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It's one thing for normal people to question the patriotism of Republicans going to the wall for Donald Trump. It's another, however, for a president who beat him by 7 million votes amid a ballot-haul greater than any candidate in our history. Joe Biden speaks softly, but through the biggest bullhorn the world has known. With enough time and repetition, most people most of the time are going to see things his way.
This article was originally published at The Editorial Board
<p>In a presser Tuesday, the president <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-26/biden-calls-gop-lawmaker-who-profanely-mocked-masks-un-american?srnd=premium&sref=urpXDkpn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gave an update</a> on the government's progress in containing the covid pandemic, particularly, his goal of distributing 100 million shots in 100 days. Biden stressed the importance of masks in stopping the virus. In doing so, he singled out a House Republican. "He used a very colorful term to say, 'Wearing a mask, tell them to kiss my ear, I'm not going to wear a mask.' Well, guess what? Not very American. The fact is, you want to be patriotic, you're going to protect people."</p><p>In fact, Chip Roy, of Texas, tweeted "<a href="https://twitter.com/chiproytx/status/1336773314170195968?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">kiss my ass</a>" in early December when, for the first time, Biden proposed a national mask mandate. In response to being singled out, the congressman said Tuesday his choice of words wasn't very Christian but it was indeed American. That a Republican from Texas—from <em>Texas</em>—is defending his patriotism, instead of his patriotism being taken for granted, is really something to marvel at. Biden is putting him, and people flouting mask requirements, on the other side of safety and commonsense, but also on the other side of loving one's country. He's sorting Americans into baskets. One for patriots. And one for "deplorables."</p><p>It's tempting to say Roy is a phony. However, we'd be missing something important if we left it at that. What if he means it? He says he's a patriot, as do the 200 other House Republicans who voted against indicting Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection against the United States. Ditto for the 45 Republicans senators who voted Tuesday against moving forward with Trump's impeachment trial. (They lost.) Let's assume they mean it when they say they're fighting for the love of country. The question then becomes: what kind of country do they love? What kind of country do they protect?</p><p>When framed this way, it's clear the difference between Biden and Roy isn't a one of "real" patriotism versus "fake" patriotism but one of competing patriotisms. For Biden, it's love of the whole nation, the <em>actual</em> America, the one we can see and touch and smell. For Roy? If I were to guess, I'd say, as I have many times before (<a href="https://stoehr.substack.com/p/trumps-confederate-insurrection" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sorry</a>!), that he's fighting for an wholly imagined "nation" inside the real nation, a place where "real Americans" believe they are ordained by God to rule the country in His name.</p><p>The difference between these patriotisms was hard to see as long as democracy lent itself to these confederate ends. But democracy and its institutions over the last two decades, especially, has gotten in the way. It has given rights, privileges and political power to people the confederates believe are undeserving of them. Democracy, in giving rights, privileges and political power to undeserving people, is taking something away from "real Americans" ordained by God to dominate the rest of the real America. To defend democracy now is to be complicit in one's own mugging.</p><p>The difference between these patriotisms was also hard to see as long as the Democrats trusted the Republicans to act in good faith. Before Trump ascended to power (before the Republicans looked away while a foreign government sabotaged his Democratic rival), the Democrats believed it was important to work with the Republicans in order to serve the whole country, not just its constituent parts. They appear to have learned their lesson from the era of the first Black president. They appear ready to do what they think is right, regardless of what the GOP thinks.</p><p>More importantly, I think, they have maneuvered the Republicans into a position in which they are forced to declare their true loyalties—not to the real America for which we should all stand but to a white confederacy dedicated to creating a nation by which the in-group is protected but unbound by law while the out-group is bound but unprotected. The Republicans worked to convict a Democratic president for lying to a grand jury (Bill Clinton), but they are poised to acquit a Republican president for treasonable acts. This is <em>separate and unequal</em> writ large. Yet this might not now be obvious had the Democrats decided to move on "for the benefit of the country."</p><p>Even if acquitted, impeaching Trump is meaningful for another reason. Two hundred and forty-six out of 261 Republicans say, in effect, that treason's okie-dokie if you're a Republican. So the Democrats can safely ignore their demands, because there's nothing but downside to negotiating with terrorists and their confederate enablers. That means the GOP, if "owning the libs" remains a goal in itself, risks getting nothing. They might actually <em>like</em> that. Getting nothing from the Democrats feeds into their larger story of Republican fascists being the real victims, and so on. Will that bring them back to power in time? How long can they put up with getting nothing?</p>
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New White House sign language interpreter linked to the far right – and appeared in video attacking Biden
January 27, 2021
Heather Mewshaw, an ASL interpreter chosen by the White House to be present at all news briefings, appears to manage a group of ASL interpreters who provide sign language accompaniments to right-wing videos, TIME reports.
The videos promote vaccine misinformation, conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the riot at the U.S. Capitol, and false claims about Michelle Obama being transgender. Mewshaw recently appeared in a video attacking President Joe Biden:
<p><br/></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u4"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");</script><div id="rumble_vak6rh"></div><script>Rumble("play", {"video":"vak6rh","div":"rumble_vak6rh"});</script></div><p><br/></p><p>Mewshaw's group was originally titled "Right Side ASL" but later changed its name to "Hands of Liberty" after its previous Facebook page was deleted in November for violating the community standards of the platform. When TIME reached out to Mewshaw for comment, the Hands of Liberty Facebook page was deleted. </p><p>While the group claims to offer its service to the general public, the vast majority of videos it has chosen to interpret are right-wing and pro-Trump in nature. </p><p>"For me, it would be problematic for someone who has aligned herself with alt-right discourses to be the public face of the White House for the deaf communities and people who are curious about ASL," Jon Henner, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro who studies ASL and is deaf, told TIME.</p>
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Trump impeachment after leaving office is nothing – in 9th-century Rome they put a pope's corpse on trial
January 27, 2021
Having been impeached for the second time, former US president Donald Trump will be tried by the Senate in February 2021, the first time a US president has been impeached twice for “high crimes and misdemeanours”. A single article of impeachment will be passed to the Senate on January 25, accusing Trump of “inciting insurrection” before his supporters attacked the US Capitol building on January 6. Formal arguments will begin in the Senate in the second week of February.
