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McConnell Votes NOT GUILTY, IMMEDIATELY Makes Case for Trump Conviction
The second Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump has concluded unsurprisingly in a second acquittal. House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense lawyers wrapped up their arguments on Saturday and then all 100 senators voted on the single impeachment article — incitement of insurrection. All fifty Democrats voted to convict and they were joined by seven Republican senators. However, the vast majority of Republicans voted not guilty, preventing the 67 votes necessary to reach a conviction. The seven Republican senators who voted to convict were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the floor after the vote, ostensibly to give a justification as to why he voted to acquit. However, the Kentucky Republican excoriated Trump in a statement that sounded like it was being made by one of the House impeachment managers. Ultimately, McConnell weaseled his out way of voting for conviction by making debunked process arguments about why Trump can’t be convicted by the Senate as a former president. McConnell and many of these other Republicans realized that voting for conviction would mean the end of their political careers and so they put their own interests ahead of doing the right thing for the country.
Trump Lawyer TRIGGERED by Bernie Sanders
One of the most captivating moments from Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial was when senators were given the opportunity to ask questions to the attorneys arguing both sides of the case. Most of the questioning phase went off without a hitch, however Trump’s lawyer Michael van der Veen got exceptionally triggered by a question from Vermont’s own Bernie Sanders. The question was about what Trump’s counsel thought of the “big lie,” that Joe Biden only won the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud. Sanders asked “are the prosecutors right when they claim that Trump was telling a big lie, or in your judgement, did Trump actually win the election?”
van der Veen responded with total righteous indignation. He said, “my judgement? Who asked that?” At which point Sanders shouted a confident “I did” before getting gaveled down because senators are technically not supposed to speak during the trial. van der Veen followed up by arguing that his judgement on the outcome of the 2020 election is irrelevant to his client’s case. He pointed out that the charge at hand was merely over “incitement of insurrection.” What van der Veen failed to recognize was that the entire reason there was an insurrection in the first place was because of the “big lie” propagated by Trump. van der Veen acting aggrieved over Bernie’s question was in typical Trumpist form, and though we did not get a straight answer, at least it made for an interesting exchange.
From over the weekend:
Biden Has Highest Initial Approval Rating in 28 Years
President Biden is currently experiencing the highest initial approval rating in 28 years, dating all the way back to Bill Clinton in 1993. The All-America Economic Survey has found that Biden has a 62% approval rating with just under a month logged into his presidency. That beats the first initial approval rating of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. Biden’s current approval bests Trump’s first month approval by eighteen percentage points. For all the talk about Joe Biden being a stand-in president that no one really likes, it’s hard to argue with these numbers. The question now is whether Biden’s approval rating returns to baseline once this honeymoon period of his administration is over, or whether he is able to keep it going by having a successful term.
--More on the show:
--It's time to pass the COVID relief bill immediately, and now that Donald Trump's second impeachment is over, there should be absolutely no delay
--Donald Trump sends a letter immediately upon being acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial confirming that he is not going away any time soon
--Unfortunately, the radical extremist wing of the Republican Party in 2021 may be too big too fail, with a high portion of current Republicans believing absolutely ridiculous conspiracy theories
--The deeper problem in the US is not simply one insurrection, but the mass radicalization that allowed the insurrection to happen
--Republican Kevin McCarthy reportedly snapped at Trump during the January 6th riots, asking Trump "who the f*** do you think you're talking to?"
--Nikki Haley, former South Carolina Governor and former Trump administration Ambassador to the United Nations, abandons Donald Trump and says the Republican Party should not have followed him
--Voicemail caller asks, in light of Trump's second impeachment acquittal, what happens when "a Trump junior" runs in 2024
--On the Bonus Show: Andrew Cuomo in more trouble on COVID, Boeing 737 Max is quietly flying again, SCOTUS stays execution over request for pastor, much more...
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