Thanks to the extraordinary work of police on the scene, last month’s storming of the Capitol saw “only” five fatalities, one of whom was not a rioter. But as we now know, former Vice President Mike Pence was seconds, not minutes, from the rioters getting their hands on him. Republicans have tried to justify acquitting former President Donald Trump not on the merits of his actions but with the argument that convicting a former president in an impeachment trial is unconstitutional.
Yet given how close the former vice president was from the clutches of armed mob members chanting that they would hang him, it’s worth asking the question: How the hell could Republicans justify acquitting Trump if the mob had succeeded in executing his most loyal follower?
The article of impeachment levied against Trump is that he incited an insurrection through the two-month campaign of election lies and conspiracy theories he conducted and also with his direction to the mob he invited to Washington to go to the Capitol and “stop the steal.” But at least as serious an offense was Trump’s apparent encouragement of the mob even when he knew Pence’s life was in danger, along with Trump’s reported refusal to deploy the National Guard.
We know that Trump called Sen. Mike Lee of Utah between 2 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. thinking he was calling Sen. Tommy Tuberville, only for Lee to hand his phone to his Alabama colleague, who in turn told Trump that Pence was in danger. At 2:24 p.m., Trump fired off a tweet lambasting Pence’s lack of “courage to do what needs to be done” and that the “USA demands the truth.” Two minutes later, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund made an “an urgent, urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance,” and yet the National Guard didn’t arrive at the Capitol until more than three hours later. Even more heinous is that it was Pence who authorized the deployment, not Trump, who is legally supposed to be the one to authorize National Guard deployment but reportedly refused to do so, even as he surely knew his vice president was in immediate danger.
Given all of these facts and Trump’s recalcitrance to issue a call to end the violence, it sure seems as though Trump had reckless disregard for Pence’s life at best and a sinister willingness to let his fans murder Pence at worst. If the mob had succeeded, it’s impossible to imagine Trump’s conviction failing in the Senate. That is reason alone for Republicans not to acquit him.
The deaths resulting from the Capitol siege constitute only part of that day’s evil. Just as reprehensible was Trump’s intention. He intended to convince his followers to believe the lie that the election was stolen. He intended to invite them to descend upon the city during a pandemic, and he intended for them to march to the Capitol and “stop the steal.” His followers took him literally and seriously, and given that he continued to rile up the mob and refused to deploy the National Guard even after Pence, and the rest of Congress, for that matter, was in danger, it sure seems like he intended for them to breach the building and do harm.
We don’t refuse to convict people who only attempt murder and then fail, and we shouldn’t refuse to convict a former president who only attempted to sic a brainwashed mob on the Capitol to steal an election. The constitutionality argument is weak tea to begin with, but it would fall even flatter if the mob had succeeded in doing the only thing that would have had a chance in hell of “stopping the steal,” and that is terrorizing or killing lawmakers, especially Pence.
Trump’s legal defense wrapped up in just three hours because there is no real defense of him. He granted Republicans zero political cover to acquit him, not even by enhancing the constitutionality argument. Republicans would be wise to think about what could have happened on Jan. 6 — what almost did happen — and shift their decision-making accordingly.
