The GOP is officially dead. There, I said it. OK, so I know that people have been predicting the death of the Grand Old Party for decades, but this time, it's really true, and there's no coming back.
How can I be so certain? Well, yesterday, Feb. 13, 2021, The Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump AGAIN, this time on charges that he incited the deadly Jan. 6 riots through a speech he gave urging his supporters to "march to the Capitol" and to "fight like hell." But wait, Trump supporters say, how can Trump be responsible when there's proof that this insurrection was being planned BEFORE Jan. 6? To that, I say, Trump's incitement didn't BEGIN on Jan. 6, 2021, it climaxed on that date.
The truth is, Trump has been priming the pump for just such an event for months, if not for years. He did it by urging supporters not to trust the mainstream media, not to believe what they saw with their own eyes, but only what HE said. He did it by convincing millions of Americans that November's election was illegitimate, that it was, in fact, stolen. And finally, he did it by urging his supporters to march on the Capitol and to "fight like hell, or we won't have a country anymore."
The evidence of Trump's guilt was overwhelming, both through his speech on Jan. 6, and in his own words over the past four years. The evidence was right in front of them, in black and white, as it were, and still they voted to acquit. Which brings me back to my original point: The GOP is officially dead. Why? Because Trump needed to be removed once and for all from the national stage. He needed to be barred from ever being able to hold public office again, and Republicans failed to do so. Through their negligence, they have now left him free to roam the backfield, and to work against them. And believe me, he will.
Who thinks that Trump won't find a way to go after the Republicans who both voted to impeach, then vote to convict him? Who thinks he won't try to start his own party where he can be center stage? The main attraction? If that happens, it will only harm Republicans' future electoral prospects. Trump won't be drawing voters away from Democrats, after all. He'll be drawing votes away from the Republican base. And if that happens, the GOP will be vastly weakened as a national force. It could be years, if not generations, before Republicans win another national election. Of course, this all could have been avoided if they had just voted to convict a man who was clearly guilty of the crime he was accused of. But they refused, more interested in saving face than in doing what was clearly the right thing. And so, here we are.
Clearly, the best thing that could happen at this point is for one of the multiple cases pending against Trump to bear fruit. All it would take is ONE felony conviction, and Trump would be barred, not only from ever holding public office again, but from even having the right to vote. That might seem like a long shot to some, but clearly it is the best we can hope for, since congressional Republicans clearly lack the intestinal fortitude or the moral clarity to do the right thing, not only for their own party, but for the country as a whole.
