-The House voted to impeach President Trump
for inciting last week's Capitol insurrection,
making him the first and only president in history
to be impeached twice.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
Today was historic in many ways,
not the least of which was the President
became the first in history
to be impeached for a second time.
As far as anyone can tell,
he has no discernible defense, no legal strategy,
and very few allies left outside of the House GOP.
Several of his lawyers from the last impeachment have bailed,
his former home, New York City,
revoked all its contracts with him,
his banks and major donors are all fleeing.
Even Mitch McConnell has signaled
that he might be willing to turn on Trump.
-According to "The New York Times,"
Senator Mitch McConnell is pleased
that Democrats are moving to impeach the President.
"The Times" reporting that McConnell believes
the move will make it easier to purge President Trump
from the Republican Party.
-Axios is reporting that there's a better than 50-50 chance
that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
would vote to convict President Trump
in an impeachment trial.
-That's significant, because if you watch movies,
you know "pleased" is the highest level of happiness
for villains.
"The emperor is most pleased with your efforts, Lord Vader."
Of course McConnell is pleased.
He's like a guy who robbed a bank,
jumped on a helicopter to Fiji, and pulled up the rope ladder,
leaving his accomplice stranded on the roof
as the cops close in.
"Mitch, Mitch, come back."
"Uh, sorry, Donald. I can't hear you over the rotors."
[ Laughing as Mitch McConnell ]
Even Trump's most precious friends in the world,
his closest allies, his wingmen and therapists,
the Fox & Friends are torn
about whether to stick with Trump or bail on him.
-Why fracture unnecessarily?
-Because, Brian, you're talking about
people who work in the Congress,
and we're talking about the Congress was under attack last week.
It was looted. There was a riot.
-So is Portland every day, and nobody cared on the left.
-Brian -- -Those people have lives, too.
Just because they don't have medallions
to go through metal detectors every day.
All the state houses and the police houses
that were ransacked, and nobody cared?
-I don't think what they were doing in Portland
was trying to overthrow democracy. -Police stations?
-Let's put the shoe on the other foot.
If a Democratic president --
a Democrat president did what happened last week,
a week ago today,
would the Republicans in the House and the Senate
move to impeach him if they could?
The answer is yes.
-Guys, guys, you're both terrible.
Man, I'd say that was the worst thing to happen to a group of friends this week,
except they announced they were making
a "Sex and the City" reboot without Samantha.
How's that even going to work?
Three women in a coffee shop
talking thoughtfully about their lives
and then just a big old dead spot
where there should be a delightfully hacky
double entendre about sex.
"Harry says it's a turnoff that I'm so anal retentive."
Oh, right, she's not here.
But you know you've sunk to a new low
when you're a Republican getting reprimanded by Steve Doocy.
Do you think if we just let Trump
fly off to Mar-a-Lago next week
without consequences, that'll be that
and everyone will just move on?
He incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol.
I can't even put a new welcome mat in front of my door
without getting reprimanded from my co-op board.
So with a handful of his closest allies abandoning him
and no way to communicate, Trump has basically gone silent,
even as his name is officially disgraced in history forever.
-This day that the President is likely to be impeached
in a historic manner for the second time,
the only president to ever be impeached twice,
and he has no legal strategy right now,
and he doesn't even really have a legal team put together.
There is no comprehensive strategy happening behind the scenes.
The President is basically invisible today.
-I'm sorry, I was just enjoying the words "Trump is invisible."
Do you know how hard it is for a guy like Trump to go invisible?
He's not exactly stealth.
He's invisible the way my kids are during hide-and-seek.
Hmm, either they've left the country,
or that giggling curtain is a clue.
And, honestly, however you feel
about the merits of the Twitter ban,
it's a huge quality-of-life improvement.
It's like waking up the morning after
construction finally stops outside your window.
We no longer have to put up with President Jackhammer.
