Call your Members of Congress (MoCs)–your House Rep and your two Senators–to support impeaching Trump again.
Yep, this is the new running post until Trump is impeached and removed, neutralized by the 25th Amendment, or resigns.
If you want to skip all this and act, scroll down for the updated calling/emailing script.
The Dems in the House of Representatives have drafted a single article of Impeachment for Incitement of Insurrection.
Read the draft document here: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/trump-article-of-impeachment-draft/index.html
We at OTYCD are drafting this running update under the assumption that the House of Representatives voted on Monday, January 11, 2021, to advance this single Article of Impeachment.
Update: Monday afternoon, David Cicilline, who represents Rhode Island’s 1st District, tweeted the following, along with a screenshot of the document:
Here is the article of impeachment I just introduced, along with 213 colleagues, against President Trump for Incitement of Insurrection. Most important of all, I can report that we now have the votes to impeach.
The best and clearest explanation as to why things are moving so damn slowly comes from Samantha Corbin (@SamanthaCorbin) in a series of tweets she sent on the evening of January 8, 2021:
YES, we all want to see impeachment articles filled ASAP. Unfortunately, House Rules require unanimous consent in order to meet sooner than Monday and McCarthy is objecting. Put another way, we have to wait because Republicans continue to obstruct the pursuit of justice.
On Monday, we should expect to see articles of impeachment filed, as reported, on one issue: Insurrection. Which these members saw and witnessed with their own eyes, and whom all were put in harms way as a result of. If they can’t vote for that, they should resign.
You don’t even have to take my word for it: [She reproduces a tweet sent to Amy Siskind from Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which reads, “Why tweet snark when you can read the House Rules? The House meets Monday; to do so otherwise needs unanimous consent and McCarthy objects. We JUST went through this with $2000 checks over Xmas. Meanwhile we are using the weekend to build support for #impeachment.”]
We at OTYCD will point out here that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, and he cast this vote after living through the terror of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Back to Samantha Corbin’s thread. Confirmation from @SpeakerPelosi that they will move forward with impeachment. [She retweets another tweet from Christine Pelosi that contains a screenshot we’re unable to reproduce, but Pelosi captioned it: #BREAKING (with siren emoji) “It is the hope of Members that the President will immediately resign. But if he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with Congressman Jamie Raskin’s #25thAmendment legislation and a motion for #impeachment.” -@SpeakerPelosi
For the “they should’ve done it yesterday” folks, they didn’t have the votes. A number of members had hoped Pence would enact the 25th amendment but he is refusing, and Cabinet members – rather than protest Trump – resigned to PROTECT him so they didn’t have to vote.
And for the “it’s too late to matter anyway” folks, no. No it’s not. If he is impeached for insurrection even on his last day in office, he is not qualified to run again for any office under the 14th amendment section 3. This is how you stop the Trump 2024 campaign.
LOTS of Qs on impeachment process (& forgive me I’m not used to this many comments!) but in particular folks are worried about if there will be the votes in the Senate for conviction/removal after a House indictment. 1) I encourage folks to help rally votes in the Senate. [That’s OTYCD using bold type, not her.]
2) if the House indicts but the Senate won’t convict/remove, the House indictment would still be significant in a criminal trial after Trump leaves office (but again, call the GOP Senators!)
3) Can Trump be Convicted and Removed by the Senate after he is out of office (once the new Dems are sworn in)? This is more complicated. Lots of legal opinions and I would refer people here as a primer: [She links to an NBC News story]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/can-trump-be-tried-senate-impeachment-charges-even-after-he-n1253544
4) Regardless of the Senate votes Trump and ANYONE can still be indicted under criminal charges in the future for insurrection which would still render he (or they) ineligible to hold office, without regard to impeachment. [This marks the end of Samantha Corbin’s Twitter thread.]
Since drafting this story, House Majority Whip James Clyburn appeared Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union program and said this:
“We’ll take the vote that we should take in the House, and (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) will make the determination as to when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers appointed and move that legislation over to the Senate,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
“It just so happens that if it didn’t go over there for 100 days, it could — let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles sometime after that,” the South Carolina Democrat added.
