The Impeachment!

I said it before: nothing will come out of the Senate Hearing

A Joke? A Mockery of Justice? A Show of Strength or a Loyalty to the Party!

The  United States Senate completed its task over the impeachment trial of our ex-president. To find him guilty, two-thirds of the senators (Sixty seven) had to vote for his conviction instigating insurrection on the Congress. All the dissidents were Republican senators. Their rationale was based on a superficial technicality that Congress could not impeach a president already out of the office even though the members of the same body approved that it possesses jurisdiction over the matter. The minority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, voted for the acquittal of the ex-president.   He stated that the trial should have been launched while the president was still in office and that the law does not apply to his present status. 

In his speech after the trial, Senator McConnell blasted Mr. Trump as the person responsible for all that had transpired on January 6, 2021. What a dichotomy!  

The records indicate that on January 13, 2021, when Senator McConnel was still the majority leader, he refused to reconvene the Senate before January 19, 2021, inauguration day, unless all one hundred senators unanimously agree for Senate to reconvene. By this ruling, he ignored the house impeachment committee’s request and purposely delayed the trial to create a loophole, giving Trump a way out. McConnell sent a memo to this effect to all members of the Republican Party.

The then minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, requested the application of a law passed in 2004, where the majority and the minority leaders could jointly decide to reconvene Senate in an emergency (S. Res. 296 — 108th Congress 2003-2004), and stated that the present situation was an emergency. Mr. McConnell refused to cooperate. 

His acquittal vote and then his remarks on Mr. trump’s action remind me of a classical Iranian maxim. The story goes something like this: A thief steals a rooster from a peasant’s farm. While on his way out, the farmer confronts the prowler and accuses him of stealing one of his roosters. The bandit swears to God and the prophet that he did not steal anything from the farmer and did not have a rooster. The peasant, puzzled by what he witnessed, said, “I am at a loss. I don’t know if I should believe your swearing to God and the prophet that you did not steal my rooster or rely on the tail of my bird showing out from your bag!” Senator McConnell, which one is correct?

On numerous occasions, I expressed my opinion that nothing substantial will come out of all these so-called investigations.  I shall reiterate on the subject that the most convictions we can expect will be a few lower echelon individuals to be charged for the crimes committed on January 6, 2021, under our president’s incitement and direction. There is no doubt that, by all accounts, the president should bear the responsibility for all mishaps that took place on that infamous day.

What transpired on January 6, 2021, by a group of Americans was nothing but an irrational and despicable act committed under our president’s direction.  It brought up the ugliest face of the country’s populace that I never thought existed, much less to witness it in action. 

I saw many social media “likes” of the January sixth insurrection in my country of birth. The mobs attacked government or institutional buildings, breaking the doors, windows and destroying and stealing property belonging to the nation of which they were a part. I never dreamed that such a lack of civility could exist in my adopted country. 

When a president’s term in office comes to an end, I never imagined that he would refuse to gracefully accept the peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected person.  Why should he encourage insurrection against his own country by suggesting a mob to take over the seat of the country’s legislative authority and aim to kill its officials, including his vice-president? What do some of our senators like Mr. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, etc., want? What kind of hold does Mr. Trump have on these people? Do these senators think that their first duty is to preserve the nation’s welfare or uphold the Party’s benefits? 

Where are we? What do we want? Are we looking for individuals like Putin of Russia, or Kim Jong-un of North Korea, or Ayat-ul-Lah Khamenei of Iran, or  Salman bin Abdul-Aziz or Prince Mohammad bin Salman, King and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, to govern over us? If this is what we seek, then Trump will be the right choice. 

Considering all the problems caused by Mr. Trump,  we should not regard him as the sole person responsible for what transpired on January 6, 2021. The most significant part of the wrong was done by the people who helped and supported him.