Choose You This Day

A mob of Trump supporters surround the gallows on which they intended to hang Vice President Mike Pence at the Capitol, January 6, 2021.
Click to enlarge.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve . . .

-- Joshua 24: 15

Click here for CNN live coverage of impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

Many fine speeches were made on the floor of the House today; here are two that your Head Trucker thinks particularly well done, covering all the essential points of the case. 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gives the opening argument:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gives the closing argument:

Update, 3:36 p.m., Texas time-- The House of Representatives has just voted to impeach Trump, 232-197.  Ten Republicans voted with the Democrats to impeach.  Four Republicans did not vote.  House has now adjourned until January 15th.  The Senate is in recess until January 19th, when the Article of Impeachment will be presented to them.

For the benefit of my overseas truckbuddies, it is important to understand that impeachment is not the same as removal from office.  Rather, an impeachment by the House is equivalent to an indictment by a grand jury; the Senate then acts as a court to try the case, and either convict (by a two-thirds majority) or acquit the President, who would cease to be President immediately upon conviction.  Trump was previously impeached by the House in December 2019, but acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.

The Constitution gives each house of Congress the authority to set its own rules of procedure; thus, the Senate does not have to follow the ordinary rules of procedure used in federal courts.  Furthermore, it is up to Congress on its own authority to determine what constitutes the "high crimes and misdemeanors" (not defined in the Constitution) for which a president can be impeached.

Even if the Senate convicted Trump of the charge specified in the Article of Impeachment, the only effect would be to remove him from office - and that will be moot, as Biden will already be President by the time the Senate decides the case.  For Trump to be barred from running for office again, or to lose his post-presidency benefits, the Senate would have to vote specifically on those points.

Full text of the Article of Impeachment below the jump - or see PDF in original format here.

Trump: Don't Blame Me! Fear the Dangerous Dems!

Trump flew down to Alamo, Texas, today to have another look at his magnificent border wall - the first public appearance he has made since last week's attack on the Capitol by the mob he incited.  

Senator Lindsey Graham went with him on Air Force One - yes, that same Lindsey Graham, Trumpmeister's most faithful pup, who last week had to hide from the murderous throng, and later said on the floor of the Senate, "Count me out.  Enough's enough."

 

 Now he's trotting along behind his master again - as a dog returneth to his vomit. 

It's also reported that last night Trump had a "good conversation" with Vice President Mike Pence - whom Trump never called to check on while enraged fanatics were running through the halls of Congress shouting, "Hang Mike Pence" - and erected a gallows complete with noose on the grounds outside.  Last week, it was reported that Pence was "very angry" with Trump - but bygones are bygones, it seems. I guess they kissed and made up. What they talked about has not yet been reported, but you can bet it wasn't a Sunday school lesson. 

By the way, Trump isn't visiting the Alamo, which is in downtown San Antone, but the pee-mite town of Alamo, a mere suburb of the much larger city of McAllen, a farming center in the Rio Grande Valley. Still, the name of the Alamo is highly symbolic of a last stand, a fight to the death against tyranny, etc. - and you can believe that that, in and of itself, is a dog whistle to Trump's fanatical followers. 

Here are various clips of Trump's remarks today, in which he typically absolves himself of all responsibility for last week's insurrection and warns that impeachment is "very dangerous to America" - another dog whistle - trying to paint the Democrats and everyone else who doesn't kneel before him as the real threat to the country. 

Of course everything he says, including a, an, and the, is a total fucking LIE. He is so eaten up with conceit, he can't breathe without lying, just to glorify himself.  He has no remorse and no conscience.  He sicced a mob of killer dogs on the members of Congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - including the next three persons in the line of presidential succession.  And instead of lifting a finger to stop the attack, he sat in front of the television, gleefully watching the chaos he caused.

OF COURSE THIS MONSTER SHOULD BE REMOVED, IMPEACHED, ARRESTED, PROSECUTED AND JAILED FOR HIS CRIMES.  THERE IS NOTHING TO DEBATE OR ARGUE ABOUT.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH IS FUCKING ENOUGH.

 

And then there's this:  Don't expect many Republicans to vote for impeachment or any other anti-Trump motion - even if they know that Trump is a huge fraud, they are terrified of being murdered by the frenzied MAGA mob, as freshman Republican Congressman Peter Meijer of Michigan explains:

 

As it was written:  Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.

Update, 7:55 p.m.--Pence Declines to Invoke 25th Amendment.

Well, there it is.  The Senate is in recess and will not even receive the impeachment papers until January 19th at the earliest - a day before Biden's inauguration.  So we just have to wait it out now, and pray God the monster doesn't go "wild" again.  God help us all!

