What do Republican Senators even think they’re doing?

| 12:00 pm EST February 13, 2021
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In all of their deceitful ways of amassing enough votes to win from people whose interests they then work against, Republican Senators may now think they have a foolproof plan.

They may think they will benefit if they vote to acquit the former occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue of inciting insurrection, the charge the House of Representatives impeached him for after he instructed his supporters to attack the Capitol and Congress on January 6. If they side with that former occupant, the Inciter-in-Chief who those attackers supported so loyally, those attackers (and the apparent millions of voters they represent) might in turn vote for them. Some of these Senators could cynically believe that this strategy will propel them to the presidency in 2024.

There is a flaw to this logic, however. In defense brief after defense brief, and in interviews with the media, these attackers are gobsmacked to learn they’ve been charged with crimes, and this is why: They believe that the Inciter-in-Chief sent them. In fact, there are videos of them yelling it while Capitol Police try to block them as they invade the Capitol: “The President sent us!” And don’t forget, that Inciter had said he would go with them, and he did no such thing; he retreated to his mansion and watched on TV, complaining that his personal militia looked low-class.

At the end of that sorry day, the Inciter was forced to break it to his fighters: they had to go home. He was forced to denounce their violence. Most stunning to them, he did not intervene as dozens were arrested for following his orders. They were betrayed by their Dear Leader. Their loyalty was not returned. They’ve lost their jobs and will be known as felons the rest of their lives.

Seeing how their leader turned against them, how will these supporters regard the Senators who acquit him and say that he was not to blame for sending them into the abyss? Whose side are these Senators on? The Inciter-in-Chief threw his loyal supporters under the bus after January 6. If GOP Senators do the same, I truly hope Democrats hammer it home to voters that these opportunists aren’t really on their side at all.