Calls for dismissal get louder: Biden calls Trump supporters "domestic terrorists"

Thursday, January 07, 2021

Calls for cancellation get louder
Biden calls Trump supporters "domestic terrorists"

According to many observers, the outgoing US president is responsible for one of the "darkest days in American history". Nevertheless, his designated successor, Biden, has decided not to request his early dismissal. But the calls for Vice President Pence are getting louder.

Future US President Joe Biden has blamed the outgoing incumbent Donald Trump for one of the "darkest days" in United States history. Trump had "unleashed a total attack on the institutions of our democracy from the start," said Biden in his hometown of Wilmington in the state of Delaware. The storming of the Capitol the day before was "one of the darkest days in our nation's history," said Biden. He described the militant Trump supporters as "domestic terrorists".

Biden also accused the authorities of treating Trump supporters demonstrating in Washington with far greater indulgence than anti-racist protesters in recent months. "Nobody can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters protesting yesterday, they would not have been treated very, very differently from the mob of hooligans who stormed the Capitol," said the future President. "We all know this is true and it is unacceptable."

The militant supporters of the outgoing US president had broken into the Capitol and MPs had to be brought to safety. They had overrun the security barriers in front of Congress, and the police and security forces could not stop them.

Dismissal under Article 25?

In response to the riots, Chuck Schumer, top Democrat in the US Senate, and the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, are calling for Trump to be removed immediately. You call on Vice President Mike Pence to press for an impeachment based on Amendment 25 of the US Constitution, Pelosi said. Trump is dangerous and should no longer remain in office. "This is urgent." US media reported on Wednesday evening (local time) that individual cabinet members were already discussing an Article 25 suspension in view of the riots in the Capitol.

In addition to the regular impeachment process of the US Congress, as was pursued against Trump during the Ukraine affair, there is a quicker way to remove a US president from office: Amendment 25 of the constitution allows him to be declared "incapable." declare to exercise the rights and duties of the office ". Such a declaration must be made by the Vice-President and a majority of key cabinet members and then reported to Congress. If the president objects, the two chambers of congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, must approve the impeachment with a two-thirds majority. To achieve this majority, the Democrats would need a lot of support from the Republican Party.

Some Republicans already support this endeavor. Republican governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, spoke out in favor of removing Trump. "I think there is no question that America would be better off if the president resigned or removed from office," he said. He called the excess of violence in the US capital a shameless attack on democracy and left no doubt that he sees President Trump as responsible. "Enough is enough. Enough of lies. Enough of hate. Enough of total dysfunction," continues Hogan.