But I have to believe the monster will not live happily ever after.  Sooner or later, somewhere or other, he will meet his nemesis, as tyrants always do.  What goes around, comes around.

 

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Untethered from Reality

For the record, here are some statements on CNN yesterday that lay bare the motives and delusions of Trump's fanatical followers.  Of course, everything these commentators say about Trump and his worshippers has always been apparent to all undeceived, clear-eyed Americans, ordinary citizens and honest politicians alike, from the day Trump announced he would run for president in 2015. We have feared what happened last week from the outset - and for good reason, as these commentators explain. 

 CNN's Alyson Camerota calls out Trump supporters:

 

 Ana Navarro calls bull on Trump's "conservative values":

 

Erin Burnett decries the Republican legislators who sucked up to Trump after warning voters against him:

 

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The Best Gift/El Mejor Regalo

A new Doritos commercial launched last month in Mexico - the dialogue is in Spanish with English subtitles.  You'll like this, fellas - have a tissue handy.

 

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New Video: "The Party of Law and Order"

 This.

Horrific new video obtained by CNN shows a MAGA rioter (in white hat and backpack) grab a DC Metro officer and pull him down Capitol steps where he is stomped and beaten with an American flag pole.
At one point they sing the Star Spangled Banner pic.twitter.com/XXJMxanGXp

— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) January 10, 2021

At about the same time, this: 

And you must remember this:

June 6, 2020

I am your law and order President.

What I Say:  Today the House of Representatives will formally ask Vice President Pence to oust Trump under the provisions of the 25th Amendment; and if Pence refuses to do so, the House will begin work on Articles of Impeachment.  In this interview, Rep. Jim McGovern says some words your Head Trucker has not yet had a chance to say here in the Blue Truck about the crisis and the perpetrators of this attack on our government.

The House will seek to take up a resolution from Rep. Jamie Raskin on Monday urging Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. If blocked, the House would consider impeachment.

Rep. Jim McGovern says this may happen Wednesday or Thursday. pic.twitter.com/cR7QFLm2i1

— New Day (@NewDay) January 11, 2021

But I will tell you one more word I am thinking of very hard:  ARREST.  Any other person inciting a murderous mob to attack our seat of government - the nation is looking at you, Giuliani, and you, Junior -  would be cuffed and booked and thrown under the jailhouse as quick as the police could lay hands on him.  I understand the concept of presidential immunity, which has its proper place in the scheme of things; but NO president can be allowed to incite insurrection from the back yard of the White House, you might say, and get away with it.

If Trump can't be arrested today, he damn well should be at 12:01 p.m. on January 20th.  And the law, and if need be the Constitution, must be changed as quickly as possible to authorize the immediate arrest and removal from office of ANY president who foments sedition, rebellion, or treason, now or in future.  

HE CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO JUST WALK AWAY, SNEERING AND SNICKERING AT ALL THE BLOODY CHAOS HE CAUSED.

The FBI is busting rioters all over the country even as I type; why not the mobster who sicced them on the Capitol?  This gap in the law must be closed.  I understand it might be a tricky thing to work out in legal terms - but we must come down HARD on the perpetrators of this vile attempt to overthrow the constitutional order, or as McConnell said the other day, our democracy will enter a death spiral.  That is my considered opinion, for what it's worth.

P. S. -- Will someone please cc this highly pertinent article to McGovern and Pelosi ASAP?  Thanks.

Democrats Are Pursuing the Wrong Impeachment Charges against Trump - from Politico

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Schwarzenegger Denounces Trump, Calls for Unity

Wow. Former Republican governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger in a powerhouse statement has just denounced Trump and his enablers as Nazi-like liars and enemies of democracy, and calls on Americans to unite behind Joe Biden. This you have to see, fellas.  I think my overseas truckbuddies will appreciate these remarks as well, coming from an Austrian-born immigrant to these shores.

 

Quote:  

President Trump is a failed leader.  He will go down in history as the worst president ever.  The good thing is he will soon be as irrelevant as an old tweet.

Your Head Trucker is proud to hear him testify. This will reach some hearts and minds that badly need a wake-up call. Thank you, Conan!

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Sunday Drive: Esteban, My Country 'Tis of Thee

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Lying Brownnoser Ted Cruz Tells The Big One

Please forgive my lapse into intemperate language, fellas, but I feel it is my journalistic duty to report plainly to you about thus stinking scumbag who, though he has a seat in Congress, does not represent me or my fellow Texans in any moral sense.

