throughout last year that every moment President Trump and Republican leadership weren’t spending dealing with COVID-19 was directly responsible for people getting sick and dying. “Blood on their hands” was an oft-used phrase.

At Da Fed, Anonymous Claim Of Inauguration Violence Sends Wisconsin Police To Investigate Elderly Veteran "The 73-year-old was working at his home when three deputies questioned him on suspicion of being a domestic terrorist. Why? He had joined peaceful conservative protests." I know some mighty spry 73 year olds. At LI, Pennsylvania Teacher Suspended for Attending Trump Rally Says His Life Has Been Destroyed. Roll Call, After Capitol riot, a call to protect veterans from disinformation

"Foreign and domestic forces target veterans with disinformation on social media as they seek to undermine U.S. democracy." WSJ, via Hot Air, Video: Proud Boys Were Key Instigators In Capitol Riot. Proud Boys = Immanuel Goldstein. Da Caller, Capitol Rioter Charged After Threatening Rep. Ocasio-Cortez On Twitter. Calls for assassinations will get you charged every time, and banned from Twitter, unless you're a Democrat threatening a Republican. From Human Events, 5,000 National Guard Troops to Stay in DC Through March, Some Returning Home.

Jazz Shaw (the last conservative left at Hot Air?), Democrats Move To Ban Trump Supporters From Federal Jobs Or Joining The Military, but from WaEx, Tulsi Gabbard: Calls for Biden to embrace 'KGB-style' tactics in U.S. far scarier than Capitol riot "Democrat says ex-CIA head Brennan, allies 'much more powerful, and therefore dangerous'" I agree. 

From Da Caller, Virginia Rule Allowing Late Ballots Missing Postmark Was Illegal, Court Rules. Da Blaze, Judge rules Virginia elections board violated law with late absentee mail-in ballot rule. But it doesn't change the count because they were never counted due to an injunction. But it might affect races in the future. Julie Kelly at Am Great, GOP Election Fraud Deniers Face Reckoning "One cannot simultaneously defend the integrity of the 2020 election and demand new laws to ensure election integrity."