• Subscriptions
    • Log in
    Ad-Free Login - Go Ad-Free & Join The Movement
    The fight for Democracy hasn’t ended. Join Raw Story Investigates for $1. Support honest journalism.
    The fight for Democracy hasn’t ended. Join Raw Story Investigates for $1. Support honest journalism.Click to enable push notifications.
    Listen Now: The New Raw Story PodcastUS NEWSOpinionvideoget the newsletter
    AD-FREE LOGIN
    Ad-Free Login - Go Ad-Free & Join The Movement
    The fight for Democracy hasn’t ended. Join Raw Story Investigates for $1. Support honest journalism.
    The fight for Democracy hasn’t ended. Join Raw Story Investigates for $1. Support honest journalism.Click to enable push notifications.
    • Home
    • New: Shop to Support Independent Journalism
    • We Have Issues
    • Trump
    • U.S. News
    • Video
    • Ad-Free Login
    Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
    JOIN FOR $1

    America braces for Trump's inevitable burst of vindictiveness after his Senate acquittal

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    February 06, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    President Donald Trump appears during a rally Dec. 10, 2019. (Matt Smith Photographer/Shutterstock.com)

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    Even as the Republican Senate majority finally was acquitting Donald Trump of impeachment charges, one could sense the country bracing for the retaliating boomerang to come. Trump is never gracious, even in would-be victory, and is sure to be boastful about beating the “witch hunt” of impeachment.


    The next step, naturally, will be vindication and attack.

    The vote was almost without drama since almost all senators had declared their intentions to vote for or against conviction on impeachment charges. The exception, of course, was the emotional decision by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to convict, the sole senator to break with the party. After closing speeches filled with self-serving hyperbole, the Senate finally got to the predicted vote. Democrats held together in a minority.

    Despite senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) insisting in her declaration for acquittal that Trump has learned from the “flawed” wrong-doings in shaking down Ukrainian officials for personal political gain that gave rise to impeachment and that he would refrain from other such actions in the future. Indeed, Trump apparently dismissed Collins’ suggestion and told television news anchors at the White House that he had done nothing wrong.

    Meanwhile, Vanity Fair reported that Trump is compiling a Nixonian "enemies list" that includes former national security adviser John Bolton and top House Democrats as he seeks to retaliate for the impeachment.  Gabriel Sherman reported that "Republicans briefed on Trump's thinking believe that the president is out for revenge against his adversaries." One unnamed Republican congress member said, "It's payback time. He has an enemies list that is growing by the day."

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has promised hearings to pursue whether the “dirt” on whether Hunter Biden’s employment as a no-show board member, while Joe Biden was vice president, had any validity and calling the whistleblower, to determine if he or she had ties to Biden – despite the obvious fact that both are irrelevant now except in pursuit of the original political goals that Trump had had in mind. “We're going to get to the bottom of all of this to make sure this never happens again," Graham added.

    And Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney and leader of the rogue campaign in Ukraine, says he is still seeking information in Ukraine, visiting that country even as impeachment processes were underway.

    In clearing the president of charges despite feelings even among Republicans that there had been bad presidential behavior the Senate is accepting vastly expanded and uncheckable presidential power.

    Trump to Take Advantage

    The widely held belief is that Trump will take advantage, both in policy and governing ways, and in areas more definable as politics, culture and personal ethics.

    According to Vanity Fair, potential Trump targets include House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Judiciary Committee Chair. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Mitt Romney and former National Security Advisor John R. Bolton. Donald Trump Jr. called for the Republican Party to expel Romney, for example.

    Vanity Fair said, "Trump wants Bolton to be criminally investigated. A person familiar with Trump’s thinking said Trump believes Bolton might have mishandled classified information. According to a former official, the White House is planning to leak White House emails from Bolton that purportedly allege Bolton abused his position at the National Security Council."

    Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted that even before the vote, Trump as “the would-be authoritarian is escalating his abuses of power.

    Common Dreams promised that demonstrations were being organized in conjunction with the final acquittal vote.

    As Trump and the Justice Department under the direction of Atty. Gen. William P. Barr have proved, the boundaries between White House and Justice have been totally lowered to make former FBI officials like James Comey Jr. and Andrew McCabe potential objects of criminal investigations for launching investigations that led to the Russia probes.

