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Residents of an Ottawa neighborhood are looking to distance themselves from Donald Trump by renaming their street, which bears his name -- once a source of intrigue, but now an embarrassment.
Trump Avenue on the Canadian capital's west side is lined with brick homes, each with two-car garages and kids playing hockey in driveways.
<p>The Central Park neighborhood, known for New York City-themed street names, was built in the late 1990s -- long before a certain Big Apple real estate mogul entered politics.</p><p>There's also a Madison Park, Bloomingdale Street, Manhattan Crescent, and Staten Way in the area.</p><p>Bonnie Bowering moved here in 2008.</p><p>"When I used to tell people I live on Trump Avenue and I would add, 'Yes, it is The Donald,' people would smirk, some offered sympathies, that sort of thing," she told AFP.</p><p>"But now -- after he's undermined democracy, and incited an insurrection, a violent attack on the US Capitol -- it's time to change our street name," she said.</p><p>"Trump doesn't deserve the honor and I think it's inappropriate to have a street named after him in Canada's capital."</p><p>Ottawa city councilor Riley Brockington started gathering support for the name change from people who live on the street this week.</p><p>Some residents had been petitioning the city for years to change it, but Brockington resisted, saying he feared offending Trump while he was in office.</p><p>"I was concerned that there might be ramifications against Canada, that Trump would take punitive measures if word got out that Canada's national capital wanted to take his name off a street sign," Brockington said.</p><p>"With his exit from the White House, I felt now was a good time to try it."</p><p>At least 50 percent of residents must agree to the name change to trigger a process that would take several months.</p><p>That's not soon enough for Diane Hosker, who was out walking her dog Tuesday afternoon.</p><p>"It was a novelty at first, a fun way to start off a conversation when you told people where you lived," she said. "Now it's an embarrassment."</p><p>"The man's an idiot and I don't like his brand of politics," she added.</p><p>Nearby, a father stuck his head out of his front door to call his son in from the cold, and nodded in agreement.</p><p>Changing the street's name would require new signage, but also new maps and postal addresses for 62 homes.</p><p>And then there's the matter of selecting a new name.</p><p>Most other New York names are already taken in Ottawa, and numbered street names such as Fifth Avenue won't do. "We already have one of those in Ottawa," Bowering explained.</p><p>"I hope we end up with a name that everybody is happy with," she concluded. "Of course, some people say 'Anything would be better.'"</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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He's gone, he's golfing, but from his palm lined Florida hideaway Donald Trump is also plotting revenge.
If many Americans -- perhaps discreetly including a number of senior Republicans -- wished Trump would just disappear at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, they're in for a sore disappointment.
<p>As an impeachment trial clanks into gear in Washington, the disgraced ex-president is making clear to Republican senators that they need to remember he is a major force.</p><p>An announcement on Monday that he was opening "the Office of the Former President" in his new hometown reminded them.</p><p>"President Trump will always and forever be a champion for the American People," the statement said.</p><h1>Trump conviction unlikely</h1><p>Senators are considering Trump's fate in the first impeachment trial ever of a former president and -- after last year's version -- the first time a president has been twice impeached at all.</p><p>But Trump -- winner of 74 million votes in his defeat to Biden on November 3 and reportedly sitting on some $70 million in campaign funds -- wants Republican senators to consider their own futures before they dare cross him.</p><p>At least 17 Republicans would need to join the 50 Senate Democrats for a conviction in his trial. Every day that goes by, this appears less likely.</p><p>On Tuesday, a Republican senator's motion to declare the trial unconstitutional got support from all but five Republicans, the strongest indication yet that a bipartisan conviction is dead on arrival.</p><p>Yes, a lot of Republican lawmakers are furious at Trump's incitement of a crowd to march on Congress on January 6 in a bid to interrupt certification of President Joe Biden's election win.</p><p>But Republicans also want to win back the House of Representatives and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and the White House in 2024.</p><p>And for now at least, being pro-Trump is arguably the best way to achieve this.</p><p>According to a January Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly six in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe the party needs to remain under Trump's leadership.</p><h1>Primary pressure</h1><p>Trump's main way of applying pressure while out of office is to threaten disloyal legislators with support for their challengers in party primary votes ahead of the 2022 midterms.</p><p>Trump's endorsement on Monday of his former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in her bid to become governor of Arkansas was a first flexing of political muscle.</p><p>Sanders is competing with more senior party officials in the state for the shot at high office. But in the race to be the most loyal Trump acolyte, she already wins hands down and can expect to reap the rewards.</p><p>For those who have failed the Trump purity test, nervous days await.</p><p>During the four years of his presidency, Trump ground down almost any internal opposition. So he was stung by the outpouring of criticism over his actions on January 6 and he'd like revenge.</p><p>Those on the list include the 10 Republicans in the House who voted with Democrats for his impeachment and now are likely to face primary challenges.</p><p>If senators go further by voting for his conviction, that would trigger an even harsher response from Trump and grassroot Republicans who believe his lie that he was robbed of election victory.</p><p>Responding to reports that Trump was considering founding a breakaway right-wing party, advisor Jason Miller told Axios that the ex-president is fully supportive of the Republican Party -- for now.</p><p>"It's completely up to Republican senators if this is something that becomes more serious," he was quoted as saying.</p><h1>Trump daughter entering scene?</h1><p>One Republican feeling the tension is Marco Rubio, a senator in Florida.</p><p>He is loyally attacking the impeachment trial as a "waste of time" and "vengeance from the radical left."</p><p>But is this enough?</p><p>Rubio did not support Trump's last-minute attempts to challenge congressional certification of Biden's victory, putting him in the potential crosshairs.</p><p>Speculation is rife that Rubio's seat could be challenged in the 2022 primary by none other than Ivanka Trump, the ex-president's ambitious daughter and former White House advisor.</p><p>Asked about this scenario by Fox News on Sunday, Rubio looked uncomfortable.</p><p>"I like Ivanka," he said.</p>
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Republicans are too afraid of the mob they created to vote their conscience on impeachment: Senator
January 26, 2021
On Tuesday, 45 Republicans voted to dismiss the entire Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump as unconstitutional — a blow to Democratic chances of gaining the 67 votes necessary to convict him.
On MSNBC, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) suggested far more Republicans would be on board with trial and conviction — if not for fear of their own voters.
<p>
"I saw that vote today, and I have zero expectations that there are any Republicans left ... who put the country ahead of not even their party, because Donald Trump's not a Republican, he's about Donald Trump, but it's their fear of a tweet that at the moment he can't even send has now taken priority over any sort of duty to their job, to serving as United States senators, to their constitutional duty to serve as jurors," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "They don't even believe in the legitimacy of the trial. How do you govern with members like that?"
</p><p>
"You know, we're in a situation where they participated in the creation of a mob, and then suddenly, they go, well, if I stand in front of that mob, that mob's going to run right over the top of me, and I'm afraid of that mob," said Merkley. "That's the way they feel about their Trump base. They essentially participated in the lies by not calling them out, day after day, year after year for four years, and Trump has Trump media, and so their base is listening to that Trump media on radio, on television, on cable, on every other direction that social media can reach them."
</p><p>
"The base is absolutely convinced that Trump is some kind of important hero and they will take it out on anyone who disagrees," continued Merkley. "And so they're afraid of their next election. They're afraid for their safety — their safety, their family's safety. And they're not standing up for our nation and for their oath to the Constitution."
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Watch below:
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