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Turns out, the Democrats’ star witness was Donald Trump.
On the second day of the impeachment trial, the former president’s words and tweets took center stage as House directors claimed his constant efforts to “stop the theft” led directly to the Capitol.
In a sense, they were trying to prove their case yesterday with material that was in public view, just by putting it together.
And they closed the presentation with never-before-seen security footage of the riot and police radio communications, which were absolutely frightening because it proved how close the country was to a massacre under the dome.
The Democrats therefore won the day on optics, but not necessarily on the law or the Constitution. Of course, Trump staged a relentless crusade after November 3 to prove, without evidence that could convince a court or his own Justice Department, that the election was rigged. We have all seen this with our own eyes.
But whether he wanted his supporters to commit violence during the January 6 uprising is a much more difficult question.
What was striking, though, now that we’ve all had a three-week break from Trump’s media dominance, was the sound and fury of him as president, the familiar New York cadence insisting over and over and over and over again. still about the fact that it was stolen.
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We had all become insensitive, critical and partisan, to his fiercest rhetoric. But he was there again, talking cheating, talking about how he would never give up, never surrender, disputing Joe Biden’s apparent victory.
House managers began the timeline of the months before the election, as the president thundered against the ballots in the mail and how “the only way to lose” is if the other party cheats. Then the post-electoral roadblock insisting that he had won a “crushing victory”. Then urging his supporters to come to Washington the day Congress certifies the results, saying things will be “wild”.
Democrats have also shown that Trump is attacking Republicans who will not side with him as weak RINOs, and have highlighted the call for pressure on Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State to “find” him more than 11 000 votes. This phone call has just been the subject of a criminal investigation in Georgia. They recounted how he once told the Proud Boys to “stand back and be ready”.
And, for good measure, the leaders played the way Trump tried to push Mike Pence – who would later take refuge on Capitol Hill – to refuse to accept the Electoral College vote.
Finally, there was his rallying speech to supporters on the day of the siege. As manager Jamie Raskin said, “He told them to fight like hell, and they brought us hell that day.”
It was an effective political theater. But has he proven that Donald Trump was, as executives claim, “the chief instigator”? Did he “fan the flame of violence,” as Del put it. Stacey Plaskett?
In other words, when Trump posted a video during the violence, are we focusing on the “coming home” part or when he told the protesters “we love you. You are very special” ?
Has Trump flirted with violent supporters or actively encouraged them to break the law?
Late in the afternoon, viewers heard the crackling sound as the Capitol police called for help: “They are throwing metal poles at us.” “They start to throw explosives.” “It is now effectively a riot.”
And what was captivating about the security camera and body camera footage was that they showed what the assault looked like from the inside, as lawmakers ran to safety while criminals, some armed, burst into the halls, some looking for Pence or Nancy Pelosi.
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It was an indictment by the prosecution, as Trump’s lawyers didn’t have a turn for the long afternoon. They will no doubt denounce the violence and say that the former president never intended to call such a siege, or simply repeat that the trial is unconstitutional.
But anyone who watched yesterday will not forget what they saw. And we, as a country, must never forget.
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