/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/60259fd1cd8dd9c4cb45c3c0/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=5379&cropY1=0&cropY2=3026&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Democrats Say They’re Not Worried About Trump Winning Again – They’re Worried About Him Losing")
Topline
Impeachment managers attempted to drive home their case against former President Donald Trump on Thursday by painting a picture of the ex-president as a continued danger to the nation whose advocacy of violence long predated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
House Impeachment Manager Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) departs after the second day of former US President … [+]
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) asked on Wednesday “why are Democrats so concerned about having him on the ballot four years from now,” suggesting the trial “raises questions about their confidence.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), an impeachment manager, responded during his presentation on Thursday that he wasn’t worried Trump would run again, but that he’s “gonna run again and lose” because “he can do this again.”
While Trump conceded the election and condemned the violence, Lieu noted Trump has not yet explicitly disavowed the election fraud conspiracies that motivated his supporter, and “That is why National Guard troops in full body armor still patrol outside.”
Managers argued that this acceptance of violence and refusal to express loss is an inherent trait for Trump, playing clips of him labeling violence at his 2016 rallies “very, very appropriate” and calling then-House candidate Greg Gianforte “my kind of guy” after Gianforte body-slammed a reporter.
Crucial Quote
“After he lost the election, the president was willing to do just about anything to prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) said while summing up impeachment managers’ arguments.
Chief Critic
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) was unimpressed by impeachment managers’ third-day performance, telling reporters their arguments are “redundant, the same thing over and over again,” and asserting “the more you hear it, the less credibility there is in it.”
Surprising Fact
While the impeachment managers attempted to draw a clear link between the impact of Trump’s heated rhetoric on his supporters and the Jan. 6 attack, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, sent a text to supporters labeling the trial a “PLOT against Trump.”
Tangent
Impeachment managers tried to pre-empt arguments Trump lawyers are expected to make, with lead manager Jamie Raskin calling it a “classic case of incitement” and claiming “nobody in America would be protected by the First Amendment if they did all the things Donald Trump did.” They also focused on the storming of the Michigan Capitol in April as an apparent rebuttal to the Trump team’s references to summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
Big Number
17. That’s how many Senate Republicans are needed to vote with Democrats in order for Trump to be convicted and subsequently barred from running for office in the future – far less than the 6 who voted that the trial is constitutional.
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