No no no no NO. The monster is still loose. Waiting 100 days to corral it is beyond insane. No!
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell circulated a memo about how the second Impeachment of Trump would proceed in the Senate.
The memo says the earliest the chamber could take up the matter is January 19, 2021, because it’s currently in recess.
In other words, McConnell does not intend to call the Senators back from their home states to deal with the danger Trump poses, even now.
FUCK THAT.
Seriously, fuck that.
Trump is too dangerous. He has to GO. He has to BE GONE. He HAS TO HAVE BEEN GONE.
When you call your two Senators, you need to ask them to push McConnell to reconvene YESTERDAY, FFS.
And YES going to the trouble of making these calls will matter. Even if your MoCs totally get it and are frantic to push this forward. Even if they’re one of the 147 who voted to overturn the 2020 election results.
How do we know? Here’s anecdotal evidence in the form of a January 8, 2021 tweet from Rep. Don Beyer, who represents Virginia’s 8th District:
We are getting some of the highest call and email volume that we’ve seen since I took office from people urging Trump’s removal. I’m working with colleagues to accelerate impeachment, and also support invoking the 25th Amendment. I agree with my constituents: he has to go ASAP.
Step up and call or email all three of your MoCs. (Calling is preferable. Use email if no one picks up or if voicemail is full.)
Call your House Rep first, then your Senators.
Find their contact information here:
https://whoaremyrepresentatives.org
Before you call, check the MoC’s social media feeds, so you can comment on what they’ve publicly said, or failed to say, about impeaching and removing Trump.
And yes, sorry, you do need to call them. Social media messages carry no weight with them.
Call a district office rather than their D.C. office (they’ve gone home).
If you don’t get a live person, leave a voicemail.
If their voicemail is full, find the email function on their official Member of Congress website (not their campaign site), and send them a message through that.
Sample script, which you should feel free to adapt to your own needs and wishes:
“Dear House Rep/Senator <Lastname>, I am <Firstname Lastname> from <town, state, zip code>.
I am calling/emailing to support the effort to impeach and remove President Donald Trump.
I realize he has less than two weeks left on his presidency. I still want him gone as soon as possible.
<For solid Dem House Reps who voted to impeach: Thank you for voting in favor of impeaching Trump on an article of insurrection. You are doing exactly what I want you to do as my elected Congressional representative, and I thank you. (You can end the call at this point.)>
<For MoCs who were absent for no good reason, or voted present, or voted against impeachment: I note your failure to appear/your vote of “present”/your vote against impeachment and I am profoundly disappointed in your actions. I will remember this and keep this in mind when the 2022 elections approach.>
<An extra sentence for all Senators, regardless of party: I understand that Mitch McConnell circulated a memo about removal proceedings that indicated the Senate won’t take it up until January 19, 2021. That is not acceptable. Trump needs to go NOW. I urge you to pressure McConnell to call the Senate back into session immediately to deal with the matter. It’s that important.”>
Trump’s incitement of the attack on the Capitol Building on January 6 makes him a clear and present danger to our country.
He spoke at a D.C. rally, riled tens of thousands of his keenest fans up, and told them to march on the Capitol as the House and the Senate readied to certify the results of the 2020 election.
He is directly responsible for the insurrection.
He is directly responsible for the deaths of four of his supporters, and the death of a member of the Capitol’s police force.
He is directly responsible for putting hundreds of Congresspeople and their staffs in mortal danger.
If luck wasn’t with us on January 6, the insurrectionists could have killed Vice President Mike Pence and the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi–the second and third in the line of succession behind the president.
He has to go. He has to go NOW. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT park the article of Impeachment for 100 days. I want you to impeach and remove him.
It’s important to impeach and remove him, rather than invoke the 25th Amendment, because impeaching and removing him bars him from holding public office ever again.
It’s also important to deliver swift, clear, and overwhelming consequences to answer to such foul and grave acts.
If we don’t move with speed and force, other evil-minded people, here and abroad, might try something like this in the future. We can’t have that.
Thank you for considering my request.”
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