Forget the Senate, charge Donald Trump with insurrection in criminal court

Forget the Senate, charge Donald Trump with insurrection in criminal court Opinion: The Founding Fathers presumed, foolishly, that the elected official who followed them would have the same set of morals. But they made us a nation of laws. All we need do it apply them.

A majority of the U.S. Senate, including seven Republicans, found Donald Trump guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States.”

But the total of 57 votes didn’t meet the two-thirds, or 67, votes needed to convict Trump in a political impeachment trial, a trial whose outcome was known before it started.

In that sense, the Founding Fathers screwed up.

They were idealistic individuals with a very real sense of honor and they presumed, foolishly, that those who followed them would have the same sense of integrity, the same set of morals.

They were in many ways practical men but in this respect their Pollyanna perspective has been a complete failure.

Even knowing that the only “punishment” that might have befallen the former president is the inability to again run for office, the majority of the weak-kneed Republicans in the senate – fearing for their own political futures – voted to acquit.

Because one of the things that the Founding Fathers got absolutely right was the idea that we are a nation of laws.

And, as schoolchildren, we’re taught that no one is above the law.

'Assists' or 'gives aid or comfort'

If that is so, then Donald Trump should be charged with the exact same crime covered in the impeachment, only in criminal court.

It’s there under the U.S. Criminal Code Title 18 Section 2383.

The law is simple and straightforward. It reads:

Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, who enabled Trump for four years, then delayed the impeachment trial until after Trump left office, then said Trump couldn’t be punished because he was out of office, condemned Trump in a speech Saturday, saying, “There's no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things."

If that is so, if Trump is “practically and morally responsible,” as McConnell says, then that is more than enough to meet the standard of the law, which establishes guilt when the accused “incites, sets on foot, assists” an insurrection “or gives aid or comfort thereto.”

If we're a nation of laws, enforce them

A guilty verdict in criminal court also eliminates a person’s ability to run for office, but might also include fines and prison time.

Knowing that individuals have weaknesses, political and personal, the Founding Fathers wisely established the United States as a nation of laws.

If that is true, Trump should be charged in criminal court.

But where the Founders slipped up, again, apparently, was in their belief that Americans in the future would have the backbone to actually enforce our laws.