    Let’s be clear: This is the stuff of authoritarian regimes.

    On a broader basis, Trump already has vowed to unlawfully rejigger Congressional funds from approved programs to pay for the southern border wall, and he is moving aggressively to use executive orders to put into effect deregulation and policy changes in a manner to avoid Congressional review. The same blanket immunity for which Team Trump found the rationale to avoid turning over records, emails, notes and witnesses to Congress during the impeachment processes already has been extended to avoid oversight of normal governing decision-making.

    We can expect more foreign attempts to sow disruption, more White House support for Democratic voter suppression and Republican gerrymandering efforts, more identifiably Trump-supporting judges.

    ‘State of Trump’s Union’

    The kind of boastfulness we saw in Trump’s State of the Union address – in reality, the State of Trump’s Union – we will see in daily exaggeration, in insults and in fact-twisting as Trump turns officially to reelection.

    No one will be surprised by wild celebrations at the White House and among Trump supporters of having “beaten” impeachment because the president will insist that this is a finding of having done nothing wrong. That’s what happened after the White House’s Mueller Report re-interpretation of what the report said, to conclude that the whole investigation had been a “hoax.”

    No one would be surprised if Trump now turns to China, for example, and asks once again for help in looking at Hunter Biden, who had been connected with a company that had sought Chinese investment while his dad was in office.

    The acquittal vote will mean that Trump will move against laws in California and New York that he finds objectionable, it means that more pro-business tax cuts will follow, it means that anything resembling social benefits will be derided as destructive socialism rather than empathetic policy-making.  As his speech showed, facts about Night are described as Day, and neither truth nor context matter.

    It is only about the crushing power of majority, more ironic because Trump has no majority outside the Senate.

    The acquittal is bringing Orwellian visions closer to reality.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Enjoy good journalism?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

    We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

    Value Raw Story?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

    Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
    READ COMMENTS - JOIN THE DISCUSSION

    Do you approve of Biden's presidency so far?

    George Takei sets the GOP straight on the question of 'unity' -- and history

    Bob Brigham
    March 06, 2021

    After every single Republican voted against Joe Biden's coronavirus relief legislation, some Republicans complained the bill was an affront to "unity" because of the united GOP opposition.

    Despite polls showing the majority of Republican Party voters supporting the legislation, GOP lawmakers have argued that unity among the American people is irrelevant if members of Congress don't care.

    Following the vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) complained that voters had "picked a president who promised unity and bipartisanship."

    Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said, "it's clear whatever [Biden] meant when he promised unity, he's failed miserably."

    Legendary actor and civil rights activist George Takei disagreed.

    "Unity must continue to mean that government leaders agree to rally around the things the vast majority of Americans want. It can't ever mean we rally around those things and they thumb their noses at it. That's not unity. That's just spite," he explained on Twitter.

    He went on to lecture Republicans on Trump's "Big Lie" about election fraud, which resulted in the fatal January 6th insurrection and hundreds of bills in state legislatures to suppress the vote.


    In history there are some clear rights and wrongs. The Confederacy was in the wrong. Segregationists were in the wrong. And now the GOP and the Big Lie are in the wrong.

    History will record it so, but we must now ask it of every leader:
    “On which side of history do you stand?"
    — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 7, 2021

    'Complete bonkers': Lauren Boebert says it is Democrats who are obsessed with conspiracy theories

    Bob Brigham
    March 06, 2021

    Gun-toting Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) complained on Fox News on Saturday about security at the U.S. Capitol following the fatal January 6th insurrection by supporters of Donald Trump.

    During the riot, Boebert live-tweeted on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's location. Following the riot, Boebert sided with the insurrectionists and voted to overturn election results.

    "No one on the outside can get into the Capitol," Boebert complained to Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro. "It is only staffers and members of Congress who are allowed at the people's house -- at our nation's Capitol."

    "Judge Jeanine, this is complete bonkers that we are keeping people out the United States Capitol," she argued. "There is clearly not a threat, there was nothing that happened on March 4th, the Democrats are obsessed with conspiracy theories -- and they won't let them go!"

    Despite her accusations against Democrats, it is Boebert who has voiced support for the QAnon conspiracy theory.

