Trump and the GOP are Three-Time Losers

A federal appellate court has unanimously rejected Trump's argument that his attempts to overturn the 2020 election were covered by presidential immunity.  The appellate court decided that “for the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.”

In a thorough, 57-page opinion, a three-judge panel of the appeals court systematically knocked down each of Trump’s ridiculous arguments for immunity.  The said that Trump had misinterpreted Alexander Hamilton and that he had misread the Constitution regarding the "impeachment clause", writing that impeachment was a political act, not a criminal one.  Finally, the court stated the obvious:  the idea of a president being completely immune from prosecution for actions taken while in office had no precedent in U.S. history or law, they concluded.

In a stunning blow to Republican leaders, the House rejected an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday after a number of Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it. The final vote was 214 to 216. Republicans were counting on one Democrat to be absent in order to squeak through the vote: Rep. Al Green of Texas. He had been out following surgery. But he unexpectedly showed up for the vote.

The whole effort was a political stunt, with one goal: helping Donald Trump look tough on border issues ahead of November’s presidential election. The GOP’s two articles of impeachment accused Mayorkas of “willful” refusal to comply with immigration laws, and of breaching public trust.  But they never produced any evidence that Mayorkas had committed crimes ― let alone crimes that meet the threshold for impeachable offenses. The Constitution spells out that impeachment is reserved for rare instances of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” like bribery or treason.

And in another setback for GOP speaker Johnson, the bill to provide Israel with more military aid went down to defeat, spoiling Johnson’s attempt to separate Israel from other national security priorities, including helping Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s military invasion and deterring crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.The vote gave individual lawmakers another chance to show voters their support for Israel and could be used on the campaign trail to criticize those who voted against it. 

“The time has come for House Republicans to end the political stunts and come together in support of a comprehensive approach to our national security priorities,” Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and other members of leadership  said in a statement.