Yesterday, January 13th, we witnessed a historical moment: the President was impeached for the second time. After Vice President Pence declined to invoke the 25th amendment, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, called for impeachment to protect our democracy.
After watching several representatives speak, both Democrats and Republicans, I noticed that a few Republicans argued against impeachment for unity purposes. As I counter their stance, I would like to emphasize that the domestic terrorists were wearing shirts that directly promoted a MAGA Civil War. So, rightfully punishing these terrorists, along with the man who inspired them, would actually unify our country against divisive forces. In contrast, the Democratic argument focused more on Trump’s actions before the attack, along with the horrors of the attack itself. As a reminder, I will now list some of Trump’s quotes from his pre-storming rally.
- “But just remember this: You’re stronger, you’re smarter, you’ve got more going than anybody. And they try and demean everybody having to do with us. And you’re the real people, you’re the people that built this nation.”
- “Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down.”
- “Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.”
- “You will have an illegitimate president. That’s what you’ll have. And we can’t let that happen.”
- “You’re not going to have a Republican Party if you don’t get tougher.”
- “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
- “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol . . . ” (Trump quoted by The Associated Press).
Along with rightfully impeaching a leader who incited insurrection, the House of Representatives demonstrated to current and future generations that our presidents should be held accountable for their actions, and that democracy will not be intimidated by false arguments, no matter how much time is left in a presidential term.
“Transcript of Trump’s Speech at Rally before US Capitol Riot.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 14 Jan. 2021, apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-media-e79eb5164613d6718e9f4502eb471f27.