Donald Trump “unequivocally” condemns the violence of the assault on Congress, discharges the rioters and appeals to the Americans to “overcome the impetus of the moment” but makes no mention of impeachment, in a five-minute video released by the White House after the second indictment. Belated words that, according to many, he should have spoken when his fans attacked Capitol Hill and that now seem dictated by legal tactics to avoid condemnation in the Senate. “I condemn unequivocally – the outgoing president solemnly states – the violence we witnessed last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and in our movement. Those who were involved in the attacks. they will be brought to justice … Whether you are on the right or on the left, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, there can never be justification for violence, no excuse, no exception “.” No true supporter of mine – he continues – could ever justify political violence. No true supporter of mine could despise the authorities or our great American flag. No true supporter of mine could ever threaten or attack his American compatriots. If you do any of these things, you are not supporting our movement, you are attacking it. And you are attacking our country, we cannot tolerate it. “Then he sends a message about the potential threats of armed protests in Washington ahead of Joe Biden’s oath, acknowledging that” everyone has the right to have their voice heard under the First Amendment of the Constitution “but warning against” violence, violation of the law and vandalism. “Finally, an attack on Big Tech, which blocked its social accounts and right-wing platforms such as Parler:” I want to say a few words about the unprecedented assault on freedom of speech. The efforts to censor, erase and blacklist our citizens are wrong and dangerous. ”
Exactly one week before the end of his term in the White House, the House approved in a single day the fastest ever impeachment against Donald Trump, who thus becomes the first president in history to be indicted twice. The 222 Democrats were joined by 10 out of 211 Republicans, half of those predicted by the White House. These are the first cracks in the party, after the compact no in the previous impeachment for Ukraine. But not yet so profound as to shake the party, even if many Gops, starting with the minority leader Kevin McCarthy, have recognized the responsibility of the president but opposed a “useless” dismissal at the end of the mandate. The accusation and incitement to insurrection for having instigated his fans in a rally to attack Congress and prevent the certification of the victory of Joe Biden, who has contested for weeks evoking non-existent electoral fraud and also threatening the Secretary of State of Georgia . A violent attack cost five deaths, several injuries, damage and an unprecedented attack on American democracy. “Trump is an obvious and immediate danger, he has incited the armed rebellion against the nation, he must be dismissed”, the speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi denounced in the courtroom before the vote, defining the rioters not “patriots”, as the president, but “terrorists”. The vote took place “in the same crime scene”, as one deputy pointed out. And in an atmosphere of a state of war in the capital, after the FBI alarm on possible armed attacks between 16 and 20 January in all US states, in view of Joe Biden’s oath: hundreds of reservists have passed the night inside Capitol Hill, sleeping and bivouacking in the halls and corridors while the chosen ones arrived. But the National Guard, who deployed 20,000 men on the day of the oath, also guards the entire outer perimeter of the parliament at gunpoint, defended like all the main government buildings by metal grids. The impeachment motion comes after the House passed the 25th amendment. Mike Pence, however, refused to invoke him, believing that he is not “in the best interest of the country” and urging to avoid “actions that would divide and further inflame the passion of the moment”. But Trump’s second indictment has received growing support among Republicans. Even before the vote, five deputies from the Grand Old party had come out. Among them Liz Cheney, number three of the GOP at the House and daughter of the controversial former vice president of George W. Bush. “It is Trump who has lit the match of the attack”, accused the parliamentarian, who pilots the home front against The Donald by effectively running the party in the House by removing the leadership from Kevin McCarthy. A tear that marks the beginning of the war within the Grand Old Party, forced to choose between Trump and his condemnation. The keystone may be powerful Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who privately said he frowned upon impeachment, believing it to be grounded and useful in helping the party move on. If she publicly confirmed his position, it could open a great breach between his, perhaps allowing for a two-thirds majority for the sentence. But for now he has made it known that he has not yet decided how to vote and that he wants to hear the legal arguments in the Senate, excluding calling him before the end of the presidential term. Trump has returned to appeal for calm and to avoid “vandalism and violence” after his meeting on Tuesday in Texas, where however he had rejected all responsibility, admonishing that the indictment is “the continuation of the greatest hunt to the witches of history “and is causing” enormous anger “in the country. Meanwhile, he thinks of pardoning himself and his children (but Donald Junior doesn’t want her) as he plunges into the polls, and is abandoned by the faithful councilor Hope Hicks, it is also banned by Youtube and the city of New York terminates all contracts with the Trump Organization. Including those for the iconic carousel and the two Central Park skating rinks. Perhaps the only consolation for him is that not even Ivanka will go to Biden’s oath because, a White House source explained, “it is not customary for the children of the outgoing president to attend the ceremony”.
