Listening to the arguments pro-Trump Republicans have made in the debate about the rules for the upcoming debate about the article of impeachment, Republicans are relying on three excuses to try to justify voting against impeachment:
- The process is happening too fast; Trump’s being found guilty without a trial;
- It’s another attempt to overturn (the last) election and throw out/delegitimize Trump; and
- Nothing Trump did was criminal.
The proper responses:
- An impeachment is not a conviction; it’s the equivalent of an indictment. The Senate trial will determine guilt;
- Nothing is overturning the 2016 elections. The Republican won the office. But yes, an impeachment would delegitimize Trump because he is not acting like a legitimate president; and
- It’s not a criminal trial. Impeachment is a political process to remove someone from office. And criminal activity does not have proven to remove someone from office.
Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio continued to claim that Democrats were mad because Republican members of Congress objected to the slates of electors from various states. This is a deflection of the issue: impeachment of Trump has nothing to do with the actions of Congress relating to the Electoral College certification that happened last Wednesday.