Features
Three times loser Trump amazingly remains force in Republican politics
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
The second impeachment of Donald Trump got under way last Tuesday.
Trump has the doubtful distinction of being the only president ever to have lost the popular election twice, by three million votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and by seven million to Biden in 2020, and the only president to be impeached twice in history. His other singular “achievements” include losing the House, the Senate and the presidency in a single term. These make Trump the undisputed political loser in the nation’s history, with a spectacular record of failure never to be breached in the future.
And amazingly, he remains a force in Republican politics today.
Trump’s second impeachment was initiated by the House of Representatives after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, acting on his incitement. The nation’s lawmakers, 435 Representatives and 100 Senators were in session at the Capitol, presided over by Vice President Pence, to conclude their Constitutional duty of formalizing the 2020 elections of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was only one Article of Impeachment, charging Trump of “incitement of insurrection” in urging his supporters to march on the Capitol building.
January 6 was a day of infamy in US history, even surpassing the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Pearl Harbor was attacked by a foreign adversary, on the orders of their Emperor. The Capitol and the nation’s lawmakers were attacked by Americans, homegrown terrorists, on the orders of the President of the United States, who had taken an oath to protect the nation and all its citizens.
On the first day of the trial, Trump’s legal team argued that the impeachment of a former president, a private citizen, is unconstitutional. Their ill-presented argument represented the entirety of the Republican defense, the one “fig leaf” of constitutionality to cover a multitude of evidence against Trump. This argument, rejected by constitutional scholars, was outvoted by the Senate with a 56/44 majority, six Republicans voting with the Democrats. But the fig leaf was sufficient to provide the sycophantic Republican Senators an escape to acquit Trump.
Acquittal was a foregone conclusion before the trial began. There was no way that 17 Republican Senators necessary for a 2/3 majority to convict Trump would vote with the Democrats.
I am getting ahead of myself, but the evidence on the last day of the trial needs to take center stage. During the height of the violence, when the attack was unfolding and raging around them, when lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, were terrified for their lives, they gave an account of a telephone call they heard between Kevin McCarthy, Republican House Minority Leader, pleading with Trump to order his supporters to stop the violence. At first, Trump denied that the terrorists were his people, but McCarthy insisted they were Trump supporters and begged him to call them off. In what developed to be an expletive-laden shouting match, a furious McCarthy told Trump the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows and repeated that all their lives were in danger.
Trump’s chilling response: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election, than you are”.
McCarthy ended the call in disgust, asking Trump; “Who the f… do you think you are talking to?”
At the end of the defence presentation on Friday, Senator Edward Markey (D – Mass.) noted that Trump’s lawyers were unable to answer the question as to what Trump was doing while the riots were raging for three hours in the afternoon of January 6. They were unable to address the question, because everyone knew the answer was “nothing”. Or perhaps, “Urging on the Rioters”.
It was perfectly obvious that Trump was more interested in the illegal nullification of the election than the lives of members of his legislative branch and their families, law enforcement and innocent bystanders.
Long before the November 3 election, when he realized that Biden would prove a serious danger to his re-election, Trump sowed the first seeds of The Big Lie of a rigged election. He ranted at election rallies that he could lose the election to “Sleepy Joe” Biden only if the election was rigged
Biden won the November election by a landslide. The results, especially in the Swing States of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona remained unchanged, even after numerous recounts and over 60 challenges by Trump in the District, Federal and Supreme Courts, all of which were dismissed for lack of a shred of evidence.
Still, Trump and 75% continued to propagate The Big Lie, that the election was stolen from Trump. The Big Lie was the reason for the storming of the Capitol on January 6 by the “Proud Boys”, “Oathkeepers” and white supremacist terrorists, carrying Confederate and TRUMP flags, wearing MAGA hats – modern reincarnations of KKK hoods and NAZI Swastikas.
The real heroes of the November 3 election are those mainly Republican legislators and election officials in the Swing States, who were bullied and threatened by Trump to illegally change or nullify the results of their elections. Without exception, they remained faithful to the Constitution, they refused to accede to the illegitimate demands of a defeated president.
The real cowards were the 12 Republican Senators, headed by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, joined by 147 Congresspersons who promoted the Big Lie and continued to deny, against all evidence, the legitimacy of the presidential election victory of Joe Biden.
Trump had been ranting about his “victory” in the election since November 7, and the favorite chant at his rallies was “Stop the Steal”, that the election had been stolen from him. On December 20 Trump identified the date for stopping the steal, when he tweeted, “Statistically impossible to have lost the election. Big protest in DC on January 6. Be there, will be wild”.