    She then went on to push the latest version of Trump's "Big Lie" about Democrats' election protection bill, the For the People Act.

    The irony here is pretty rich https://t.co/DLJv5ddt1r
    — Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@Molly Jong-Fast🏡) 1615085714.0

    Trump supporters' lawsuit against grocery clerk over insurrection may backfire: report

    Bob Brigham
    March 06, 2021

    Katheryn Cagle and her mother Thelma Cagle were allegedly in Washington, DC for the January 6th insurrection of Trump supporters after organizing busloads of attendees from Georgia.

    Now the Cagles are reported suing grocery store clerk Rayven Goolsby for social media posts criticizing the insurrection, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

    "In late February, the exchange jumped from social media to a Pickens County Superior Court when the Cagles sued Goolsby for defamation and libel. Goolsby's attorney, Andrew Fleischman, characterized the Cagles' suit as an example of a prominent family active in local politics using the heft of the courts to intimidate his client, who works at a local grocery store, into silence," the newspaper reported. "The social media posts at the heart of the dispute, including deleted ones referring to the Jan. 6 protest, are preserved as screenshots in legal filings. None of the parties deny making the remarks cited in the dueling lawsuits."

    However, the lawsuit may backfire on the Cagles.

    The newspaper noted, "The anti-SLAPP suit notes that Katheryn Cagle deleted all of her social media history pertaining to Jan. 6. If the matter goes into discovery, both sides could be compelled to produce troves of personal data, such as GPS location history and message logs — 'all kinds of stuff even a police officer would have trouble getting,' Fleischman said."

    "You should not file defamation suits if you're worried about criminal liability," he added.

    Read the full report.


     
    Trending
    Latest
    Videos

    GOP senators meltdown after Democrats roll over them and pass the COVID aid bill

    Capitol rioter charged with assaulting cop begs judge to let him 'go home to my Mom and Dad': report

    Trump is ‘likely going to lose’ new insurrection lawsuit: legal experts

    WATCH: Jen Psaki delivers brutal response when asked if Trump deserves credit for vaccine rollout

    Marjorie Taylor Greene snaps at GOP colleagues frustrated with her House antics

    Biden fires Trump official who refused to resign​

    New Republican group promises to have 'Trump shaking in his boots' over his future

    Republicans ridiculed after Trump threatens them with lawsuit for using his name

    Trump slaps GOP with cease and desist order so that they'll stop using his name

    George Takei sets the GOP straight on the question of 'unity' -- and history

    'Complete bonkers': Lauren Boebert says it is Democrats who are obsessed with conspiracy theories

    Trump supporters' lawsuit against grocery clerk over insurrection may backfire: report

    Andrew Cuomo now facing allegations by male former aides: report

    Progressives seize control of the Nevada Democratic Party: report

    Jared Kushner has 'checked out of politics' amid feud with his father-in-law: report

    Prosecutor probing Trump hires expert who wrote the book on racketeering cases: report

    Oral treatment for COVID yields promising data showing reduced viral load: report

    The favorite trick Trump could use in new case underscores how broken the US legal system is

    WATCH: Idaho COVID deniers encourage kids to burn their masks on state capitol steps

    'Traitor' Tucker Carlson gets slammed after referring to QAnon followers as 'gentle people'

    Georgia prosecutor already has Trump nailed for election meddling: ex-US Attorney

    Expert explains how Dems just brilliantly forced Trump to respond under oath for the Capitol riot

    Candace Owens buried by Black conservative for lying in an attempt to incite more racism

    Austin businesses slam Abbott for creating chaos with mask decision

    Gov. Greg Abbott backs bill to stop social media companies from banning Texans for political views

    'Sad week for the Trump nuts': Bill Maher goes off on QAnon and the Proud Boys

    Maddow perplexed by lack of FBI follow-up on insurrectionists: ‘What’s going on here?’

     
     

    Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.

    Manage Preferences

    Thanks for your support!

    Did you enjoy Raw Story this year? Join us! We're offering RawStory ad-free for 15% off - just $2 per week. From now until March 15th.

    Donald Trump Jr is outraged someone found out on Twitter they were fired: 'This is insanity, guys'

    Joe Biden's big bet could define his presidency

    The dark truth about conspiracy theories: They're everywhere! Can they be stopped?

    Close
    Copy link