In fact, the last time we saw Trump was yesterday
when he flew to Texas to defend his seditious speech
that whipped up the violent mob
and celebrate the entirely useless monument to racism
he forced us to pay for,
despite scamming his supporters into thinking
it would be paid for by Mexico.
And if it's the last time we ever see him on camera as president,
I think it'll be fitting because it ended
in the most pathetic way imaginable,
with him quietly slinking off the stage by himself
as "YMCA" blasted over the speakers.
♪♪
I hope that's remembered alongside Nixon on the chopper
as the last time we saw him as president
because it is the opposite
of the strength he tries to project,
just moping away during a Village People song
like he just got kicked out of a wedding
for trying to hit on the bride.
"How was I supposed to know?
Oh, right, the white dress and the veil?
Oh, yeah, and the groom did give her that ring.
Oh, and the vows."
And it is a testament, a true testament to the Village People,
by the way, that even after that pathetic scene,
that song still slaps.
When they eventually arrest Trump for sedition or incitement
or tax fraud or extortion or campaign finance violation
or, I don't know, any of the 87 crimes he's probably committed,
I hope they play "YMCA" during that perp walk.
I mean, he already dances
like he's trying to wriggle out of a pair of handcuffs.
I also really hope that wasn't the song that was supposed to play.
I really hope it was a small act of resistance
by whoever was running the soundboard,
that they were supposed to play "Hail to the Chief" or something.
But as they watched this sack of depravity
wrap up yet another lie-filled speech,
they thought, "[Bleep] it.
I'm playing 'YMCA.'"
-♪ It's fun to stay at the YMCA ♪
-So whatever else happens after today,
it'll be inscribed in the Congressional record
and in the history books,
and it'll be a stain on Trump's name forever.
He's the only president to get impeached twice.
In fact, it's worse than that.
He's the only president to be impeached twice
and lose the popular vote twice.
He'll be emblazoned in history
as an embarrassment and disgrace.
No politician has ever been more thoroughly
and more frequently repudiated by the American people.
It's like entering the Tour de France,
coming in dead last, and getting kicked out for steroids,
then entering again the next year,
only to forget your bike,
forcing you to steal someone else's, and scream,
"You'll never catch me," before crashing into a cow...
In 2016, he lost the popular vote,
in 2018, he lost the House, 2020 was impeached,
lost the popular vote and the Electoral College.
In 2021, he lost the Senate, and then he was impeached again.
It's almost like he's tanking the season
so he can get the number-one pick in the jailhouse fantasy draft.
"I'll take Madoff. Hey, Bernie, I got some real tax issues."
If nothing else happens after this, at the bare minimum,
Trump will be an answer to a Trivial Pursuit question.
They'll have to devote the entire card,
that little section at the end where they give you
an extra tidbit of information.
"Who's the only president to be impeached twice?"
"Huh? Donald Trump. And it says here,
'He was impeached for trying to extort a foreign country
to help him cheat in the 2020 election
and then for inciting a violent insurrection
after losing that election.
And also, he told people to inject bleach
during a deadly pandemic he failed to stop,
tried to ban Muslims, called Mexicans rapists,
paid hush money to cover up an affair with a porn star,
and his lawyer held a press conference
at a landscaping company, and see attached brochure for more.'"
Wow.
But as notable as it is that a few prominent Republicans
broke with Trump today,
the fact remains that the vast majority
of the House Republican caucus
sided with him even after he incited an insurrection
against the government a week ago.
A majority of that same caucus voted
to overturn the results of the election at Trump's behest,
even after the violent mob ransacked the Capitol.
And now Republicans have the gall
to blame Democrats for sowing disunity.
-What I'm trying to suggest to you is that both sides are at fault.
-This is a reckless impeachment.
This will only bring up the hate and fire more than ever before.
-In seven days, there will be a peaceful transfer of power,
just like there has been every other time in our country.
But Democrats are going to impeach President Trump again.
This doesn't unite the country.
-You don't merely seek victory,
but you seek obliteration of your nemesis.
-Every movement has a lunatic fringe.
-That's your defense?
