By: Praghna Palaparthy
Trump is U.S. history's only President and only federal officer to be impeached twice! On December 18, 2019, the first Trump impeachment process began; he was accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The first impeachment trial was acquitted with 52 votes for not guilty and 47 votes for guilty; for a conviction to occur, there must be a minimum of 67 guilty votes. On February 9, 2021, Trump was accused again of incitement of insurrection with the results of 57 votes for guilty and 43 votes for not guilty. Trump is also the only President to have 7 Republican Senators who voted to convict Trump. The second impeachment had lasted from February 9, 2021, to February 13, 2021.
During the election, Trump has been provoking many ideas, such as the idea that Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives speaker, is crazy. He had also given her the name "Crazy Nancy." The rioters repeatedly used this nickname in the footage of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. This riot was one of the worst riots during the Presidential exchange of power. On January 6, 2021, rioters supporting Donald Trump raided the capitol building where the Senate and the House of Representatives meet. During the capitol riot, both the Senate and House of Representatives met to discuss the second impeachment of Donald Trump. Watching the footage, we see that Trump supporters were carrying Confederate flags and other disrespectful items. They were shouting for Nancy Pelosi and wanting to harm her. In my opinion, this is hugely unconstitutional. Trump has provoked the idea of violence. As we know, Donald Trump strongly believed that the election results were fraudulent, and he wanted Mike Pence, the Vice President of the U.S. during the election to overthrow the election. But honorably, Vice President Pence did not overthrow the election results. Because of this, Trump has again provoked the idea that Pence is wrong and is not loyal. Because of this, Trump supporters have tried to enter the Vice President's chamber in the mindset of harming or killing Vice President Pence. Rioters outside were yelling, "bring out Pence."
Below is a link to the video: "Impeachment Managers Show New Graphic Security Footage Of Capitol Riot" | NBC
This video includes clips of the footage of the riot.
I believe that the Senate should have voted to convict Trump because of his acts of incitement of violence. As the footage shows, the Capitol riots were not in the mindset of peace and expression of opinions but of violence. The provoking by President Trump had caused these riots. Recent footage also shows that President Trump refused to call off the rioters, the article "New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters" |CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html
Donald Trump had been neglecting the idea that he caused the riots and refused to end the riots.
Overall, I think the Senate and House of Representatives should have convicted Trump of incitement of insurrection. President Trump had provoked many ideas, such as the fact that the House's speaker is crazy, and the Vice President is not loyal and is wrong. This incitement of insurrection has led to his supporters causing violent riots in a significant building and trying to harm the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Vice President of the U.S. during the election.
Picture from:
“United States Capitol.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol.
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