Opinion | Trump Is Guilty

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by SamDumberg
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If you fail to hold him accountable, it can happen again.

This is the heart of the prosecution’s argument in the ongoing impeachment trial of Donald Trump. It is a plea for the senators charged with rendering a verdict not to limit their concerns solely to the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters sacked the U.S. Capitol, but also to act with an eye toward safeguarding the nation’s future.

To excuse Mr. Trump’s attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by him and by other aspiring autocrats. The stakes could not be higher. A vote for impunity is an act of complicity.

It is unfortunate that the country finds itself at this place at this moment, American pitted against American. But there is no more urgent task than recentering the nation’s political life as peaceful and committed to the rule of law.

Mr. Trump stands charged with incitement of insurrection. For three days this week, House managers laid out a devastating case for conviction. Methodically, meticulously they detailed the former president’s effort to undermine and overturn a free and fair election, culminating with his fomenting an attack on Congress that resulted in the deaths of five people, and very nearly more. Mr. Trump spun lies and conspiracy theories to defraud and destabilize his followers. He told them that their votes had been stolen. He made them believe that everyone had betrayed them, from local officials to the media to the Supreme Court. He convinced them that the only way to save their nation was to “fight like hell.” Mr. Trump whipped his loyalists into a rage, summoned them to Washington, pointed them at Congress and then retreated to the safety of the White House to enjoy the show.

MBAMBA3 on February 13rd, 2021 at 03:24 UTC »

From the NY Times Editorial Board - so not just some ordinary op ed

Trump Is Guilty

There’s no doubt who must be held responsible for attacking the Capitol and trying to overturn the results of the election.

By The Editorial Board

redbrick5 on February 13rd, 2021 at 02:45 UTC »

The GOP would be so much better off by convicting him. This is exactly the moment they needed to distance themselves from him. It is a gift of epic proportions.

BannerBearer on February 13rd, 2021 at 01:40 UTC »

I hope somewhere a DA or AG is preparing to blindside Trump with a serious case the moment the acquittal is announced.