And now we can move on…

Posted this morning about the end stages of the second Impeachment of Donald Trump and now, several hours later and into early evening, the matter, at least in the Senate, is complete.

By a vote of 57 guilty and 43 not guilty, Donald Trump avoids being convicted. To be convicted, he would have needed 2/3rd of the Senate to vote guilty and, if I’ve done my math right, that would have required 67 guilty votes, ten more than we had.

The Republicans who voted not guilty did so by and large on the technicality that because Trump was no longer President, he couldn’t be convicted.

Which is, of course, a big load of BS.

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives while still in office and for actions performed leading up to January 6th… which, again, was a crime committed while still in office.

Then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, loathe to start the trail and no doubt already seeking an excuse to not convict Trump, postponed the Senate trial until after Biden was sworn in. Then he had the balls to say on this very day that he wouldn’t vote guilty for a conviction because Trump was no longer in office….!

But even that excuse is crazy: If Joe Biden, on his last weeks in office, decides to do something similar and causes the deaths of several people, then I suppose he too wouldn’t be convicted in the Senate because his time in office has run out?!

So I suppose if I were working at, say, at a bank and robbed it on the final week I worked there and my actions were discovered after I left the job, I couldn’t be tried for the crime because I’d already left the job?

Really?

Just… incredible.

And yet…

As I said in my earlier post, I’m kinda glad its over.

I suspect there will be other legal issues Donald Trump will face. Those that were injured during the riot, for example, will likely go after Trump in court. The relatives of the officer that died during the insurrection will likely sue as well.

Is Donald Trump protected from these suits?

I don’t know.

But even if he skirts them, he’s still got plenty of legal heat coming his way for other things.

As I also said in my earlier post, maybe he’s a masochist and just likes to have people coming after him.

Whatever.

He’s no longer the President of the United States and, hopefully, never will be. Even more hopefully, the majority voters who put Biden in the White House will continue to vote out these cowardly Republicans.

There is a way forward.

Let’s see if we get there.