Your Head Trucker well recalls that during the presidential campaign of 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz - after Trump had insulted Cruz's wife and accused Cruz's father of conspiring to assassinate John F. Kennedy - was the very last big Republican politician to oppose Trump.  Cruz swore and be damned that he would never, ever support Trump, and held out all the way to October, I think.  And then, just a few weeks before Election Day - inexplicably - Cruz suddenly went crawling on his hands and knees to kiss Trump's ass.  He even recorded some videos or robocalls for him, I believe.

And all this long time, obedient sub boy Cruz has kept his nose right there, supporting everything Trump said or did, and never a breath of criticism.  And on Wednesday, minutes before Trump's mob attacked Congress, Cruz was on the floor of the House, front and center, leading the legislative attack on the electoral vote, the legitimate will of the People, as Cruz's dungeonmaster bid him do.

All that was bad enough.  But yesterday, Cruz had the brazen gall to go on television and tell the Big Fucking Lie that he has "disagreed with the President's rhetoric and language for the last four years."  Proving beyond all doubt that even after his filthy coup attempt failed miserably, Trump still has Cruz's balls in his back pocket.

CNN's Erin Burnett gives all the evidence, past and present, that anyone could need to condemn Cruz as the desperate, conniving monumental liar that he is:

No admission of wrongdoing, no remorse, only a glaring untruth.  Lying bootlicker Cruz has enabled a would-be dictator at every step of the way, tried to overthrow the election, perverted his oath to support the Constitution, and made himself a laughingstock.  He should leave D. C. as soon as Trump does, and in like shame.

Update, 8 a.m.--I'm not the only Texan who's steamed.  The Houston Post castigates Cruz, calls on him to resign:

"U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz lied to Americans about widespread voter fraud that never existed," the Editorial Board writes. "He should resign and deliver Texans from the shame of calling him our senator." https://t.co/WzHyZ8xolH

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) January 9, 2021

Editorial: Texans backed Trump over democracy https://t.co/6Y6MHiZ3id

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) January 9, 2021

Update, 1/10/21, 12:15 a.m.--On Friday, President-Elect Joe Biden went there: he called out Cruz (and his partner in crime Hawley) by name as being partners in the Big Lie, which he compared to Goebbel's propaganda in Nazi Germany. 

See also:  Never Forget What Ted Cruz Did - New York Times, 1/11/21

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Who Saved America?

Since Wednesday's attempted coup, it seems to me that the mood of the whole country has changed; at least the failed assault on democracy has clarified some formerly die-hard Trump enablers' minds.  You know the ship is going down when the rats start jumping overboard, and plenty are scrambling away from the S. S. Trump even as I write, it seems.  

I can't compete with the news media in reporting all that is happening in Washington and elsewhere today, but I will say this:  despite some woe-is-us editorials I've seen, your Head Trucker is confident that all shall be well in America.  Our democracy was jumped by some muggers the other day and took a few body blows, but did not go to the mat.  The Constitutional order held; the will of the People was honored by the vast majority of members of Congress, doing their duty according to law.  

Your Head Trucker will admit that he wept when Mike Pence announced that Biden and Harris had been duly elected the next President and Vice President of the United States.  The system worked - not because it is perfect or because we are perfect - but because fundamentally decent men and women would not let it fail, even in the face of armed attack.  In fact, with only a handful of exceptions, our Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle seemed to surmount their ordeal with renewed determination to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States.  I'm sure I am not the only ordinary citizen who feels we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Already, a new wind arises in this nation, dispelling the fog and miasma that oppressed us.  The sun is rising, the land is bright, a new day has begun.  Let us walk forward together in trust and hope, and fear not.  The road ahead may be steep, but take heart:  it leads us onward and upward again.

But let us not forget what just happened - and what might have happened.  For the record, here are some scenes and voices worth remembering, for one reason or another. History will judge who the true patriots were.

Thank God they didn’t get to him in the Capitol building. Perhaps there are consequences when the President of the United States lies to millions of his supporters telling them the Vice President has the unilateral ability to overturn the result and ensure a second term of Trump. https://t.co/lAWqN1RDgS

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 8, 2021

Some of the Trump fanatics constructed a gallows near the Capitol reflecting pool and another group of them fashioned a crude noose from stolen AP camera cables and hung it from a tree. https://t.co/kz1tK8TfXA pic.twitter.com/9ovr1q7rEY

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 8, 2021

 

 And finally, on his Wednesday night show, satirist Stephen Colbert provided a scathing summation of the day's events:

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Pelosi and Schumer Call for Trump's Removal

