Engagement in public life in the U.S. has always carried risk, with public officials of both parties, journalists and even movie stars often the target of death threats and intimidation. With the advent of social media and the Trump presidency, however, the risks for public officials have grown substantially.
Democrats trigger second impeachment trial against Trump 2 minutes read
By Albert Traver
Washington, Jan 25 (efe-epa).- For the second time in just over a year, United States Democrats have delivered an article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate, thus triggering a new impeachment trial, this time for “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the assault on the Capitol that left five dead.
Monday’s process formally launches his second impeachment trial, but Democrats and Republicans agreed that the process should not begin until the week of Feb. 8, giving Trump time to prepare his defense.
Nine House prosecutors appeared before the full Senate and one of them, Jamie Raskin, read the article approved in the Lower House on Jan. 13, a week after the assault, with 232 votes in favor – 10 of them Republicans – and 197 against.
As the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump approaches, federal officials are investigating threats to attack or kill members of Congress. This comes in the wake of the Capitol riot, when a mob stormed the building where members of the House and Senate were preparing to certify the presidential election. Some rioters reportedly threatened the lives of elected officials in both parties.
When the House took up impeachment proceedings, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives reportedly felt afraid to vote to impeach Trump – even fearing for their lives. A video also captured a group accosting Republican Lindsey Graham, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, screaming that he was a “traitor” after he declared that Joe Biden had been lawfully elected president.
All of these are happening in the U.S. in significant measure.
Before the November 2020 election, a group of scholars called attention to the fact that a large number of Americans said they would accept violence to advance their parties’ political goals. By the end of 2020, experts were raising the alarm that the country was spinning toward political violence.
Supporters of President Donald Trump marched in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Radicalization of the right
Trump’s claims of massive election fraud, intimidation of opponents and his own party members, attacks on free media and support for right-wing groups generated an extremist Make America Great Again movement. Observing a toxic mix of the president’s fabrications, the right-wing media ecosystem, conspiracy theories and increased isolation and insecurity due to COVID-19, former national security officials in late 2020 noted signs of “mass radicalization” in the U.S.
Senate Republican Minority Leader believes it necessary to give lawyers of the former president two weeks to communicate a response in writing to these accusations