If Trump Wins, It’s Because Neither Party Had the Guts To Stop Him
Donald Trump left the White House in January 2021 as a defeated, disgraced figure, soon after the House of Representatives impeached him for a second time.
When that second impeachment trial concluded, members of the U.S. Senate had the chance to convict Trump and, in so doing, bar him from holding federal office ever again—something the House had recommended as part of the articles of impeachment. The final vote in the Senate was 57–43 in favor of convicting Trump, 10 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
The Senate’s failure on February 13, 2021, was not the singular thing that brought us to this moment—where it appears (but is not yet certain) that Trump will win the 2024 presidential election and will soon be the president-elect. But it was the first in the cascade of decisions that led here, and without it none of the others would have been possible: The matter would have been settled, for good, in the appropriate constitutional venue for settling such affairs. Instead, then–Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.) off-loaded that responsibility to the criminal justice system.
In the 1,362 days since then, Trump has staged a political comeback that seemed both impossible and, at least once it got rolling, inevitable. He’s been arrested, convicted, literally bloodied by an assassin’s bullet.
Now, he appears to be on the precipice of victory once more. By early Wednesday, the major media networks called Georgia and North Carolina for Trump, giving him a number of plausible pathways to victory in the Electoral College. He seems to be on strong footing in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona, which would provide a clear winning margin even if Vice President Kamala Harris manages to win the remaining swing states. The counting will continue into the morning, and perhaps beyond, and it’s not out of the question that Harris could find a narrow path to victory.
But that path is now exceptionally narrow. As of 1 a.m., The New York Times gave Trump a 95 percent chance of winning. Other outlets tracking the election have come to similar conclusions. The writing is on the wall, even if the paint is not yet fully dry.
For Trump’s allies and supporters, hi
Article from Reason.com
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