The 46th: Will A Second Impeachment Change Republican Minds?

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s impeachment season all over again on “The Argument,” and Michelle and Ross debate whether Republicans will, at long last, turn their backs to President Trump, or confirm that their party is resolutely his. Will Mitch McConnell really consider delivering enough Republican votes to convict Trump? The duo discuss the events of the last week and a half and the deepening fracture in the Republican Party, and Michelle is surprised to long for “the party of cruel Ayn Rand-ism” in exchange for “Qanon and guerrilla warfare.” Ross admits how wrong he’s been in analyzing violent extremism in recent years. Then, the hosts take up the question of deplatforming Trump, and the rabid hordes he foments. And finally, Ross suggests you find some escapism in a grim, dark, revisionist fantasy. For background reading on this episode, visit nytimes.com/theargument.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Michelle Goldberg.
0:01.6	I'm Ross Douthand, and this is the argument.
0:11.0	This week, it's Trump impeachment, the sequel.
0:14.6	And then, how should we think about social media banning the President of the United States?
0:21.0	The House of Representatives has voted to impeach Donald Trump for the second time, charging
0:26.4	him with incitement of insurrection, with 10 Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues
0:31.4	in voting to impeach.
0:33.2	Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he will not use emergency powers to bring
0:37.2	the Senate back into session for a trial before January 19th, meaning that the trial will
0:42.3	take place in a Biden administration, and since it won't remove Trump from office, the
0:47.2	only purpose of a conviction will be to punish the soon-to-be ex-president, and perhaps
0:51.9	to bar him from running for president again.
0:54.6	And it's for precisely those purposes, according to our own newspapers reporting and others,
0:59.6	that McConnell is apparently considering trying to deliver enough Republican votes for
1:04.0	a conviction.
1:11.8	So Michelle, as a long time observer and deep admirer of Mitch McConnell, tell me, do you
1:19.4	believe he's really considering it?
1:21.7	I can't imagine it.
1:23.1	I mean, who knows?
1:25.3	Because this has been, you know, 2021 has been a year of possibility so far, right?
1:32.8	Like a little more than a week ago, it seemed like Donald Trump was going to leave office
1:38.0	as a fairly powerful figure as opposed to a disgrace.
	...

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