House Democrats introduced the Bill to Bar Donald Trump from Office

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The work day started with this little piece on The Hill:

A group of 40 House Democrats, led by Rep. David Cicilline (RI), introduced legislation Thursday to prevent former President Trump from holding future federal office under the 14th Amendment. Section 3 of the amendment states that no person who has taken an oath to support the Constitution and has engaged in rebellion or sedition shall hold any office, civil or military, under the United States. Cicilline said in a release announcing the law that Trump was very clearly involved in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, with the aim of subverting the results of the 2020 presidential election. You can’t lead a government you tried to destroy, he said.

I admire Cicilline’s ambition, and I find the logic in her position impeccable. After all, Section 3 is there for a reason, and it’s time we revived its original purpose as a political prophylactic.

But pursuing this remedy against the former president* looks increasingly likely to require the House to act against some of its own as well. The ongoing series on Talking Points Memo clearly shows that House members are up to their eyeballs in the events of January 6. As far as I’m concerned, they should all go, especially since none of them showed an ounce of regret for their part in the insurrection. Some of them are even willing to reboot those events as the Mad Hatter’s version of the Boston Tea Party. It’s unlikely to be bloody, especially with the prisoners taking the keys in January.

(Happy 249th anniversary, by the way.)

And then the day ended with this little nugget from the Guardian:

The recommendations to the former president made by the subcommittee that examines the referrals are based on new reviews of evidence that indicate Trump’s attempts to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results amount to potential crimes. The select committee may pursue additional criminal referrals for Trump and others, as the subcommittee raised obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud laws among a range of options, including insurrection, and the discussions about the referrals continued on Thursday, sources said.

Again, it is advisable that we all follow Mr. Winston Wolf’s wise advice on what we should do to each other. The committee can refer things from hell to breakfast, it doesn’t mean the Department of Justice has to act on any of it.

But between these two stories, a net spreads in plain sight for both the former president* and Merrick Garland to see. Next week will be quite festive.

Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.

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