As the second impeachment trial for former President Donald J. Trump commences, it’s important to note that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are a bunch of hypocrites. On one hand, they act like they want to hold those who incite violence accountable for what happened during the failed domestic terrorist attack fueled by the former President. And then on the other hand, they wave it all away and say it’s too late because the failed former President is no longer President. And it leaves everyone, including myself, wondering why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are so back and forth with their stances.
Case in point, the Trump rally before the Capitol Building attack. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama told attendees, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
Former President Donald J. Trump told the crowd to march to the Capitol and that “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” Combine that with multiple Trump campaign aides named on the permit to the Trump demonstration and you’ve got a perfect recipe for insurrection and a domestic terrorist attack clearly fueled by the Republican party.
After the Capitol attack many, Republicans were stumbling over themselves to say the complete opposite. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “United we can deliver peace, strength and prosperity … divided we will fall,” and disgraced Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene denounced the Capitol rioters and how they were attacking all lawmakers, despite 4+ years of the Trump administration painting Democrats as the enemy of democracy. They say they want peace, unity, and to hold those accountable, ignoring that they are the ones responsible for inciting an attack on the Capitol and the death of 5 people.
This even started before the Capitol attack. The 147 Republicans who voted to overturn election results spent months trying to spread the lie that Democrats cheated their way to a Biden win. A couple months later many of them flipped and accepted the Biden win, acting like they never opposed. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in particular backed Trump’s challenge to vote results in November and “to look into allegations or irregularities and weigh his legal options.” Then in January, after the failed domestic terrorist attack, he said, “I will vote to respect the people’s decision and defend our system of government as we know it.”
This back and forth, where they say one thing and then turn and say another, is mind-boggling. It’s as if they don’t think we have Google and have been watching the news obsessively for years. It’s as if we didn’t see 126 House Republicans ignore the will of the people to join Trump’s failed election lawsuit. It’s as if we didn’t see Republicans celebrate Trump winning Alaska in the Presidential election of 2020 while also saying that you can’t call elections before all votes are counted. And it’s as if they don’t see the hypocrisy of Amy Coney Barrett’s rushed confirmation sham when during the Obama administration they wouldn’t allow it because it was an election year.
Republicans think they’re allowed to their hypocrisy in part because they don’t think the rules apply to them. Sorry, not sorry, but the rules do apply to them. They always have, always will, and we need to make an example of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies by holding them accountable for their actions and words. How do we do that? By pointing out inconsistencies in what they’ve said in comparison to what they’ve actually done. By keeping informed and vigilant of what’s currently going on in Washington, and by supporting those that are fighting to hold wannabe dictators like former President Donald J. Trump accountable.
It’s also partially due to the fact that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies think we’ll forget the atrocities of the four years under a guise of “healing.” Look, the only way that we’re going to heal this country is by holding those who want to destroy our democracy accountable. We don’t heal by forgetting those who hurt us. We heal by speaking the truth, holding an impeachment trial, and having consequences so those who’ve hurt us can never do it again. That’s why the second impeachment of failed former President Donald J. Trump is so important. There are consequences for your actions, and this is it.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies’ ability to act like it’s OK to have their cake and eat it too is almost impressive—almost. At one point they were like, “Nah. Donny needs time to prep. Just give him time. No big deal. The impeachment will happen if it’s meant to.” And in the next moment, they were like, “How very dare you? It’s too late to have a second impeachment now. He’s not President anymore. This is unconstitutional!” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get it.) And they would’ve gotten away with it too if it weren’t for those meddling Democrats who keep pointing out how much of hypocrites they are.
The point of holding a second impeachment trial is to set a standard and let everyone know that the actions of the failed and former President will not be tolerated in this democracy—and, maybe, barring Donald Trump himself from ever getting the opportunity to use the presidency this way again. It’s the ultimate way of learning from our mistakes, or the mistakes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies, and making it so it never happens again. And if it does, we’ll have set a precedent to protect the people of the United States of America instead of those who hold political power or try to incite violence with that power against anyone who opposes them.
So, keep at it, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and friends. Keep showing who you truly are. Because there will be people ready to meet you, toe to toe, and call you out for your hypocrisy no matter how you try to hide it or act like it’s nonexistent. It is. And we can all see it.
(image: Tom Brenner-Pool/Getty Images)
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