Whoa.  Senate Majority Leader Schumer just called on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.  Pelosi did the same in a simultaneous news conference in the House.  Things are moving at warp speed in Congress - your Head Trucker applauds this development.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls on @VP Mike Pence and Trump’s cabinet “to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment.” If they do not act, Congress may be prepared to impeach him.pic.twitter.com/lcUjGlZpPV

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 7, 2021

Meanwhile, CNN's Van Jones makes a razor-sharp point about race in America, as demonstrated by the outrageous failure to stop or even arrest the invaders of the Capitol yesterday - all or most of whom were white:

  

President-Elect Joe Biden also noted and condemned the racial disparity:

Biden: "No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable. Totally unacceptable." pic.twitter.com/TfWa25VzEt

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 7, 2021

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TRUMP'S COUP FAILS

Trump's reign of misrule began with "American Carnage" and it ends with American carnage.

For the benefit of my overseas truckbuddies and any others who care to watch, here are some videos of the filthy, horrific scene at the Capitol - a direct attack on our democracy at its very heart - the culmination of abomination that has been growing for the last four years - continuously cultivated by an evil man and his minions:

Just minutes before the rioters broke into the Capitol, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell broke decisively with Trump, urging his Republican colleagues to accept the fact of Biden's electoral victory:

 

About 3 p.m. Texas time, nearly three hours after the Capitol was invaded, President-Elect Joe Biden addressed the nation with a stirring call to patriotic values:

 

About half an hour later, the current occupant of the Oval Office hypocritically poured gasoline on the fire he himself started:

  

What I Say:  Your Head Trucker has faith that our Republic will survive this brazen attempt at overthrowing our democracy; but the name of this filthy would-be tyrant will be an execration down all the centuries to come, and his descendants will bear the shame of it to the last generation.

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Aftermath, 1/7/21, 5 a.m.--To their eternal credit, the members of the House and Senate, undaunted by armed attack, reconvened at 7 p.m. last night, Texas time, to continue and complete their Constitutional duty of certifying the vote of the People. In the early hours of the morning, Vice President Mike Pence dutifully announced the result from the chair of the Senate, sealing beyond all doubt or question the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next President and Vice President of the United States.

 

The chaplain of the Senate, the Rev. Barry Black, delivered this prayer from the dais, echoing in large part the prayers of millions, including your Head Trucker, these several months:

Lord of our lives and sovereign of our beloved nation, we deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy.

These tragedies have reminded us that words matter and that the power of life and death is in the tongue. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedom's price.

Lord, you have helped us remember that we need to see in each other a common humanity that reflects your image.

You have strengthened our resolve to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies domestic as well as foreign.

Use us to bring healing and unity to our hurting and divided nation and world. Thank you for what you have blessed our lawmakers to accomplish in spite of threats to liberty.

Bless and keep us. Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to do your will and guide our feet on the path of peace. And God bless America. We pray in your sovereign name, Amen.

Your Head Trucker would add only, Thanks be to God.  Alleluia.

So the election is settled. Now we must somehow wait another two weeks for the life of the Nation to begin anew - with a wild beast, a raving, resentful madman, the enemy of the People, in the White House, manifestly unfit to govern. This is so wrong. In this modern world of instant terror and pushbutton destruction, there should be a quick and simple way to protect the Nation from a rogue President; just how that could be done by legal and constitutional means is the thought of many minds at this time, I am sure. 

I was very proud to see that Vice President Pence, after four years of kowtowing to the monster's whims, at last acted the man and the patriot today in fulfilling his Constitutional duty to ensure the peaceful, legitimate continuity of government in our democratic republic. He ought to be Acting President now. 

And one more thing:  I also like the fact that the Congress publicly certified the votes that each of the fifty states had already certified, in a ceremony that is usually a mere formality.  Notice what great legitimacy and certainty it gives to the results.  No sane mind can now entertain the slightest doubt that the next President was lawfully elected - a fact endorsed by dozens of courts across the land that have unanimously refused to overturn the will of the People.

Our election system needs an overhaul and tune-up, to be sure, and perhaps a new set of wheels - but keep today's profound scenes in mind as you listen in the coming months and years to the debate about reforming our system of electing a President.  Efficiency is important - but even more so is public confidence in the fairness and accuracy of the results.  These things are not mutually exclusive.

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Update, 1/7/21, 11 a.m.--The political landscape seems to be shifting by the hour in the wake of yesterday's violent attack on Congress.  To show how far minds have changed in just 24 hours, studly Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has just posted this video on Twitter calling for Trump to be removed from office by the 25th Amendment:

It’s with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked. My statement: pic.twitter.com/yVyQrYcjuD

— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 7, 2021

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