Trump's impeachment trial and the Big Lie of the stolen election

In her February 9 commentary on Tuesday's proceedings on the Trump impeachment trial, Heather Cox Richardson comments on what Timothy Snyder calls "Trump’s big lie" that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen that also "set a precedent" for future Republican coup attempts, which he summarizes this way: "A Republican presidential candidate who loses an election should be appointed anyway by Congress."

Cox writes:

What led the rioters on January 6, 2021, to try to hurt our elected officials and overturn the legal results of the 2020 election was Trump’s long-time assertion that he won in a landslide and the presidency had been stolen from him.

This big lie, as observers are calling it, is not one of Trump’s many and random lies, it is the rallying cry for a movement to destroy American democracy. He is building a movement based on the idea that his supporters are the only ones truly defending the nation, because they—not the people who certified the 2020 election—are the ones who know the true outcome of the election. He is creating a narrative in which he is the only legitimate leader of the nation and anyone who disagrees is a traitor to the Constitution.

As [Rhode Island Democratic Congressman David] Cicilline noted, even after the riot Trump refused to repudiate that big lie. And now, even in the face of impeachment he has not repudiated it. Indeed, he has doubled down on it, refusing to admit he is a “former” president. His supporters haven’t admitted it, either, including his supporters who sit in Congress. None of those who challenged the counting of the electoral votes on January 6 and 7 has admitted it was a political stunt. Now, they are arguing that impeachment is a partisan attack on the part of Democrats.

If Republican senators permit Trump to get away with the big lie, it must, logically, take over the Republican Party. [my emphasis]

She's right that it would be a logical progression. Even though "logically" is a tricky word to apply to decision-making in the Trumpified Republican Party.

Dahlia Lithwick notes (This Is Not Representative Democracy Slate 02/08/2021), "No matter what case Democrats present [in the impeachment trial], Republicans are almost certainly going to stick together and protect the former president. The weeks between the House vote and the Senate trial have only worked to ensure that this comes true."

Given the structural advantages in the electoral system the Republicans currently have, which she also discusses, she reminds us how serious the Republican Party's hostility to democracy is to the current US form of Constitutional government:

It is not helpful or useful for Democrats to approach this impeachment trial wrapped in Hamlet’s thick black cloak of gloom and destructive self-talk. Going on the record to vehemently oppose violent armed rebellion that led to five deaths and abject terror in the seat of government is hardly a whimsical principle upon which to stand firm. But the coming days should not just be a teachable moment about Republicans and their unwillingness to cut loose the twisted and violent conspiracy theories that were the heart of Trumpism. This trial should also remind everyone that democracy itself has been systematically warped in ways that shut out the voices of most reasonable Americans, and that these same forces are working to further suppress their reasonable voices in the years to come. The American people think Donald Trump should be held accountable for what he did, and Americans paying attention are also completely correct to assume that he will not be [in the impeachment trial]. That is an obvious problem that has become so obvious that we’ve nearly forgotten that there are things we can and should do about it. [my emphasis]

I would add that the problem will only be confounded if Trump is not professionally and independently investigated by national and state officials for any serious violations of the law that he may have committed, both before and during his Presidency.