It was very difficult to watch Trump's defense team. It was difficult because rather than defend Trump's actions and prove his innocence, they put the American people and House Managers on trial instead. Rather than citing proof that Trump did indeed act with fidelity to his Presidential Oath of Office and did not incite a deadly insurrection and sit back to delight in the success of the violent revolt, they mocked, gaslighted, and abused everyone watching with lots of Trump-like propaganda--honestly, when they showed the videos of countless people saying "fight" I felt belittled and abused. The videos felt like Donald Trump repeatedly slapping you in the face--it was horrifying.
The videos with countless people saying "fight" abused us as those videos mocked our intelligence--everyone understands that context matters with words. No one is so stupid to think that the use of a phrase alone is wrong, but it is the way the phrase is spoken and the context it is spoken in. The Trump defense team, so like Trump theater, repeated repetitive, oppressive videos often.
The Defense team rarely, if ever responded to the evidence presented by the House Managers, but instead attacked the House Managers and any American who watched the violent insurgence that day. I had the chance to watch the entire event. I saw the angry, loyal Trump fans gathered. I worried, but as a person who believes that peaceful protest is positive, I thought they would be peaceful. Then when I tuned in to the Elipse speeches, I worried more as I watched Trump and his cronies use theater to continue to spread election fraud propaganda, and when Trump told his loyal fans to walk to Capitol and fight like hell, I was very, very worried, but had some hope since Trump said he would walk with them and felt that if any violence started, Trump would get in front of them and tell them to stop. But Trump didn't got with them, he ducked into the White House instead. Then as I watched the violence begin, I was sick--sick and worried for everyone in the Capitol and for the families of everyone there watching the carnage. I started tweeting out that someone has to stop this, but for hours, Trump stayed silent and the carnage continued--it was frightening, discouraging, horrible.
Even after the insurrection, I waited for a good explanation about why it happened and why Trump did not stop it, but none came, and Trump sent his love to the violators instead. I was sick about this horrible abuse of power.
Like everyone, I didn't want a costly, emotional impeachment, but I knew it was what had to happen because no elected official can incite a deadly insurrection at any time during their term, and to allow Trump to do this without an impeachment would be more obstruction of justice--it is the Constitutional duty of the Congress to hold Trump accountable, so knowing the impeachment trial would be tough, I knew it was the right thing to do.
When House Managers presented their evidence, it was clear, that Trump over time via a well orchestrated, financially backed misinformation campaign worked step-by-step to retain his power as President of the United States. Using hateful, violent, untrue rhetoric, he fed the election fraud lie which riled up his loyal supporters. Via multiple actions he tried to stop the count, and sow confusion and distrust. Then he tried to illegally manipulate the vote multiple times, and branded the misinformation campaign as Stop-the-Steal to further incite anger and distrust about the election. As a final desperate act, he planned a Stop-the-Steal rally for the day, time, and place of the electoral college vote certification, and at that rally, he incited a loyal, angry, mob of his supporters to "fight like hell," and as they fought like hell targeting those who Trump demonized including second in command, Mike Pence, and third in command, Nancy Pelosi, he sat back and delighted in the carnage that occurred for hours. At the violent insurrection, the crescendo of Trump abuse of power, people were killed, people were injured, people were terrorizd, the nation's Capitol was looted and vandalized, and the electoral college vote certification was obstructed.
Rather than choose to work for a peaceful transfer of power over time, Trump clearly abused his power by inciting a deadly, violent insurrection at the nation's Capitol. Trump is clearly guilty and should be convicted.
Trump's defense team could not defend his actions, so instead they mocked, gaslighted, ridiculed, and belittled every American who witnessed this act and every American who takes the United States Constitution and a President's Oath of Office seriously.
I made a little checklist of the evidence presented by the Impeachment Managers and in blue marked how I saw the defense team react to that evidence. I truly hope that the Senators have the courage to do what is right and hold Trump accountable for his grave abuse of power that day.
hed.
Did Donald Trump, while President of the United States, abuse his power and act against his Presidential Oath of Office to preserve, protect, and defend the United States Constitution by inciting a deadly, violent insurrection against the United States of America?
The House Managers’ Impeachment Team presented the following evidence in black. Did Trump’s defense team disprove this evidence? I added what I noticed about the defense team's response in blue. This is not a complete list, and is a list from my perspective. I am not a lawyer, but I did witness the insurrection on television and definitely know that Trump abused his power and incited this deadly event.
Trump seeded a bogus election fraud narrative, repeated often
Defense team did not appear to counter this
Trump supported violence often, inciting violent acts
Defense team did not adequately counter this
Trump stop-the-count effort
Defense team seemed to ignore this
Trump illegal attempts to manipulate the vote
Defense team made light of this, said it was legal
Trump massive misinformation spread about the election
Defense team appeared to infer misinformation propaganda was true
Trump persistent efforts to rile up his base with misinformation
Defense team did not appear to speak to this
Trump “dress rehearsal” by signifying support for Michigan violence
Defense team did not appear to directly speak to this
Trump’s dangerous demonization of many opponents including Nancy Pelosi, Mike Pence, and any others that spoke out against his abuse of power, lies, and dangerous words/efforts
Trump team appeared to not directly speak to this.
Trump branding his bogus election fraud efforts as “Stop-the-Steal”
Defense team didn’t appear to speak to this
Trump “Stop-the-Steal” Ellipse speech complete with lots of lies and directives to fight that groomed the angry mob more to “fight like hell”
Trump defense tried to prove it was only words by giving tireless litany of public figures saying “fight” without acknowledging that none of those speakers incited a deadly insurrection and obstructed justice.
Trump call to Lee/Tuberville during violent insurrection to find out where Pence was
Trump team appeared to have no idea of time line--seemed like they had not explored this with their client, Donald Trump
Trump decision not to act to stop the violence for hours
Trump team lied a few times about this, and had no evidence to prove Trump acted according to his oath of office to provide defense in light of the violence
Trump tweets telling insurgents he loved them, and seemingly celebrating the day
Trump team didn’t seem to speak to this
Republican members’ efforts to reach out to Trump to stop the violence knowing he was the leader of the insurgents and only he could stop them
Trump team did not speak to this
The insurgents’ words that repeatedly stated they were committing the violent acts for Trump--the evidence that shows them reading Trump tweets, repeating his messages and following his orders exactly.
Trump team did not speak to this with exception of trying to distance Trump for his loyal followers who showed up that day and let Trump tweets clearly lead their activity
$50,000,000 dollars from Trump defense fund used to advertise the “Stop-the-Steal” rally planned for day, time, place of electoral college vote certification.
Trump team didn’t seem to address this.