Remembering a Day of Ignominy
The political malpractice of February 13, 2021
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Today is the 4th anniversary of the U.S. Senate’s failure to convict Trump for inciting violence on the peaceful transfer of power.
Far more consequential, the Senate neglected to seize the opportunity to disqualify an authoritarian demagogue from holding future federal office.
By Article I of the Constitution, conviction requires a two-thirds majority (67 out of 100 senators). In a second vote, senators may then proceed to disqualify an impeached and convicted president by a simple majority.
The Senate’s ruling would have barred Trump from serving a second term in the Oval Office. As a result, he would not be president today.
All that was needed to safeguard the nation was 10 more votes by Republican senators.
As an aside, yes, Trump is an “authoritarian demagogue.” I speak forensically—not out of animosity. The “demagogue” half of the equation should be obvious. But, is Trump really an authoritarian? Here again, the answer is a resounding yes. Any political leader who attempts to overthrow a free and fair election is authoritarian. Case closed.
How the Founders Would Have Voted
Like many other citizens, I did my small part to prevent Trump’s return to power. On February 9, four days before the vote, The New York Times published my Op-Ed, “Would the Founders Convict Trump and Bar Him From Office?”
Yes, they would. Most assuredly. I implored the Republican senators to follow their example:
If the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were sitting today as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, one thing seems certain based on the historical record. Acting with vigor and dispatch, they would cast two near unanimous votes: first, to convict the president of an impeachable offense, and second, to disqualify him from holding future federal office.
Founders like Benjamin Franklin understood, I argued, the need to invest the executive branch with lawful ethical leaders:
They would vote in this way, unmoved by partisan passions or the defense’s claim that the Senate lacks jurisdiction, because they believed as a matter of civic principle that ethical leadership is the glue that holds a constitutional republic together. It was a principle they lived by and one they infused into every aspect of the Constitution they debated that summer in Philadelphia nearly 234 years ago.
On the other hand, the founders knew that “corrupt & unworthy men,” “designing men” and “demagogues” must be kept out of executive power—or else you risk losing the republic.
I concluded with a call to self-sacrifice:
Those senators who vote to convict and disqualify Mr. Trump will be remembered, in the words of Madison, as “impartial umpires & Guardians of justice and general Good.” History will thank them for their integrity, wisdom and honor. They will be lauded, like those who helped create the nation, for the sacrifices they made.
Duty to the Constitution
Nevertheless, on February 13, forty-three Republican senators placed partisan attachment to an authoritarian over the Constitution, the truth, and the safety of the American people. In that crucial hour, they failed to uphold their sworn duty to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The senators committed this grave error not on grounds of any reasonable interpretation of law or oath, but because they could not muster sufficient courage to elevate the best interests of the nation over self-interest and party.
In an era when the study of history is neglected, there’s an additional reason for the senators’ constitutional malpractice: Ignorance. They don’t know how democracies die, so they did nothing to avert it.
Whatever the cause of the senators’ “Not Guilty” votes, seven of their Republican colleagues understood the depth of the authoritarian crisis confronting the nation.
Searching their consciences, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania chose to lay down their political lives and reputations for the Constitution and the preservation of our democracy.
In an era where the study of history is neglected, one reason for the senators’ catastrophic error is ignorance. They don’t know how democracies die. So they did nothing to avert it.
February 13, 2021, marks a day to remember not because seven Republican senators roused the courage to put the Constitution and public safety before party and political self-preservation, but, grievously, because forty-three did not.
Instead of standing up for our democracy, those forty-three senators abandoned civic virtue and the Constitution, recklessly empowering Trump to rise again as a candidate for the presidency.
And rise he did.
Looking back, we must not whitewash history. Today until the end of time, we must hold those senators accountable for gross dereliction of duty and, quite possibly, for the downfall of one of history’s greatest democracies.
For our duly elected and sworn representatives in the Senate, duty to the Constitution matters more than party, more than reelection, more than money—more even than a senator’s own life and limb.
“That attack was not a spontaneous outbreak of violence,” Senator Lisa Collins explained shortly after her “Guilty” vote on February 13. “My vote in this trial stems from my own oath and duty to defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The price of cowardice, as we are experiencing in the flesh today, is steep. Thank you Republican Senators Collins, Burr, Cassidy, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse, and Toomey for your exemplary service to the nation.
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Eli Merritt is a psychiatrist and historian who writes about the origins of our present political discontents and solutions to them. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, among other publications.
He writes American Commonwealth and is the author or editor of the books “Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution,” “Demagogue in the White House: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump,” and “How to Save Democracy: Advice and Inspiration from 95 World Leaders”
More articles by Eli Merritt
Books
The Curse of Demagogues: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump
Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution
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Sources
“Would the Founders Convict Trump and Bar Him From Office?” by Eli Merritt
Remembering Trump’s Impeachment Acquittal, by Eli Merritt
Such an insightful read! It's more important now than ever to put aside partisan politics and defend our Constitution.