Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told Fox News the “cancel culture” is “the number one issue for the country to address today.”
Most Republicans Want Trump to Play Big Role In Party
Two days after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, a new Quinnipiac poll finds 75% of Republicans say that they would like to see Trump play a prominent role in the Republican Party.
Overall, 60% of Americans say that they do not want Trump to play a prominent role in the Republican Party.
Biden’s Commitment to Raise Minimum Wage Questioned
President Joe Biden’s effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour “is facing an unexpected roadblock: Biden himself,” the AP reports.
“The president has seemingly undermined the push to raise the minimum wage by acknowledging its dim prospects in Congress, where it faces political opposition and procedural hurdles.”
Some Utah Republicans Try to Censure Mitt Romney
“Some Utah Republicans are hoping to censure Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) for voting to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
The censure motion concludes Romney used his “senatorial power and influence to undermine” Trump and claims “Romney appears to be an agent for the Establishment Deep State.”
Flake Says GOP Needs to Quit Working with Trump
Jeff Flake: “We didn’t convict him. We should have, but we didn’t. Let’s not compound the grievous injury to the country and our party by continuing to embrace him, for Trumpism is the opposite of conservatism. We all know that, too. There is nothing to gain by making a pilgrimage to Florida.”
“There is no enlightened mystic at Mar-a-Lago — just a diminished man who lost an election and couldn’t accept it. There is no redeeming his behavior. And let’s not continue this tragic charade by further humiliating and debasing ourselves.”
Trump Got Off On a Technicality
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Graham Warns Republicans Might Impeach Harris
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News that impeaching Trump a second time will inevitably lead to House Republicans impeaching Vice President Kamala Harris should they retake the House.
Said Graham: “He is the first president to ever be impeached without a lawyer, without a witness, without an ability to confront those against him and the trial record was a complete joke, hearsay upon hearsay and we’ve opened Pandora’s box to future presidents and if you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House, because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open.
He added: “So we’ve opened Pandora’s box here and I’m sad for the country.”
Bill Clinton on the Presidency
Worth a listen: Bill Clinton uses his podcast to trace the evolution of the presidency from America’s founding through modern history.
McConnell Has His Eye on 2022
George Will on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) project to shrink Donald Trump’s influence over the Republican party:
“He has his eyes on the prize: 2022, perhaps the most crucial nonpresidential election year in U.S. history. It might determine whether the Republican Party can be a plausible participant in the healthy oscillations of a temperate two-party system.”
Fauci Feared Getting Covid at White House
Dr. Anthony Fauci told Axios that he feared Covid-19 could get him, particularly during the Trump administration “when I was going to the White House every day, when the White House was sort of a super-spreader location.”
Maine Republicans May Move to Censure Susan Collins
“The Maine Republican Party could vote by month’s end to censure Sen. Susan Collins over her Saturday vote to convict former President Donald Trump of a Democratic impeachment charge, a move that infuriated many in the conservative grassroots,” the Bangor Daily News reports.
The Betrayal of America
Tom Nichols: “The Republicans have repeatedly betrayed both Lincoln and the Union. The party whose first president died as a martyr at the hands of an insurrectionist is now controlled by empty, hollow people who rolled their eyes and lazed their way through the trial of a president who was manifestly guilty of inciting an insurrection.”
Toomey Draws Censures from Multiple GOP Committees
Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-PA) has drawn rebukes from Republican leaders in multiple counties across Pennsylvania following his vote to convict former President Trump, CBS Pittsburgh reports.
Democrats Should Take the Win
David Frum: “The 57–43 margin wasn’t enough to convict under the Constitution. It wasn’t enough to formally disqualify Trump from ever again seeking office in the United States. But practically? It will do as a solemn and eternal public repudiation of Trump’s betrayal of his oath of office.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Republicans are normalizing, they are mainstreaming, what counterterrorism experts would say is violent extremism: that it is acceptable to use inflammatory rhetoric and encourage violence to achieve your ends and… it is acceptable to engage in public life through conspiracy theories.”
— Elizabeth Neumann, a former Trump Homeland Security official, quoted by CNN.
Kristi Noem Used State Airplane for Political Travel
Raw Story: “Newly unearthed flight logs show South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) used a state airplane to travel to right wing political events around the country, a revelation that has state lawmakers questioning whether she violated a state law forbidding political and personal use of the aircraft.”
Democrats Buzz About Breakout Stars of Impeachment
Politico: “Rep. Madeleine Dean is being talked about as a potential candidate for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022, a top priority for the party. Democratic strategists are speculating that Rep. Joaquin Castro, relatively well-known before the impeachment trial, further distinguished himself as an impeachment manager, advancing talk of a statewide bid in Texas. And an ex-Jeb Bush aide went so far as to say that Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse gave his ‘2004 convention speech.’”
The First Day of the Post-Trump Era
Playbook: “Biden’s November and December transition period was dominated by Donald Trump, who refused to concede the election, delayed the formal transition process and instructed non-cooperation from his aides.”
“Biden’s pre-inaugural January was dominated by Trump, who incited a mob of supporters to sack the Capitol and was impeached by the House.”
“Biden’s first weeks in office in late January and February were dominated by Trump, who at the White House was the target of dozens of Biden executive actions meant to reverse his policies on immigration, climate, health care and several other areas, and in Congress was the subject of the Senate trial…”
“Fittingly, on Presidents Day, Biden, who returns to the White House from Camp David this afternoon, finally gets to be president.”
