Democrats have never been the party of good behavior, despite what their current members will tell you. While their leadership tries to haul Donald Trump before the Senate for a second impeachment trial, most conservatives want to know: where was this civility four years ago? If it's criminal to suggest that people to figuratively "fight," then what about encouraging actual violence? If that's the new standard, then make room on the witness stand. Because the impeachment hearings are about to get a lot more crowded.
"You have to be ready to throw a punch," the House speaker who accused Donald Trump of incitement has said. "Get up in their face," Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) demanded. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told a frenzied crowd to gang up on members of the Trump cabinet in public "and push back on them. Tell them they're not welcome." "[We'll] fight Trump... in the streets," Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) vowed. Even the new vice president, Kamala Harris, has cause for concern under the Left's new standard since she didn't just ignore the violence of the summer -- she condoned it. "I support them," she said. When is her inquisition before Congress scheduled, you might ask? It's not.
"Democrats insist on applying a test of incitement to a Republican that they refuse to apply to themselves," Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told his colleagues in a fiery speech on the chamber floor. "Are we going to put every politician in jail -- are we going to impeach every politician who has used the words fight figuratively in a speech? Shame!"
This whole ridiculous clamor for impeachment is a waste of time, conservatives argued -- and frankly, a clear sign that the Democrats aren't interested in real governing. "They hate Donald Trump, and they're engaging in... petty retribution," Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argued. "They didn't pretend to follow due process, they didn't have hearings, they didn't pretend to look at any facts or any evidence," he said. "This was an exercise in political rage. It was their id speaking ... look, these are the same Democrats who four years ago, in 2017 -- actually in December of 2016, before Trump was sworn in, said they wanted to impeach him. They've wanted to impeach him from the beginning. They did it a year ago... It's time to move on."
At least 45 Republicans appear ready to, based on the 45-55 vote in the Senate Tuesday. Sen. Paul's proposal, which questioned the constitutionality of Trump's impeachment, was strategic -- meant to show how little support the Democrats' witch hunt actually has. While Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Ben Sasse (R-Nebr.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) voted with Democrats, Paul said the block of 45 made it clear that impeachment "is dead on arrival." Liberals would need a dozen more Republicans to convict Donald Trump. "Ninety-five percent of the caucus voted that the whole proceeding was unconstitutional," the Kentucky senator pointed out -- including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "Democrats can beat this partisan horse as long as they want... [but] the trial is all over."
If the Left insists on pursuing this sham trial, then fine. It will only cement in Americans' minds that they've never been interested in anything but destroying Donald Trump and bringing substantive progress for our nation to a grinding halt. At the end of the day, this is just political theater. They want to punish Trump for the tragedy at the Capitol, while months of tragedies continue to smolder across the country with the Left's blessing.
They call all conservatives "domestic terrorists" when what happened on January 6th was, as Caroline Glick points out, "but a pale glimmer of the insurrection mounted in the streets of America's cities throughout the spring and summer, with the enthusiastic support and financial backing of Democrat leaders and their corporate sponsors. [A whopping] 700 police officers were injured, dozens of citizens were killed, tens of thousands of businesses were destroyed and vandalized during the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots. Property damage and losses were assessed at $2 billion. Government buildings were besieged, burned to the ground, and vandalized."
Democrats need to be extremely careful of what they wish for with this stunt -- because double standards like theirs will be a lot harder to excuse on Election Day.