He addressed the rally of thousands of his supporters he had summoned to Washington, inciting the already angered mob to a frenzy, to march on the Capitol and disrupt the formal certification of the new president. In his ignorance of the Constitution, Trump thought the violent disruption of the ceremonial certification of the November election was his last chance of subverting the election and clinging to power.
During the rally near the White House, minutes before the mob marched to the Capitol, Trump ranted, Hitler style, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”. He used the word “fight” 20 times during his manic speech. During this rally, his personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani talked of “Trial by Combat” and Donnie Junior exhorted the mob to “be a hero, not a zero”.
The most damning evidence against Trump, that the violence wrought by his mob had his complete approval, was that he was gleefully watching the ongoing violence on television at the White House, with his cheering family and cronies, for four hours. Four hours when he did nothing while the insurrection was raging and the lives of the nation’s lawmakers were in imminent danger. He delayed the deployment of the National Guard, and ignored desperate calls for help from his own Vice President and his supporters in Congress, who were the main targets of the insurrectionists.
The Impeachment Managers of the House, began their case with a 13-minute video of the insurrection, a chilling montage of the devastating violence of the riots. Impeachment Manager, Jamie Raskin, in an emotional speech said their case was based on “cold, hard facts’, before he showed the gruesome video, replete with acts of violence never before seen.
It was a miracle that there were “only” five deaths. More than 140 police officers were injured, one losing three fingers, a second having his eyes gouged, a third being impaled and bludgeoned with the pole of the waving flag he had sworn to serve. Two officers were so affected by the riots that they took their lives soon after. The insurrectionists were echoing their hero’s hatred of his own Vice President Pence (who had served Trump slavishly for four years, whose only crime was his decision to do his constitutional duty) and his arch-nemesis, Speaker Pelosi, with chants “Hang Mike Pence” and “Kill that (expletive) Pelosi”. Murders they would have definitely committed had they got their hands on them. There was a gallows with a noose constructed by them for this very purpose on the Capitol grounds. In fact, all the lawmakers present were within feet of getting killed but for the heroism of the Capitol police, who carried out their duties bravely at enormous cost to themselves.
The House Impeachment Managers presented even more damning video footage on Wednesday, more evidence of the terror faced by lawmakers, pathetic scenes of fear for their lives and those of their colleagues and families. One of the chants of the terrorists, that “We are in a Civil War” brought memories of the worst era in the nation’s history, an era of Americans fighting for the perpetuation of the abominable social system of slavery and white supremacy. Trump’s agenda for America for the 21st century.
Senators, Congresspersons and their families were hiding under desks, were haunted by the sounds of chaos and violence, of doors and windows being destroyed. They were praying, making whispered telephone calls and tweets bidding goodbye to their loved ones. Many thought that they were about to die. Individual stories of terror now emerging are heartbreaking.
The atrocities wrought by these vicious domestic terrorists, urged on by the American reincarnation of Osama Bin Laden, outdid any violence and caused panic that Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists would have been proud to emulate.
The president’s legal team continued with an appalling, rambling defence that had the contempt of even the president and his cronies. These lawyers were certainly not of the highest caliber, but in all fairness, no lawyer jealous of his reputation will represent Trump. He is an impossible client, who presents a defense that is indefensible.
Several Senators, Cruz, Hawley, Rubio, jurors at the trial, met with the president’s team in an effort to elicit a better performance at their final arguments on Friday. A meeting completely at odds with the oath they took, as jurors, to remain impartial. Oaths mean nothing to these Republicans, the only thing that matters is their fawning subservience to Trump.
The facts as presented by the prosecution are not in doubt. The accused’s team can only argue on procedure. Their argument that Trump, inciting a crazed mob of his own armed and violent supporters and the subsequent murder and mayhem at the Capitol, was covered by the First Amendment of free speech, borders on the insane.
But however poorly they perform, they know the race has been won before the horses left the gate.
Republican politicians may pretend to be unaffected by the violence of January 6. They may be so consumed by power and ambition as to applaud the treachery of a former president desperately fighting to retain his. Their numbers are few, a handful of Cruzes, Grahams, Lees and Pauls, a sycophantic minority of politicians denying the diversity of modern America. They will soon meet with their collective political deaths. Along with Trumpism.
The violence of January 6 has been seen with fearful disgust in the hearts and minds of a large majority of the American people. Trump’s approval ratings are in the doldrums, the lowest of any former president. His attempts to transform the Republican Party to an authoritarian, white supremacist junta are doomed to abject failure. His fetid miasma, and that of his ever-diminishing, white supremacist “base”, will disappear, as if by a miracle, sooner than later. His memory will be viewed by history, in 20 years or less, with the hatred and contempt the German people reserve for the memory of Hitler today.
