The View from Right Field

On Convicting Donald Trump

Even though I think the better constitutional argument is that it is constitutional to impeach and try former President Trump (he was, after all, impeached while he was still in office), I probably wouldn’t have impeached him (for the reasons stated here).  However, once he was impeached, given what he did, I couldn’t not convict him. 

As I said here, I don’t know if he “incited” an “insurrection” in the legal meaning of those words, but what he did was wrong.  A president doesn’t have to be guilty of a crime to be impeached and convicted (and a president doesn’t always get impeached and convicted just because he committed a crime – see, for example, Bill Clinton).  What former President Trump did was sufficiently wrong that, as I said above, I couldn’t not convict him.  Unfortunately, it appears that not enough Republicans agree with me.

Impeachment Jeopardy: The Only Senator to Vote to Convict a President of His Own Party

Who is Mitt Romney?
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UPDATE (2/13/21 5:30 pm): The answer should be changed to: “The Only Senators to Vote to Convict a President of Their Own Party.”
The question should be changed to: “Who are Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Paul Toomey, Richard Burr, and Bill Cassidy?”

On President Biden’s First Week

I have not posted since Joe Biden was inaugurated last Wednesday, so maybe I will now.  I thought President Biden’s inaugural address was pretty decent.  It did not get into details, but it hit a lot of things I believe in.¹  Whether he is going to be able to do those things, who knows.  It depends on him, his team, and the other team(s)².

I don’t agree with some (a lot-?) of the executive orders, etc., that President Biden has issued/signed, but I have not commented because, well, it is early.  Also, the way Donald Trump left the presidency, especially since the Electoral College met in December, has bothered me so much that it is hard to criticize what President Biden is doing.  I don’t know if President Trump “incited an insurrection” on January 6 in the legal meaning of those words, but what he said was not, in my opinion, acceptable.³

Just Because I’m Glad Trump Is Leaving, Doesn’t Mean I Agree With Biden

A comment on the upcoming change in administrations that many in our polarized America may not appreciate: Just because someone is incredibly glad Donald Trump is leaving the White House, doesn’t mean they think Joe Biden will wind up being a good president or that the Democratic Party has the right policies for the United States.

President Trump has been a terrible president; possibly the worst in our history.¹  His administration did some good things (I’ve talked about them before), but the farther we got into his term and the more the decisions were made by him, rather than some of the people he appointed, the worse things got.²  While the last two months would not have happened if he had won re-election, a second Trump term could have been even scarier, perhaps especially in foreign policy and other areas where he could have acted on his own.

Making Sure This Week Is Our Last Memory of Donald Trump

Kimberley Strassel said, in Friday’s Wall Street Journal: “A politician has to work hard to destroy a legacy and a future in a single day.  President Donald J. Trump managed it.”  Early Thursday morning, after a mob, urged on and incited by Donald Trump, assaulted and occupied the Capitol, the Senate voted 93 to 6 against his objection to Arizona’s electoral votes.

And that is the way I want Donald Trump to leave Washington.  I want these things to be the final memories his supporters have of him as he leaves office: A President who incited a mob to assault his own Capitol and a man who lost in the Senate 93 to 6.  Because that is how he deserves to be remembered.

Being a Republican in the Age of Trump

People ask me how I can be a Republican with Donald Trump as President – or at least they would ask me that if I wasn’t socially distancing from just about the entire world.  I understand the question.  And I would add people like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, more representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives than I care to mention, and others, too.

But then I read about Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, his counsel.  Those guys are very impressive.  Plus there’s Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – and more, even if, at times, it seems like not enough.

Farewell to Attorney General Barr – And Thank You

Attorney General William Barr is resigning effective December 23.  Who knows why.  You can never tell with Donald Trump, except when the President says so in a nasty tweet.  President Trump’s tweet about Attorney General Barr was nice, so you can’t tell anything from it.  In any case, Attorney General Barr has done an excellent job, and he deserves a thank you as he leaves.

Attorney General Barr was appointed by President Trump in January of 2019.  Early on, the mainstream media began calling him a “Trump loyalist” because of things he did.  For example, when he initiated an investigation into the question of whether the FBI investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign, Democrats and the mainstream media went crazy.  (See my post from back then here.)  After all, President Trump had been complaining about surveillance on his campaign for a long time. 

It’s Time for Republicans to Face Facts. Donald Trump Lost.

My question on the on-going and, from a legal perspective, increasingly silly and insubstantial arguments being made by the Trump campaign and its supporters, is this: Do Donald Trump supporters really think he won the election?

As for President Trump himself, I don’t know what he believes.  What I am interested in is whether his supporters think he was cheated.  There are polls that seem to indicate a large number of people who supported President Trump think he really won the election, but I don’t know how the polls were conducted or how the questions were worded – or whether the news media is interpreting or reporting the results of these polls correctly.

The Washington 180 – Part Two: Special Counsel

A week and a half ago I wrote about what I called “The Washington 180.”  In that post, I talked about the issuance of nationwide injunctions by federal district courts and how Democrats and Republicans felt about them – and how their opinions might change once Joe Biden is inaugurated.  Democrats who thought it was great when federal district courts issued nationwide injunctions to stop things the Trump administration was trying to do might not like it so much if a federal district court issues a nationwide injunction against something the Biden administration is trying to do.  On the other hand, Republicans who thought it was horrible when nationwide injunctions were issued by federal district courts against Trump administration actions might think it’s great if they are issued against the Biden administration.

Here is another Washington 180 that will be coming: special counsels.  Democrats loved special counsels when Robert Mueller was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and Russia-Trump collusion.  Democrats thought special counsels were a necessary check.  They warned Republicans – and President Trump – not to interfere with the Mueller investigation.  Republicans didn’t agree, to say the least.

The Washington 180 – Once Again

With Joe Biden being elected President and the Republicans very possibly keeping a majority in the Senate,¹ we may have another “Washington 180” coming up next year. 

After the Republicans took the House in 2010, Barack Obama couldn’t get Congress to pass his agenda.  When Congress wouldn’t pass the laws he wanted, President Obama turned to what he called his “pen and phone.”²  Sometimes, departments and agencies followed the Administrative Procedure Act and adopted formal regulations.  Other times, they just issued new interpretations of laws or prior regulations.  Or they sent so-called “Dear Colleagues” letters to state and local governments setting out new rules, with an implied threat to cut off federal funding if they didn’t follow the new rules or standards.