by Tan Wah Piow
After the United States Senate Impeachment Trial verdict of NOT GUILTY favouring Donald Trump, US politicians should now focus their energies to nurse their wounded system.
After the 6 January attack on The Capitol by a few hundred Donald Trump supporters, the United States Senate charged Donald Trump for inciting the mob attack on the seat of American democracy to stop the transfer of Presidential power to Joe Biden.
The Democrats who held the majority in the Senate would need a two-third majority to convict the former President. If found guilty, Donald Trump would not be able to hold future public office.
The Democrats only managed to win over 7 Republicans, when they require 17 for the minimum of 67 votes to convict Trump. The final Senate vote was 57 for, and 43 against conviction. Hence Donald Trump was acquitted.
The 43 Republicans who cast not guilty votes did so not according to their conscience or lack of facts. They were at the Capitol, witnessed the attacks, and had to flee to safety. The senators knew the President did not order National Guards to their rescue nor did Trump order his supporters to withdraw on that fateful day of 6 January. The attack coincided with Donald Trump incendiary speech just minutes before The Capitol was breached.
The TRUTH of Donald Trump responsibility in the incitement, and failure to protect the American constitution did not matter to the 43 Republican senators who voted to let Donald Trump off the hook.
Senator Mitch McConnel, the Republican minority leader who voted against the impeachment, admitted minutes after casting the not guilty vote that Donald Trump was personally responsible for the mob attack.
Truth did not matter to the Republicans senators because 8 out of 10 Republican voters did not support the impeachment as they continue to regard Trump as their leader.
Furthermore, an opinion poll also points to 50% of the voters did not support the impeachment, notwithstanding the facts. The political careers of the 43 Senators depend on Donald Trump as he has hijacked the party, and has several hundred million in his fighting funds donated by his 74 million supporters.
The 6 January attack, Donald Trump’s continuing refusal to concede his electoral defeat and the widespread support for his views undermine the entire US liberal system, affecting both the Republicans and the Democrats.
The US senate impeachment outcome proves one point — that even in the pinnacle of Western democracy, TRUTH does not matter.
But the truth is meant to enlighten, and the foundation stone of liberal democracy. With truth, people are empowered to derive rational choices and form a government of the people, for the people and by the people. That was what inspired the founding fathers of the United States of America over two centuries ago, and ostensibly the raison detre of their present-day hegemonic arrogance to mould the world to their image.
If people no longer care about the truth, could it be because they were lied to for too long by both the Democrats and the Republicans? This requires a root and branch analysis of the American project.
The 2020 Presidential elections have exposed the democratic system of the United States as so fragile that just one man could subvert it beyond recognition despite all supposed paraphernalia of check and balance. How will Uncle Sam market its system to other countries as the antidote to authoritarianism in this new cold war it has just started?
The Uncle Sam should probably leave the new cold war behind and return to the sickbay for convalescence.