Look, every movement has armed militias
with tactical gear and zip ties
and detailed plans to seize the Capitol
and Confederate sympathizers and a Q-Anon antler man.
You guys are talking about this
like your [bleep] teenage son TP'd the principal's house.
"Look, we've all been there. You're young and impressionable.
You downed a few Natty Lights,
and you tried to overthrow democracy.
It happens. Look, he's graduating in seven days."
Also, stop saying Trump is committed
to a peaceful transfer of power.
That ship has sailed or, rather,
that ship was boarded by pirates and steered into the rocks.
You guys tried to overturn an election.
You sowed an insurrection.
And now the Capitol has to be protected by the National Guard
because there are credible threats of violence
from the President's supporters. That's not peaceful.
You don't get to throw a brick through your neighbor's window
with a note saying, "Trim your hedges,"
then when you get caught say, "Okay, okay, fine.
Let's just barbecue this out and put it all behind us.
Yes, I broke your window, and, yes,
I terrified your family, but you got a free brick."
Also, it's truly disgusting to suggest
that holding someone accountable for stoking violence
will itself stoke more violence.
Try that strategy in a courtroom.
"Look, if we anger OJ by convicting him,
he's just going to murder again."
But just to give you even more of an idea
of how crazy these people are,
here's Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan
and Colorado Congressman Ken Buck
rambling through their usual spiel
of empty slogans and right-wing buzzwords
about, honestly, God knows what.
-They want to cancel the President.
They spied on his campaign before he was elected.
Nineteen minutes into his presidency,
they started the impeachment push.
Three-year Mueller investigation --
19 lawyers, 40 agents, 500 witnesses, 2,500 subpoenas,
$40 million to find nothing.
Impeachment round one, based on an anonymous whistleblower
with no firsthand knowledge, who was biased against the President,
and who worked for Joe Biden.
It's not just about impeachment anymore.
It's about canceling, as I've said --
canceling the President and anyone that disagrees with them.
The ayatollah can tweet, the President can't.
-This House spoke over and over about impeaching the President
days into his administration.
And then the socialists in Hollywood
joined their allies in Congress.
Robert De Niro said
that he wanted to punch the President in the face.
Madonna thought about blowing up the White House.
Kathy Griffin held up a likeness
of the President's beheaded head.
And nothing was said by my colleagues
at that point in time.
-The President is being impeached for inciting
a violent insurrection, and you're talking about Madonna
and the ayatollah's Twitter account?
What the [bleep] is wrong with you?
Is Jim Jordan a real person
or just a haunted doll with a string on his back?
Listening to these guys is like far-right slam poetry.
Mueller spy, Madonna lie,
the ayatollah's a Twitter guy.
Although, I have to say, the take for me
that is mind-blowingly dumb
is the argument that impeaching a president
for inciting an insurrection to overthrow democracy
is cancel culture.
"They're trying to cancel the President.
One day you can't go to Costco without a mask,
the next day, you can't try to overthrow the government.
What's next? Soon they're going to say
you can't go to Supercuts with a garbage bag
and ask to collect the loose hair on the ground
so you can paste it to your head like I do.
When will cancel culture end?"
These people are deranged.
They never fail to make themselves the victims.
And they think they're above the rules.
They think they're above democracy.
It's why they think they should be allowed
to substitute their own judgment
for the will of 81 million Americans
who voted for Joe Biden.
It's why when you politely ask them
to walk through metal detectors
a week after the Capitol was seized
by right-wing terrorists,
they ignore them and whine about them
and lose their minds like Nicolas Cage
in "The Wicker Man."
-[ Screaming ]
-The President and his allies in the GOP and right-wing media
have spent years feeding their rabid fan base
deranged lies and fantasies of violent retribution,
culminating with the effort to overturn the election
in a violent insurrection.
Trump watched it, gleefully encouraged it,
and even when members of Congress
pleaded with him to stop it, refused.
And in the end, just 10 Republicans voted to impeach him.
If you're asking whether it should have been more...
-The answer is yes.
This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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