V26, N20 Thursday, Jan.14, 2021 Trump’s presidency collapses Sedition, acrimony, fallout with Pence and impeachment mark his 11th hour By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – In six days, America’s experiment with Donald Trump’s reality show presi- dency comes to an end. It hasn’t been pretty, particularly since he lost his reelection bid by seven mil- lion votes and a 306-232 Electoral College margin. There have been 376,000 COVID-19 deaths at a rate surpass- ing 4,000 a day. The 20 million centered around “the big lie,” which in Trump’s spin was vaccines that were supposed to end up in American arms actually his “landslide” victory stolen in a “rigged” election. by the end of 2020 didn’t make it past nine million. There In a Hollywood-esque scene that would have were 141,000 jobs lost in December. There was a terror made “Network’s” tormented anchor Howard Beal proud, bombing in downtown Nashville that Trump ignored. And Trump ignited the fuses of thousands of MAGA supporters, then came Jan. 6, when a “Stop the Steal” rally com- menced at the Ellipse with the White House as a backdrop, Continued on page 3 A song of sedition By JOSHUA CLAYBOURN EVANSVILLE – Democracy requires the consent of losers. For over 220 years American democracy prided it- self on peaceful transfers of power; and in all of that time, no president who lost an elec- “As someone who did not support tion sought to subvert the will of voters and reject Electoral objections to the certification last College results – until Donald Trump. week, I will not support the po- Despite a massive pan- litical charade today. Congress demic and faltering economy, Trump’s post-election focus re- should stop playing divisive poli- mained firmly on overturning tics.” election results and undermin- ing the democratic system he - U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, join- swore to defend. For weeks ing her eight GOP Indiana House col- Trump spawned and repeated lies and unfounded conspiracy leagues in opposing impeachment. Page 2 Howey Politics Indiana WWWHowey Media, LLC c/o Business Office PO Box 6553 Kokomo, IN, 46904 www.howeypolitics.com Brian A. Howey, Publisher Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington Mary Lou Howey, Editor Susan E. Howey, Editor theories about faulty voting machines and destroyed property, even in the and destroyed or fabricated ballots; House and the Senate chambers and allegations without evidence and al- congressional offices. Fortunately Subscriptions legations universally rejected in over staffers rescued Electoral College HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 60 court cases, many presided over ballots from the Senate floor before HPI Weekly, $350 by Trump-appointed judges. But with the mob could burn them. Yet for all Lisa Hounchell, Account Manager repetition and time, many of Trump’s of the tyranny perpetrated by Trump (765) 452-3936 telephone supporters believed the lies; in their and his supporters, the coup at- (765) 452-3973 fax eyes his victory became a landslide tempt revealed pathetic emptiness. [email protected] and those who denied it were either As at many Trump rallies and online naive or part of a vast conspiracy. forums, the Capitol insurrection fea- Contact HPI Trump used these false tured dazed men wandering around election-fraud allegations to justify his carrying Confederate flags, repeating [email protected] lawlessness. “When you catch some- outlandish conspiracies, and wearing Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 body in a fraud, you’re allowed to go furs, Viking horns, and face paint. Washington: 202.256.5822 by very different rules,” he argued. Rather than leading a mighty Business Office: 765.452.3936 “You don’t concede when there’s revolt – like Julius Caesar or Napo- theft involved. Our country has had leon – Trump led a vicious pack of enough. We will not take it anymore.” performance artists unable to achieve © 2021, Howey Politics Trump’s attempt to undermine any significant success. As a result, Indiana. All rights reserved. and overturn the national election not many viewed Trump’s coup attempt Photocopying, Internet forward- only shattered norms and traditions, not as a constitutional crisis, but ing, faxing or reproducing in any but also sowed seeds for insurrec- rather mere ego doomed by incom- form, whole or part, is a violation tion, violence, and civil unrest by petence and institutional opposition. his supporters, saying it comes from Rather than condemn the Capitol at- of federal law without permission a love of country. On the very day tack, Trump embraced it. As his sup- from the publisher. Congress planned to certify the 2020 porters stormed the Capitol, Trump presidential election results, Trump initially rebuffed requests to mobilize Jack E. Howey told supporters, “If you don’t fight the National