At least, Adolf and Eva felt extreme shame and decided to escape public ignominy and certain prison/execution by committing suicide. Trump is shame-free.
The verdict of the trial will be rendered on Valentine’s Day. I doubt if Cupid will have many arrows of love and unity in his quiver.
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There’s an ill more dangerous and pervasive than the Coronavirus that’s currently sweeping Sri Lanka. That is the fear to express one’s convictions. Across the public sector of the country in particular many persons holding high office are stringently regulating and controlling the voices of their consciences and this bodes ill for all and the country.
The corrupting impact of fear was discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago when dealing with the military coup in Myanmar. It stands to the enduring credit of ousted Myanmarese Head of Government Aung San Suu Kyi that she, perhaps for the first time in the history of modern political thought, singled out fear, and not power, as the principal cause of corruption within the individual; powerful or otherwise.
To be sure, power corrupts but the corrupting impact of fear is graver and more devastating. For instance, the fear in a person holding ministerial office or in a senior public sector official, that he would lose position and power as a result of speaking out his convictions and sincere beliefs on matters of the first importance, would lead to a country’s ills going unaddressed and uncorrected.
Besides, the individual concerned would be devaluing himself in the eyes of all irrevocably and revealing himself to be a person who would be willing to compromise his moral integrity for petty worldly gain or a ‘mess of pottage’. This happens all the while in Lankan public life. Some of those who have wielded and are wielding immense power in Sri Lanka leave very much to be desired from these standards.
It could be said that fear has prevented Sri Lanka from growing in every vital respect over the decades and has earned for itself the notoriety of being a directionless country.
All these ills and more are contained in the current controversy in Sri Lanka over the disposal of the bodies of Covid victims, for example. The Sri Lankan polity has no choice but to abide by scientific advice on this question. Since authorities of the standing of even the WHO have declared that the burial of the bodies of those dying of Covid could not prove to be injurious to the wider public, the Sri Lankan health authorities could go ahead and sanction the burying of the bodies concerned. What’s preventing the local authorities from taking this course since they claim to be on the side of science? Who or what are they fearing? This is the issue that’s crying out to be probed and answered.
Considering the need for absolute truthfulness and honesty on the part of all relevant persons and quarters in matters such as these, the latter have no choice but to resign from their positions if they are prevented from following the dictates of their consciences. If they are firmly convinced that burials could bring no harm, they are obliged to take up the position that burials should be allowed.
If any ‘higher authority’ is preventing them from allowing burials, our ministers and officials are conscience-bound to renounce their positions in protest, rather than behave compromisingly and engage in ‘double think’ and ‘double talk’. By adopting the latter course they are helping none but keeping the country in a state of chronic uncertainty, which is a handy recipe for social instabiliy and division.
In the Sri Lankan context, the failure on the part of the quarters that matter to follow scientific advice on the burials question could result in the aggravation of Islamophobia, or hatred of the practitioners of Islam, in the country. Sri Lanka could do without this latter phobia and hatred on account of its implications for national stability and development. The 30 year war against separatist forces was all about the prevention by military means of ‘nation-breaking’. The disastrous results for Sri Lanka from this war are continuing to weigh it down and are part of the international offensive against Sri Lanka in the UNHCR.
However, Islamophobia is an almost world wide phenomenon. It was greatly strengthened during Donald Trump’s presidential tenure in the US. While in office Trump resorted to the divisive ruling strategy of quite a few populist authoritarian rulers of the South. Essentially, the manoeuvre is to divide and rule by pandering to the racial prejudices of majority communities.
It has happened continually in Sri Lanka. In the initial post-independence years and for several decades after, it was a case of some populist politicians of the South whipping-up anti-Tamil sentiments. Some Tamil politicians did likewise in respect of the majority community. No doubt, both such quarters have done Sri Lanka immeasurable harm. By failing to follow scientific advice on the burial question and by not doing what is right, Sri Lanka’s current authorities are opening themselves to the charge that they are pandering to religious extremists among the majority community.
The murderous, destructive course of action adopted by some extremist sections among Muslim communities world wide, including of course Sri Lanka, has not earned the condemnation it deserves from moderate Muslims who make-up the preponderant majority in the Muslim community. It is up to moderate opinion in the latter collectivity to come out more strongly and persuasively against religious extremists in their midst. It will prove to have a cementing and unifying impact among communities.
