Texas Blue Dog Henry Cuellar voted for the GOP's anti-Choice bill this week. He was the only Democrat to do so-- as he often has been when reactionary Republican legislation is proposed-- but because of his vote the GOP is calling the bill that could send doctors to prison "bipartisan." Trump was impeached— for a second time— about a week after his coup attempt. The vote was 232-197, all 222 Democrats plus 10 Republicans voted to impeach and 197 Republicans voted against impeachment. 4 Republicans didn’t vote. The 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment:
Liz Cheney (WY)
Tony Gonzalez (OH)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA)
John Katko (NY)
Adam Kinzinger (IL)
Peter Meijer (MI)
Dan Newhouse (WA)
Tom Rice (SC)
Fred Upton (MI)
David Valadao (CA)
Only 2— David Valadao and Dan Newhouse— are back in Congress this cycle. The others either decided to not seek reelection or were defeated in primaries by MAGA candidates. That vote actually was bipartisan.
Last May Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) offered a resolution to expunge Trump’s second impeachment, similar to Mullin’s failed proposal to expunge Trump’s first impeachment. Mullin, a neo-fascist who is now in the U.S. Senate, said that “Democrats used their second impeachment resolution to once again weaponize one of the most grave and consequential powers of the House,” apparently forgetting that 10 of his GOP colleagues took great personal risk to also vote to impeach Trump. So did the always Uber-opportunistic Stefanik: “The American people know Democrats weaponized the power of impeachment against President Donald Trump to advance their own extreme political agenda. From the beginning of this sham process, I stood up against Nancy Pelosi’s blatant attempt to shred the Constitution as House Democrats ignored precedent and failed to follow the legislative process. But President Donald Trump was rightfully acquitted, and it is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country.”
Now that the GOP is in control of Congress, they’re going to try it again, although it would be a terribly divisive thing to force a vote on, especially for Republican members in swing districts where Republicans need independent and moderate voters for 2024 reelection efforts. Yesterday OK Kevin said he understands why members want to bring that forward and said the Republican conference is prepared to “look at” expunging both Trump impeachments, apparently something he promised Trump in return for his support in the speaker election. Several MAGA extremists have already come forward saying they support doing it including Pat Fallon (R-TX) and the clownish Andrew Clyde (GA), who was photographed looking petrified and barricading a door during the insurrection but then told the far right media that the riot was just a “normal tourist visit” to the Capitol.
Last night I asked Marianne Williamson for her take on this. As you have probably read, she’s likely to run for president next year, regardless of whether Biden runs for reelection or not. She told me that “The fundamental problem in American politics is corruption, particularly when it treats some people like they’re above the law. Fanatical partisanship has made things substantially worse, making the sole purpose of the GOP to undermine the Democrats and even the Constitution of the United States if it gets in the way. Both parties get too close to the line sometimes, but the GOP has stepped way over it.”
Yesterday, a NY Supreme Court judge, Juan Merchan, ordered the Trump Organization “to pay a $1.6 million criminal penalty for its conviction on felony tax fraud and other charges, a stinging rebuke and the maximum possible punishment. Earlier, a Trump spokesperson said “New York has become the crime and murder capital of the world, yet these politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency. We did nothing wrong and we will appeal this verdict.”