With the impeachment struggle freshly behind him, Donald Trump is hinting at pulling out the stops to strike back at the political establishment responsible for taking him out of office.
“We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future,” said the 45th president in an email blast sent out Saturday after the Senate came up 10 votes short of the 67 votes needed to convict him on charges of inciting an “insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“Together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish,” President Trump wrote.
Seven Republican senators joined with Democrat members of the chamber to convict Trump in the 57 to 43 vote: Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Pat Toomey (Pa.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Bill Cassidy (La.).
The Louisiana GOP said that it unanimously voted to censure Cassidy over his vote to convict. The Pennsylvania Republican Party, meanwhile, criticized Toomey.
“This post-presidency impeachment proceeding was an unconstitutional theft of time and energy that did absolutely nothing to unify or help the American people,” PAGOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas said in a statement. “I share the disappointment of many of our grassroots leaders and volunteers over Senator Toomey’s vote today. The vote to acquit was the constitutionally correct outcome.”
In his email statement, Trump lashed out against Democrats:
Our cherished Constitutional Republic was founded on the impartial rule of law, the indispensable safeguard for our liberties, our rights and our freedoms.
It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree. I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate.
This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago.
Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted to acquit, he emphasized that he only did so on jurisdictional grounds: The Senate cannot convict President Trump (and thus remove him from office) because he is no longer in office, McConnell reasoned.
But the majority leader made clear that he is displeased with the 45th president and does not want him leading the Republican Party.
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said on the floor Saturday.
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters. That is an absurd deflection,” McConnell added. “Seventy-four million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Hundreds of rioters did. Seventy-four million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it. One person did. Just one.”
“I think he is probably not likely to ever be President of the United States again based on what is going on right here right now,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who voted to acquit. “I think the impeachment process has been damaging because people have seen repeated images of how awful that night was and how inappropriate his response was. While it does not meet the standard in my view of inciting insurrection, it will have had that damaging effect.”
President Trump’s Saturday statement was the first he made since the impeachment trial began last week. The fact that he has been removed from the biggest social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, has also resulted in him being relatively quiet in his post-presidency.
The question of what comes next looms over Trump’s supporters and the country at large. The billionaire New Yorker, now relocated to Palm Beach, Florida, remains as immensely influential and beloved within the Republican base as he is detested by the party’s establishment.
