How Donald Trump shot himself in the foot

President Trump's near total loss of political legitimacy is a crisis of his own making.

People wearing protective masks hold a US flag at the Barclays Center during the "Get him out! defend democracy" rally, a day after supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, US, January 7, 2021.
Reuters

People wearing protective masks hold a US flag at the Barclays Center during the "Get him out! defend democracy" rally, a day after supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, US, January 7, 2021.

The repercussions of the storming of the Capitol and the violence of last week continue. While the streets of DC were already quiet due to Covid-19, it has now become a ghost town after the riot. 

At the moment, we cannot see anyone apart from the police, the National Guard, and the media around the Capitol. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, and Patt Toomey and Members of the House of Representatives Adam Kinzinger, Steve Stivers, and Garrett Graves have demanded that President Trump be removed from office. 

At the same time, several White House officials have resigned. First, the Secretary of Transportation resigned and then the Secretary of Education. What is interesting is that the Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao is the wife of Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate. McConnel himself has said that Trump committed 'impeachable' offenses. Trump, who has been trying to elude Democrats for four years, has now lost many of those within his party.

There is a major group in the Capitol that does not want President Trump to remain in office for another eight days. As someone who followed the January 6 chaos at the Capitol, it goes without saying that Trump made some big mistakes. Apart from the fact that he incited the protestors and did not intervene in the incidents in a timely manner, he still has not apologised.

Many people have described the storming of the Capitol as an attempted coupas took place while Congress was in the middle of the certifying the election results. 

Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York has introduced the COUP Act in Congress. I remember the derisive looks in the eyes of some Members of US Congress when we described what had happened at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the attempted coup on July 15, when 251 of our citizens were killed, and 2,196 were injured. What they said to me after July 15 came to mind when I saw the photographs showing some members hiding on the floor and the fear in their eyes during the raid on the general assembly of Congress last week. I hope the US will learn its lesson from this moment of shame for democracy.

The House of Representatives will vote for the impeachment of President Trump. It is very obvious that President Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time. He will be recorded in US history as the only president to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. 

Many Republicans are telling Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President-elect Joe Biden that doing so will provoke Trump supporters, but Democrats are not interested in those warnings. 

However, since the majority of Republican Senators do not support it, the probability of impeaching President Trump is very low in the Senate. In addition, House Democrats are urging Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and become acting president however Pence has ruled this out.

The result of a new poll carried out by Politico/Morning Consult shows that 63 percent of registered voters hold Trump responsible for the incidents. President Trump's chances in the next presidential race have been significantly reduced, if not wiped out completely because of the latest incident.

President Donald Trump has made five major mistakes since the latest election: not accepting the election loss, inviting supporters to the Capitol and inciting violence with his statements, posting provocative tweets on social media, pressuring state officials to overturn election results in Georgia and showing a lack of leadership in fighting Covid-19

Through Trump’s administration, the country’s energy has depleted and the public is exhausted; the last two weeks have only added fuel to fire.

What is clear is that the leadership of the Republican Party will cut ties with Trump after January 20, one way or another, as there are those who believe that he has caused great damage to the party. President Trump is also seen to be the individual most responsible for the loss of two Sente seats from Georgia, a Republican stronghold, to the Democrats. The Republicans will do whatever they can to stop Trump from becoming a candidate again.

Of course, the most significant development would be that of Trump dividing the party. Even if, say, President-elect Biden and his team have an unsuccessful four years, I still do not see any possibility that President Trump will be re-elected to the White House in 2024.

The only thing we know for certain is that it's been a very unsteady week. There will be extraordinary security measures at the Capitol for Biden’s swearing-in ceremony next week. President Trump’s arrival in 2016 was chaotic, and his departure will follow the same trend.

We continue to experience firsts in American history.

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