But a media campaign is already well underway, as supporters of the former president – and his political enemies – take to the airwaves to put their case. Prominent among Trump’s defenders has been senior Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, who told Fox News host Sean Hannity that if Trump were to be convicted by the Senate after he leaves office, it would open the door for past presidents to be impeached.
<p>“If you can impeach a president after they’re out of office, why don’t we impeach George Washington?” Graham told Hannity. “He owned slaves. Where does this stop?”</p>
<p>There is of course an obvious flaw in Graham’s comment: being dead, Washington cannot appear to defend himself. </p>
<p>But the history of the early medieval papacy teaches us that even death may not be a bar to prosecution for misconduct in public office. More than 1,000 years ago, the western church was in crisis. There was a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1404567">bitter dispute between Rome and Constantinople</a> over which was the head of the Christian church. Waves of immigrants had settled in Hungary and Bulgaria, which increased tensions between Constantinople and Rome as they vied for sovereignty over a changing population with shifting allegiances.</p>
<p>These conflicts raised important questions about the qualities that were required of the leaders of Christendom. During this period there was a fairly frequent use of the early medieval equivalent of impeachment. This was a <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100547669">church synod</a> held in Rome, at which the holder of the highest office in Christendom could be tried for transgressions against the traditions and customs of their office. One such synod <a href="https://wsmonroe.com/2014/06/02/137/">took place in January 897</a> and heard charges against the most recent former pontiff, Formosus (pope from 891 to 896).</p>
<p>The only problem was that Formosus had been dead for seven months by the time the trial started. But the new pope, Stephen VI, was of the firm opinion that even when a leader had left office they could still be punished for their transgressions.</p>
<p>The synod thus went ahead under somewhat ghoulish circumstances. Pope Stephen had Formosus’ corpse withdrawn from its sarcophagus and brought to the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome to be put on trial. The corpse was clad in papal vestments and seated on a throne to face charges that Formosus had broken the rules of the church. Close by stood a deacon to answer in Formosus’ name. Stephen VI charged the cadaver with having broken an oath not to return to Rome and of having illegally obtained the title of pope because he was already a bishop at the time of his election.</p>
<p>The alleged crimes took place long before the trial. In July 876, Formosus had been excommunicated for meddling in European power politics and prohibited from celebrating mass by Pope John VIII. But, after his death, the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn by John’s successor Marinus I in 878 and Formosus returned to his job as bishop of Porto. </p>
<p>Despite having blotted his copybook, Formosus was elected pope on October 1 891 and immediately involved himself in politics again. </p>
<p>In Italy, Formosus encouraged insurrection, persuading Arnulf of Carinthia <a href="https://wsmonroe.com/2014/06/02/137/">to advance to Rome</a> to drive out the reigning emperor. Arnulf seized Rome by force on February 21 896 but his success was shortlived – before he had the chance to move against the opposition’s stronghold in Spoleto, he was struck with paralysis and was unable to continue the campaign. Paralysis, incidentally, was widely regarded as a divine punishment in the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>It’s important to remember that this was an era in which the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2016/01-02/vatican-dead-pope-on-trial/">papacy changed hands at an alarming rate</a> – almost every year between 896 and 904 saw a new pope pope, sometimes even two. Formosus was succeeded by Pope Boniface VI, who himself died two weeks later. Stephen VI, who was next to sit on the papal throne, had been a supporter of Formosus, but had changed camps and was now aligned with the Spoleto family, at that time all-powerful in Rome. </p>
<p>Stephen VI predictably pronounced Formosus guilty on the grounds that he could not legally have received the papal title since he was the bishop of another see and he had gone back on his oath not to celebrate mass. All his measures, acts and legal decisions were annulled, and all the priestly orders conferred by him were declared invalid. His papal vestments were torn from his body. The three fingers which the dead pope had used in consecrations were cut off his right hand and the corpse was buried in a grave in the cemetery for strangers, only to be removed after a few days and thrown into the river Tiber.</p>
<p>Donald Trump, at present hunkered down at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida, will not suffer the indignities of the corpse of Pope Formosus. But, like Formosus, he will see many (if not all) of his decisions and appointments reversed in these first days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Interestingly, after the death of Stephen VI, Formosus was rehabilitated and his papacy reinstated by the church. </p>
<p>Trump, meanwhile, is rumoured to still be considering a return to US politics. Having lost access to the modern equivalent of Formosus’ three fingers – his social media platforms – he can no longer easily convey favours or inspire his followers. But, as we now know, stranger things have happened.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153339/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" width="1"/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/frederik-pedersen-149876">Frederik Pedersen</a>, Senior Lecturer in History, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-aberdeen-962">University of Aberdeen</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-impeachment-after-leaving-office-is-nothing-in-9th-century-rome-they-put-a-popes-corpse-on-trial-153339">original article</a>.</p>
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