{"id":11488,"date":"2021-01-21T21:27:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T21:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=153122"},"modified":"2021-01-21T21:27:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T21:27:17","slug":"let-donald-trump-run-again-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/21\/let-donald-trump-run-again-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Donald Trump Run Again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are so many good reasons to side against Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial that it would be a shame to do so for a truly bad one: to keep the disgraced former president from ever again facing the nation\u2019s voters.<\/p>\n

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A poll taken just after this insurrection put<\/a> Trump\u2019s approval rating at 29%, an all-time low.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne of the other purposes of impeachment in this case is to make sure that President Trump is not able to run for federal office again, that he\u2019s not able to seek the presidency,\u201d Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) said<\/a> during a recent television appearance.<\/p>\n

Whether or not a two-thirds majority of the U.S. Senate votes to convict Trump, it could take a second, separate vote, decided by a simple majority vote, to bar<\/a> him from holding any future federal office. <\/p>\n

Or a majority in both houses could vote<\/a> under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to keep Trump from federal office for having \u201cengaged in insurrection or rebellion against\u201d the Constitution. (This section was last<\/a> invoked<\/a> in 1919 to block Victor Berger, a duly elected socialist from Wisconsin who opposed the U.S. entry into World War I, from taking his seat in Congress.)<\/p>\n

But just because Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, have the power to end Trump\u2019s future political ambitions doesn\u2019t mean they should. Besides the inevitable legal challenges, it would feed the mindset of victimhood that Trump and his followers crave. Their arsenal of lies would be expanded to include claims that he would have won in a landslide, if only he had been allowed to run. <\/p>\n

First of all, Donald Trump is not going to be elected to anything, ever again. He got trounced by Joe Biden in the last election, losing<\/a> the popular vote by more than<\/a> seven million and the Electoral College vote by about the same<\/a> margin that Trump won by in 2016. And that was before he incited a mob into a murderous rampage at the Capitol.<\/p>\n

A poll taken just after this insurrection put<\/a> Trump\u2019s approval rating at 29%, an all-time low. That\u2019s right: even after four years of incompetence, malfeasance, corruption and now active sedition, Trump is still seen favorably by between a quarter and a third of U.S. citizens. That\u2019s horrifying, and a stain on our nation \u2013 but it\u2019s not enough for Trump to win an election.<\/p>\n

Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader turned minority leader, is reportedly glad <\/a>about Trump\u2019s second impeachment, believing this will help to end his toxic impact.<\/p>\n

Nuh-uh. No way. The Republican Party cannot so easily avoid being the party of Trump. It was subservient to him throughout his presidency, and it shouldn\u2019t be able to get rid of him now that he has tainted the party and proposed<\/a> splitting it by starting his own.<\/p>\n

There is no need to invoke rarely used constitutional clauses to keep Trump from running. A single felony conviction, from among the many criminal charges he is sure to face, will bring about the same result. Add in that Trump clearly no longer wants to be president \u2013 he stopped even pretending to do the job in his final months \u2013 and the logic of barring him from office collapses.<\/p>\n

Let Trump run again. Let him answer to the will of the voters. If a majority of them reject him, again, it will be because he deserves to lose. If a majority of Americans still vote for Trump, then this nation deserves him. That is the essence of our democracy, the thing Donald Trump tried so desperately to destroy.<\/p>\n

This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project<\/a> and distributed by Tribune News Service.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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