Rachel Maddow warned Republican senators on Thursday that if they vote to acquit Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial, they are only inviting more MAGA terrorism.
The MSNBC host said it’s clear that Trump has no remorse for inciting the Jan. 6 MAGA attack at the U.S. Capitol, and if the Senate doesn’t convict him, it’ll almost guarantee that the ex-president will do it again.
“There’s really no reason to think the threat is over, particularly if senators vote to acquit the former president and thereby assure there are no consequences for him from having done this,” Maddow said.
“Of course he’ll try it again,” she added. “I mean, why wouldn’t he?”
Video:
“There’s really no reason to think the threat is over, particularly if senators vote to acquit the former president,” Rachel Maddow said on Thursday. #maddow pic.twitter.com/1enHq71e3p
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 12, 2021
Maddow said:
I think the most jarring argument today was the argument that we heard in different ways from multiple House managers that there’s really no reason to think the threat is over, particularly if senators vote to acquit the former president and thereby assure there are no consequences for him from having done this. Then of course he’ll try it again. I mean, why wouldn’t he? The country is talking about this and trying to contend with this as an incredible tragedy, as a disaster of magnificent consequences for our country and for our democracy, including as I said for our standing in the world. But there’s no sign that President Trump sees it that way at all. There’s no sign he has any problem at all with the fact he did this once already.
The GOP already has blood on its hands
While impeachment managers warn about future political violence if the Senate doesn’t convict Donald Trump, it’s important to remember that the GOP already has blood on its hands.
After all, Republican lawmakers spent four years ignoring or laughing off the former president’s dangerous rhetoric. These spineless GOP senators would roam the halls of Congress pretending they didn’t hear about Trump’s latest Twitter outburst or scandal – all because they wanted tax cuts and judges.
Once it was clear that Joe Biden won the election last November, the GOP could have immediately shut down Trump’s big lie about the race being stolen from him. They could have tried to turn down the nation’s political temperature and moved on.
Instead, they humored Trump. Some even embraced his lies and participated in the attempted coup. This refusal to put country first is partially the reason why Jan. 6 happened in the first place.
And if they let Donald Trump off the hook one more time by voting to acquit, it’ll almost certainly happen again.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
