The Washington Post published
a report on
US President Donald Trump's
trial
in the House of Representatives yesterday that included 4 quick notes, as she described them, from that trial.
Exactly one week after the congressional attack, the House of Representatives moved to prosecute Trump for his role in it, the newspaper said.
By yesterday evening, Trump was the first president in US history to be twice convicted.
The following are the four notes:
1. The split within the Republican Party is large, but not enormous
Only 10 members voted to impeach Trump, while 197 opposed him.
Some members were speaking out against the president in a strong way.
One lawmaker said, "There has never been a greater betrayal by a US president of his post and his oath of the Constitution."
Even so, Trump had his defenders.
Representative Tom McClintock (from California) said he did not like the president's speech, but defended it as freedom of speech, "If we remove every politician who gives a fiery speech to his supporters, this council will be deserted."
The newspaper believes that the future of the Republican Party and Trump's influence on it is uncertain, but the fact remains that before the smoke fades away from the riots, many Republicans still vote for Trump.
2. The majority of Republicans are shunning Trump directly
With regard to a party that spent four whole years trying to eliminate differences between its members, and between them and the eccentric president, it was remarkable yesterday to hear that faint opposition from ordinary party members, as most of them based their opposition to Trump's conviction on the speed of the conviction process instead of condemning the president's participation in stirring up events. The attack on the Congress building.
3. The president is not out of danger yet
For Trump to be ousted from office before he leaves on January 20, the Senate will need to reconvene and hold the president's trial and conviction.
This is unlikely, but not for the reason that might be believed, the real reason is that convicting the sheikhs and expelling him will facilitate a decision to prevent him from holding any future office.
4. Democrats do not appear to be too concerned about the political ramifications of accountability
Republicans spent most of yesterday arguing that Democrats would regret impeaching Trump when he had only 7 days left in office, rather than focusing on the pandemic or the president-elect's agenda.
But House Democrats don't seem too worried about that.
Yet there are still some Democrats who are concerned that this will look like a transgression.
One of the leading figures, Senator Joe Mansheen (Virginia), said of the impeachment, "I think this is very unwise for Biden who should come to cure the ills of the country, and be president of all, not be divided and fight again."