January 13, 2021, 1 year ago: Donald Trump is impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for a 2nd time.
All previous Presidents combined had been impeached twice. All previous Presidents combined that even faced impeachment inquiries? 6: John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. And only those pursuing Nixon (forcing him to resign) and Reagan (which fizzled out) were anything more than partisan garbage.
After Trump's 1st impeachment on December 18, 2019, and acquittal on February 5, 2020, Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said, "I hope that the President has learned the lesson."
The only lesson Trump learned was that he could do whatever he wanted, or at least try it, and there would be enough Republican Senators who would reject the evidence at hand and vote to acquit him.
In the 2nd impeachment, Trump was charged with incitement of insurrection, specifically the one that happened at the U.S. Capitol Building a week earlier, in a failed attempt to stop the certification of the Electoral Votes that would have denied Trump a 2nd term as President.
The vote was 232 to 197. There were 4 Republicans who did not vote. And 197 Republicans voted No. But 10 Republicans joined all 222 Democrats in voting Yes: David Valadao of California, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Peter Meijer and Fred Upton of Michigan, John Katko of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Washington, and Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
It was already known that the Senate would not be able to set up and hold a trial in the 7 days remaining in Trump's term. The election itself had already removed him from office, effective at noon on January 20, 2021, when President-elect Joe Biden was scheduled to be sworn in. If convicted, the worst that could happened to the outgoing President was loss of his Presidential pension, loss of his lifetime Secret Service protection, and the evidence the Senators examined being made available to any civilian courts that might ask for them.
Biden was actually sworn in 13 minutes earlier than expected, but the term did not officially begin until 12:00 noon, at which point his Inaugural Address was about half-over.
The Senate vote, on February 13, 2021, was 57 Guilty, 43 Not Guilty. All 48 Democratic Senators voted Guilty. So did the Senate's 2 Independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, which isn't surprising, since they always caucus with the Democrats.
What was surprising was that 7 Republican Senators also voted Guilty. One was Collins, proving that, at the very least, she had learned her lesson. Stunningly, a former Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney of Utah, also voted to convict.
The other 5? Richard Burr of North Carolina and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania had already announced that they would not seek re-election in 2022, so they didn't have to worry about being punished by Trump fans in a primary.
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana had just been re-elected. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is up in 2022, but voted to convict anyway. Each of them was subsequently censured by the Republican Party of their home States. Ben Sasse of Nebraska had just been re-elected, and was not censured by his State's Party.
After the verdict was entered, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Minority Leader, said, "It is no doubt that Trump is practically and morally responsible" for the January 6 insurrection. Nevertheless, McConnell continued to operate as Senate Republican Leader as if Trump was the leader of his party.
Because, let's face it: That's what McConnell would have done anyway. Trump did not take over the Republican Party. He fit right in. As a criminal. As a bigot. As someone for whom the ends always justify the means. He was not the betrayal of 40 years of Reaganism. He was the culmination of 50 years of Nixonism.
Removing Trump from office -- successfully through election, after unsuccessfully through the 1st impeachment process -- only treated a symptom. The disease goes on.
*
January 13, 2021 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. There were 7 games played in the NBA that night:
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the New York Knicks, 116-109 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 104-93 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons, 110-101 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 118-107 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 128-99 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 111-106 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Sacramento Kings, 132-126 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Damian Lillard led all scorers on the night with 40 points.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The new Jersey Devils lost to the New York Islanders, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 in a shootout at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Canadian Tire Centre in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. Brayden Point scored the winner for the Bolts, with 3:04 left in overtime.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Yes, it hosted the NBA and the NHL on the same day.
* And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.