By Our Correspondent
Donald Trump emerged from isolation at the White House on Tuesday to brand the likely second impeachment of his presidency “absolutely ridiculous ” and warn that it has triggered “tremendous anger .”
Speaking as he boarded Marine One at the White House for a trip to Texas , Trump called his scheduled impeachment in the House of Representatives on Wednesday a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics .”
With only eight days left in his one-term administration , Trump finds himself alone , shunned by former supporters, barred by social media , and now facing a second impeachment over his instigation of a riot against Congress on January 6.
His trip to Alamo , Texas , where he will tout claims of success in building a US -Mexican border wall , is his first live public appearance since he rallied thousands of followers on the National Mall to march on Congress .
Although this is not the same Alamo as the famous fortress in another part of Texas , the trip marks something of a last stand for the Republican .
Ever since the November 3 election , the real estate tycoon has been obsessively pushing a lie that he , not Democrat Joe Biden , was the real winner and last week , in a speech he described Tuesday as “totally appropriate ,” he called on the huge crowd to “ show strength .”
Amped up on Trump ’ s rhetoric , the mob burst into Congress , fighting with police , trashing offices and forcing frightened lawmakers to suspend briefly a ceremony legally formalizing Biden ’s victory .
The crisis galvanized many of Trump ’s former boosters in the corporate and sporting world to turn their backs .
In Congress , where the Republican party has been in thrall to the populist leader for four years , even ultra -loyal senior figures like Senator Lindsey Graham have finally told Trump that he must accept his election defeat .
Trump , however , remains in denial .
He has yet to congratulate Biden or urge his supporters to stand behind the incoming president after he is inaugurated on January 20 — a gesture of political unity considered all but routine after US elections .
And according to Axios, Trump and the top Republican in the House of Representatives , Kevin McCarthy, had a stormy phone conversation Tuesday in which Trump claimed that left -wing Antifa activists , not his supporters, attacked Congress .
“It’ s not Antifa ,” McCarthy reportedly responded . “I know . I was there .”
When Trump continued to push his conspiracy theory that he was the true election winner , McCarthy reportedly interrupted , telling him : “Stop it. It’s over . The election is over .”
– Impeachment 2 .0 –
The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on a longshot bid to get Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the US Constitution ’ s 25 th Amendment , which would declare Trump unfit to perform his duties and install Pence as acting president .
This is unlikely to happen.
Although Pence is reportedly furious about Trump ’ s behaviour last week , the two met at the White House on Monday for the first time since the Congress attack and had “a good conversation ,” according to a senior administration official .
That signalled that whatever Pence and the dwindling number of White House officials feel, they are committed to keeping the presidency limping along until January 20 .
Still , with a string of cabinet officials quitting the government — most recently the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf on Monday — it’ s also clear that Trump ’s grip on power is tenuous .
In an interview Tuesday on ABC News, Health Secretary Alex Azar did not dismiss outright the option of removing Trump , saying : “I’ m not going to get into or discuss the 25 th Amendment here .”
Democrats will follow up the 25 th Amendment vote with impeachment proceedings in the House on Wednesday . The single charge of “incitement of insurrection ” is all but sure to get majority support .
The Republican – controlled Senate , however , is in recess until January 19 and its leadership says there is no way to rush through an impeachment trial before Biden takes over the following day .
This means that Trump , who was acquitted in the Senate last year after his first impeachment, would not be forced out of the office early .
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has reportedly floated the idea of using a rare parliamentary manoeuvre to force the chamber back into session under emergency circumstances, giving time for the start of an impeachment trial .
But not even all Democrats are gunning for a trial , worried that this would overshadow Biden ’s first days in office .
The new president will already face the challenges of an out – of – control Covid – 19 pandemic, the stumbling vaccination program , a shaky economy , and now the aftermath of violent political opposition from parts of Trump ’s huge voter base .
AFP
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