It is not sufficiently appreciated by governments in the global South in particular that by voicing for religious and racial unity and by working consistently towards it, they would be strengthening democratic development, which is an essential condition for a country’s growth in all senses.
A ‘divided house’ is doomed to fall; this is the lesson of history. ‘National security’ cannot be had without human security and peaceful living among communities is central to the latter. There cannot be any ‘double talk’ or ‘politically correct’ opinions on this question. Truth and falsehood are the only valid categories of thought and speech.
Those in authority everywhere claiming to be democratic need to adopt a scientific outlook on this issue as well. Studies conducted on plural societies in South Asia, for example, reveal that the promotion of friendly, cordial ties among communities invariably brings about healing among estranged groups and produces social peace. This is the truth that is waiting to be acted upon.
Author
By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
It was on 3rd January 1972 that our family arrived in Karachi from Moscow. Our departure from Moscow had been delayed for a few weeks due to the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It ended on 16th December 1971. After that, international flights were not permitted for some time.
The contrast between Moscow and Karachi was unbelievable. First and foremost, Moscow’s temperature was near minus 40 degrees centigrade, while in Karachi, it was sunny and a warm 28 degrees centigrade. However, what struck us most was the extreme warmth with which the airport authorities greeted our family. As my father was a diplomat, we were quickly ushered to the airport’s VIP Lounge. We were in transit on our way to Rawalpindi, the airport serving the capital of Islamabad.
We quickly realized that the word “we are from Sri Lanka” opened all doors just as saying “open sesame” gained entry to Aladdin’s cave! The broad smile, extreme courtesy, and genuine warmth we received from the Pakistani people were unbelievable.
This was all to do with Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s decision to allow Pakistani aircraft to land in Colombo to refuel on the way to Dhaka in East Pakistan during the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It was a brave decision by Mrs Bandaranaike (Mrs B), and the successive governments and Sri Lanka people are still enjoying the fruits of it. Pakistan has been a steadfast and loyal supporter of our country. They have come to our assistance time and again in times of great need when many have turned their back on us. They have indeed been an “all-weather” friend of our country.
Getting back to 1972, I was an early beneficiary of Pakistani people’s love for Sri Lankans. I failed the entrance exam to gain entry to the only English medium school in Islamabad! However, when I met the Principal, along with my father, he said, “Sanjeewa, although you failed the entrance exam, I will this time make an exception as Sri Lankans are our dear friends.” After that, the joke around the family dinner table was that I owed my education in Pakistan to Mrs B!
At school, my brother and I were extended a warm welcome and always greeted “our good friends from Sri Lanka.” I felt when playing cricket for our college; our runs were cheered more loudly than of others.
One particular incident that I remember well was when the Embassy received a telex from the Foreign inistry. It requested that our High Commissioner seek an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Zulifikar Ali Bhutto (ZB), and convey a message from Mrs B. The message requested that an urgent shipment of rice be dispatched to Sri Lanka as there would be an imminent rice shortage. As the Ambassador was not in the station, the responsibility devolved on my father.
It usually takes about a week or more to get an audience with the Prime Minister (PM) of a foreign country due to their busy schedule. However, given the urgency, my father spoke to the Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Sectary, who fortunately was our neighbour and sought an urgent appointment. My father received a call from the PM’s secretary around 10 P.M asking him to come over to the PM’s residence. My father met ZB around midnight. ZB was about to retire to bed and, as such, was in his pyjamas and gown enjoying a cigar! He had greeted my father and had asked, “Mr Jayaweera, what can we do for great friend Madam Bandaranaike?. My father conveyed the message from Colombo and quietly mentioned that there would be riots in the country if there is no rice!
ZB had immediately got the Food Commissioner of Pakistan on the line and said, “I want a shipload of rice to be in Colombo within the next 72 hours!” The Food Commissioner reverted within a few minutes, saying that nothing was available and the last export shipment had left the port only a few hours ago to another country. ZB had instructed to turn the ship around and send it to Colombo. This despite protests from the Food Commissioner about terms and conditions of the Letter of Credit prohibiting non-delivery. Sri Lanka got its delivery of rice!
The next was the visit of Mrs B to Pakistan. On arrival in Rawalpindi airport, she was given a hero’s welcome, which Pakistan had previously only offered to President Gaddafi of Libya, who financially backed Pakistan with his oil money. That day, I missed school and accompanied my parents to the airport. On our way, we witnessed thousands of people had gathered by the roadside to welcome Mrs B.
