Did Trump try to Overthrow the Government?
Congress didn't appear to think so
First off, I personally think Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government on January 6. I think he knowingly got his supporters wound up and fired them at Congress.
But I don’t think Congress actually felt that way. Because on January 7, when Trump would continue to be president for the next 2 weeks, what did Congress do?
They waited 4 days to introduce articles of impeachment.
They waited an additional 2 days to vote on the issue.
And they then waited 12 days, until after Joe Biden had assumed the presidency, to forward it to the Senate.
The Senate taking it’s sweet time at this point - not germane to this discussion as Trump is no longer in charge.
Here’s the thing. On January 7 Trump was still the leader of the U.S. Government. He was still Commander in Chief. All those National Guard in the capitol - they reported to him. All the Army troops nearby on standby - they reported to him.
He could have directed the troops to put Congress into protective custody. He could have shut down the capitol for protective reasons. He could have declared the election invalid and then stopped Congress from assembling. The list of possibilities goes on and on…
If Congress truly believed that he was an imminent danger to our Democracy, then the House would have impeached him and delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate on January 7.
And the Senate would have voted on January 7 or 8 (because yes, even if a gun is pointed to their head, Senators are going to talk).
Congress clearly did not think Trump was a direct threat after the January 6 insurrection. And that made all statements in the recent contest for President claiming that Trump is a direct threat to our Democracy questionable.
And to repeat what I started with, I do think he tried to overthrow the government. I do think it was a direct & immediate threat to our Democracy. The problem is Congress did not think so.
In addition, in the 72 hours after the event, people are in a very different state of mind. If he was impeached on January 7 and the Senate vote was January 8, Trump would almost certainly have been convicted. Our Democratic Congress blew it here - big time.
