The Democratic Party of Michigan started off its week with a list of demands, which it posted to its Twitter account Monday morning.
“Today, the Senate will receive the Articles of Impeachment. They must swiftly move to convict Trump and hold him fully accountable for the violent attack our [sic] democracy,” the group said. “This comes in addition to passing more COVID relief and confirming President [Joe Biden’s] cabinet nominees.”
Today, the Senate will receive the Articles of Impeachment. They must swiftly move to convict Trump and hold him fully accountable for the violent attack our democracy.
This comes in addition to passing more COVID relief and confirming President @JoeBiden's cabinet nominees.
— Michigan Democrats (@MichiganDems) January 25, 2021
In other words, the state party is demanding that Republicans bend to its will and convict former President Donald J. Trump in a now-inconsequential impeachment trial, but is also demanding bipartisanship in its legislative efforts.
The “violent attack on our democracy” was a reference to the mostly peaceful protests at the Capitol on January 6 in Washington, D.C., to which the Michigan Capitol Commission responded by banning firearms at the Lansing building.
Trump has been charged with “inciting an insurrection,” and was successfully impeached in the Democrat-controlled U.S. House last week.
Some Michigan Republicans appear to agree with their Democrat counterparts.
Two elected Republican officials, Reps. Peter Meijer (R-MI-03) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI-06), were part of a caucus of 10 Republicans in the House who voted in favor of impeachment.
Meijer, heir to the $10 billion Meijer supermarket chain, demanded accountability in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. He said:
“I was in the House chamber when it was being attacked a week ago today. That was a moment that called for leadership. I was hoping to see the President rapidly try to de-escalate, try to denounce, try to stop the violence from occurring, and he abandoned his post.
To me that was disqualifying. My heart broke in that time, seeing folks ransacking the Capitol. And since then, the President has not accepted responsibility. I hold the seat that was held by Gerald Ford for 25 years before he was elevated to the White House. He pardoned Richard Nixon, but that was after Richard Nixon resigned and was held accountable for his actions. And here, there must be accountability.”
Upton also voted for impeachment. He explained his vote in a press release:
“Today the President characterized his inflammatory rhetoric at last Wednesday’s rally as “totally appropriate,” and he expressed no regrets for last week’s violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. This sends exactly the wrong signal to those of us who support the very core of our democratic principles and took a solemn oath to the Constitution. I would have preferred a bipartisan, formal censure rather than a drawn-out impeachment process. I fear this will now interfere with important legislative business and a new Biden Administration. But it is time to say: Enough is enough.
The Congress must hold President Trump to account and send a clear message that our country cannot and will not tolerate any effort by any President to impede the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next. Thus, I will vote to impeach.”
Lawmakers are in the beginning stages of negotiating a third COVID-19 stimulus package, this time for $1.9 trillion.
Biden and other Democrats campaigned on providing $2000 in stimulus checks to Americans. That offer has already been reduced to $1400, irking some of his Democrat constituency.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “President Joe Biden” by Michigan Democrats.
