Trump Impeachment Trial 2.0

The article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection will be delivered to the Senate at 7 p.m. Monday.

In a letter to House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote:

Monday, January 25, will be a momentous and solemn day, as the House sadly transmits the Article of Impeachment for Donald Trump to the Senate.

Our Constitution and country are well-served by our outstanding impeachment managers – lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin and Reps. Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacy Plaskett, Madeleine Dean, and Joe Neguse. I salute them for the great love of our country, dedication to our democracy and loyalty to our oath with which they have proceeded, as they ensure that no one is above the law.

The House has been respectful of the Senate’s constitutional power over the trial and always attentive to the fairness of the process. When the Article of Impeachment is transmitted to the Senate, the former President will have had nearly two weeks since we passed the Article. Our Managers are ready for trial before the 100 Senate jurors.

The Senate will begin Trump’s second impeachment trial the week of February 8. They call it “Stormy Monday.” For Donald John Trump, Tuesday and the coming weeks will be just as bad.

Election 2020: Counting on Democracy

I am a longtime voting rights advocate. Under the auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy, I monitored elections in Ethiopia and Nigeria, and led voter education workshops in Angola and Kazakhstan. The American democracy is the gold standard for free and fair elections. As votes are counted in the 2020 presidential election, it feels like déjà vu.

When the polls closed in the 2000 presidential election, the race between Al Gore and George W. Bush was too close to call. The winner would be determined by Florida’s electoral votes. For 36 days, the streets were filled with protesters chanting “Count Every Vote” and “Stop the Count.” At the same time in the suites, partisans on both sides were filing lawsuits. Gore asked for hand recounts in Democratic-leaning counties only. Bush took his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court stopped the recounts on the grounds they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. With that decision, Bush won Florida by a margin of 537 votes out of six million cast.

Punch card voting machines have since been replaced by electronic voting machines. But then as now, the perceived loser is cherry-picking election results. President Donald Trump is challenging the vote count in selected states. Then as now Roger Stone is engaged in dirty tricks. Also then as now, partisans are spreading conspiracy theories. As in 2000, the absence of evidence of a conspiracy to “steal the election” is evidence of the conspiracy.

Trump’s baseless claims of “vote tabulation irregularities” undermine confidence in the integrity of the election. The machinery of our democracy has changed over the years. For instance, in 2000 I cast my vote on an 800-pound lever voting machine in Brooklyn. Now living in Philadelphia, I voted by mail and tracked my ballot status online. What remains unchanged is that public trust in the electoral process separates the American republic from, say, a banana republic.

Since 1989, The Carter Center, founded by founded by former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, has monitored more than 110 elections in Africa, Latin America and Asia. For the first time, the Carter Center will monitor a U.S. election. CEO Paige Alexander said in a statement:

What we’re monitoring is what many people have been calling the hand recount. Because the margin in the presidential race is so close, this sort of audit essentially requires review of every ballot by hand. This is unusual, but it provides an opportunity to build trust in the electoral system prior to the state’s certification of results.

Voter trust is the bedrock of our democracy. The 2020 presidential election is yet another reminder that the right to vote and to have that vote counted cannot be taken for granted. As Pennsylvania and other states certify the election results, the whole world will be watching.

Voters to Trump: You’re Fired!

Joe Biden is the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election after winning Pennsylvania and securing its 20 electoral votes.

Voters sent Donald Trump a clear message: You’re fired!

Cue the theme to “The Apprentice,” the reality show that propelled the grifter into the White House.

On January 20, 2021, it will be time for the worst president in modern American history to exit, stage right.

Monumental Matters in Philadelphia

Philadelphia is the “City of Firsts.” In 1959, the city launched the nation’s first Percent for Art program which requires some developers to “dedicate at least one percent of the total building construction costs toward the commissioning of original, site-specific works of art.” In the ensuing years, the city has commissioned hundreds of works of art, including the Philadelphia Courthouse Mural.

Contrary to popular belief, the city did not commission the Frank Rizzo monument. The monument was commissioned by the Frank L. Rizzo Memorial Committee which was led by Frank Rizzo, Jr. So the public was never given an opportunity to weigh in on whether his father deserved to be honored in a public space.

Indeed, many have drawn comparisons between Rizzo and Donald Trump (here and here).

In the run-up to the 2016 election, the New York Times reported:

A former police officer who was nicknamed Big Bambino, Mr. Rizzo rose to power during the city’s crime-ridden 1960s and ’70s, cracking down on lawlessness with a legendary bellicosity.

After becoming police commissioner, he rounded up homosexuals late at night, forced the Black Panthers to strip down in the streets and once appeared with a nightstick stuffed in the cummerbund of his tuxedo. As mayor, he threatened to “break the heads” of criminals and boasted that his Police Department was strong enough to invade Cuba.

Timothy J. Lombardo, author of the forthcoming The Rise of Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia and the Politics of the Urban Crisis, observed:

The difference between Rizzo and Trump is that Rizzo was the real deal. Rizzo has the authenticity, but Trump is really good at playing that role.

Given the parallels, New York City art dealer John Post Lee and I decided to introduce the pop-up Trump Rat statue to the pay-to-play Rizzo monument.

Lee said:

The idea that anyone in my native Philly ever thought that there should be a statue of Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia’s mayor from 1972 to 1980, is astonishing. He was, and remains, a human stain. If there is a statue of Rizzo, then we might as well have a statue of the inflamed Eagle fans who pelted Santa Claus with snowballs at Veterans Stadium.

It’s high time that Philly’s biggest rat came face-to-face with the rat who now threatens the very norms and decency of American civic life. The inflatable Trump Rat began as a mischievous art project but has evolved into an enduring sign of resistance, helping to lead protests against Trump’s policies.

The conversation between the pop-up and pay-to-play public art underscored the absurdity of Rizzo’s presence at the gateway to city services.

Public art should not be about nostalgists romanticizing a public figure. Public art is about public memory. The thin slice of supporters in South Philly notwithstanding, the collective memory of Frank Rizzo is that of a divisive politician who reigned over a city in decline. Rizzo left a legacy of police brutality, racism, sexism, homophobia and attacks on free speech. Rizzo’s legacy begs the question: Why is the monument still there?

 

Presidents’ Day 2017

A picture is worth a thousand words. Donald J. Trump has joined the pantheon of presidents.