Guard, requiring inter- like hell, you’re not going to have a vention from White House officials to editor emeritus country anymore,” and then told the summon them. When House Minor- 1926-2019 crowd to head to the Capitol to deliver ity Leader Kevin McCarthy implored that message. Immediately mobs Trump to denounce the mob, he descended on the Capitol, the world’s refused. greatest symbol of self-government, Later, after lawyers warned in a violent crescendo of Trump’s coup Trump of prosecution for incitement, attempt. he asked his followers to go home. Insurrectionists broke into the Even then Trump insisted that his Capitol and murdered police, smashed enemies provoked supporters, en- windows, smeared feces on walls, emies who “viciously stripped away” Page 3 his “landslide election victory.” In a recorded message after in Georgia before the Capitol attack, Trump said of Demo- the attacks, Trump condemned Vice President Mike Pence crats, “They’re not taking this White House. We’re going to for certifying legitimate election results, encouraged the fight like hell.” The storming of the Capitol, then, proved coup by once again calling the election fraudulent, and merely the crescendo of a long-running song of sedition – told his insurrectionists, “We love you. You’re very special.” of treason – against the United States government. Thus, the alleged leader of the free world Donald Trump’s style and philosophy, if we can call encouraged and condoned the first breach of the U.S. them such, lack comparison in United States history. When Capitol since the British stormed it in 1814 during the War we blithely mock our own systems with tribal glee, when of 1812. Well before the Capitol revolt, however, Trump we destroy institutions, when we take political pleasure in signaled his embrace of tyranny and violent mobs. Repeat- zero-sum fights, when we desecrate rule of law, we must edly he instructed his followers to wage war, disregard remember that brutality and wilderness may ensue. legal constraints, and overturn Trump’s electoral loss by Donald Trump’s failings as both the head of state any means necessary. He welcomed violent supporters to and head of government created an unprecedented assault silence protesters at rallies and signaled that any elec- on American liberty, equality, democracy, and respect for tion defeat would be illegitimate. He refused to agree to law. As he departs from office, Trump holds one distinction a peaceful transition of power and told the Proud Boys, a only: America’s worst president. v far-right street militia, to “stand back and stand by.” Trump fumed and lied, day after day, that his le- Claybourn is a Republican practicing law in Evans- gitimate election loss was fraudulent and unjust. At a rally ville.· president under the bus like that and to encourage his sup- Trump, from page 1 porters to take him on is something just unconscionable in sending them “mad as hell” to the U.S. Capitol, where an my mind.” “insurrection” (in the words of U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and Pence was already in his motorcade to the Capitol President George W. Bush) aimed at preventing certifica- when Trump inflamed the crowd against his vice president, tion of Trump’s Electoral College according to NYT. When the mob burst into loss. It cost six lives, including the building, Secret Service agents evacu- Capitol policeman Brian Sicknick, ated Pence and his wife and children, first who was bludgeoned to death, and to his office off the floor and later to the resulted in Trump’s second im- basement. His agents urged him to leave peachment in the House. the building, but he refused to abandon As Vice President Pence the Capitol, a similar stance Rep. Pence was hiding in a “secure location” had taken on Sept. 11, 2001, when Flight from a violent mob of Trump sup- 93 was barrelling toward the Capitol. Once porters in the U.S. Capitol, Trump secured, Pence spoke with congressional supporters with zip ties chanted leaders, the defence secretary and the “Hang Mike Pence” and asked for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — but the whereabouts of Speaker Nancy not the president. Pelosi. President Trump tweeted at U.S. Sen. Todd Young, a former 2:24 p.m., “Mike Pence didn’t have Marine intelligence officer, called the Jan. the courage to do what should 6 insurrection the result of “a failure for have been done to protect our many of our leaders to be truthful to the Country and our Constitution, giv- American people about what precisely has ing States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not happened in our elections in recent months.” Asked by the the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked IndyStar if President Trump played a role in encouraging to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” the violence, Young responded, “Of course.