As we have seen recently in virtually all of Joe Biden’s cabinet appointments, Democrats are bullish about “firsts.” They are about to achieve two more by (1) impeaching Donald Trump for the second time and (2) in the shortest time span in U.S. history. If they draft articles of impeachment tomorrow, as they plan, they will have eight days to complete the task, assuming they want a Senate vote before the inauguration. (RELATED: Mad rush to remove Trump just days before his term ends would damage Constitution)
They could of course simply wait a few more days until the president’s term ends, but they have persuaded themselves that that’s too dangerous:
“14 days is too long to wait. Trump needs to be removed now, before he can inflict even more harm on the nation.”https://t.co/NlPlIBYdrl
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 7, 2021
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
At least that is what they are claiming. In reality, the Democratic leadership wants one last chance at ejecting the president after having failed at it twice — once with the Russian collusion fantasy, again with the first impeachment.
Let me be very clear: if all we do is accept the certified Electoral College results and go home, we would have failed our country. We must impeach Trump, or have the 25th Amendment execute, or have @realDonaldTrump resign. Congress cannot just go home like nothing happened. https://t.co/aNBgiqwr7g
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 7, 2021
Not all Democratic talking heads are talking impeachment. Some, like this panel on MSNBC, are preoccupied with ending “domestic terrorism,” such as we witnessed on Thursday. One could cite dozens of cases of political unrest that occurred over the summer, in the course of which 19 people died and close to $2 billion in damages was inflicted on American cities. But those protests, according to this panel, were not only “mostly peaceful” but justifiable, since the protesters were objecting to systemic racism.
So what is the solution to preventing future insurrections? One modest proposal is made by attorney and commentator Elie Mystal, who advocates taking “the laws we already have and apply them to white people. For like once. Let’s try it.” His remarks begin at 0:59. A transcript follows.
Domestic terrorism is our number one threat, but we do not need new laws to deal with it. We do not need new federal legislation. We do not need new a new surveillance state. Insurrection is already a crime. Conspiracy to commit crimes are [sic] already a crime. Felony murder is already a crime. But what needs to do is not have a new surveillance state commission. What we need is to take the laws we already have and apply them to white people. For like once. Let’s try it. Tastes just like chicken. Take what we’ve got and I apply them to white people and see what happens because I think that’s the way forward, not with new laws, new regimes, and new surveillance.
There is a note of irony in Mystal’s solution for dealing with mob violence. In 2019, in another guest appearance on MSNBC, he said, “I want pitchforks and torches outside this man’s house,” meaning Donald Trump. If Trump is impeached, it will be for far less incendiary language, yet he — not Elie Mystal — is the problem.