When we walked to the airport’s tarmac, thousands of people were standing in temporary stands waving Sri Lanka and Pakistan flags and chanting “Sri Lanka Pakistan Zindabad.” The noise emanating from the crowd was as loud and passionate as the cheering that the Pakistani cricket team received during a test match. It was electric!
I believe she was only the second head of state given the privilege of addressing both assemblies of Parliament. The other being Gaddafi. There was genuine affection from Mrs B amongst the people of Pakistan.
I always remember the indefatigable efforts of Mr Abdul Haffez Kardar, a cabinet minister and the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board. From around 1973 onwards, he passionately championed Sri Lanka’s cause to be admitted as a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and granted test status. Every year, he would propose at the ICC’s annual meeting, but England and Australia’s veto kept us out until 1981.
I always felt that our Cricket Board made a mistake by not inviting Pakistan to play our inaugural test match. We should have appreciated Mr Kardar and Pakistan’s efforts. In 1974 the Pakistan board invited our team for a tour involving three test matches and a few first-class games. Most of those who played in our first test match was part of that tour, and no doubt gained significant exposure playing against a highly talented Pakistani team.
Several Pakistani greats were part of the Pakistan and India team that played a match soon after the Central Bank bomb in Colombo to prove that it was safe to play cricket in Colombo. It was a magnificent gesture by both Pakistan and India. Our greatest cricket triumph was in Pakistan when we won the World Cup in 1996. I am sure the players and those who watched the match on TV will remember the passionate support our team received that night from the Pakistani crowd. It was like playing at home!
I also recall reading about how the Pakistani government air freighted several Multi Barrell artillery guns and ammunition to Sri Lanka when the A rmy camp in Jaffna was under severe threat from the LTTE. This was even more important than the shipload of rice that ZB sent. This was crucial as most other countries refused to sell arms to our country during the war.
Time and again, Pakistan has steadfastly supported our country’s cause at the UNHCR. No doubt this year, too, their diplomats will work tirelessly to assist our country.
We extend a warm welcome to Mr Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is a truly inspirational individual who was undoubtedly an excellent cricketer. Since retirement from cricket, he has decided to get involved in politics, and after several years of patiently building up his support base, he won the last parliamentary elections. I hope that just as much as he galvanized Sri Lankan cricketers, his political journey would act as a catalyst for people like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to get involved in politics. Cricket has been called a “gentleman’s game.” Whilst politics is far from it!.
Author
Believe me, seeing certain videos, on social media, depicting action, on the dance floor, at some of these entertainment venues, got me wondering whether this Coronavirus pandemic is REAL!
To those having a good time, at these particular venues, and, I guess, the management, as well, what the world is experiencing now doesn’t seem to be their concerned.
Obviously, such irresponsible behaviour could create more problems for those who are battling to halt the spread of Covid-19, and the new viriant of Covid, in our part of the world.
The videos, on display, on social media, show certain venues, packed to capacity – with hardly anyone wearing a mask, and social distancing…only a dream..
How can one think of social distancing while gyrating, on a dance floor, that is over crowded!
If this trend continues, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coronavirus makes its presence felt…at such venues.
And, then, what happens to the entertainment scene, and those involved in this field, especially the musicians? No work, whatsoever!
Lots of countries have closed nightclubs, and venues, where people gather, in order to curtail the spread of this deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of thousands.
Thailand did it and the country is still having lots of restrictions, where entertainment is concerned, and that is probably the reason why Thailand has been able to control the spread of the Coronavirus.
With a population of over 69 million, they have had (so far), a little over 25,000 cases, and 83 deaths, while we, with a population of around 21 million, have over 80,000 cases, and more than 450 deaths.
I’m not saying we should do away with entertainment – totally – but we need to follow a format, connected with the ‘new normal,’ where masks and social distancing are mandatory requirements at these venues. And, dancing, I believe, should be banned, at least temporarily, as one can’t maintain the required social distance, while on the dance floor, especially after drinks.
Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana keeps emphasising, on TV, radio, and in the newspapers, the need to adhere to the health regulations, now in force, and that those who fail to do so would be penalised.
He has also stated that plainclothes officers would move around to apprehend such offenders.
Perhaps, he should instruct his officers to pay surprise visits to some of these entertainment venues.
He would certainly have more than a bus load of offenders to be whisked off for PCR/Rapid Antigen tests!
I need to quote what Dr. H.T. Wickremasinghe said in his article, published in The Island of Tuesday, February 16th, 2021:
“…let me conclude, while emphasising the need to continue our general public health measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded gatherings, to reduce the risk of contact with an infected person.
“There is no science to beat common sense.”
But…do some of our folks have this thing called COMMON SENSE!
