warned against aspiring tyrants who would aggrandize themselves—and threaten the Republic—by stirring popular fury to advance personal ambition.[1] The founding generation was familiar with leaders who provoked mobs for their personal gain and threatened the political order. They would have immediately recognized President Trump’s conduct on January 6 as an impeachable offense.
B. President Trump Attacked the Democratic Process
The gravity of President Trump’s offense is magnified by the fact that it arose from a course of conduct aimed at subverting and obstructing the election results. Since President George Washington willingly relinquished his office after serving two terms, our Nation has seen an unbroken chain of peaceful transitions from one presidential administration to the next—that is, until January 6, 2021. President Trump’s incitement of insurrection disrupted the Joint Session of Congress as it performed its duty under the Twelfth Amendment to count the Electoral College votes.[2] Although this assault was put down after several hours, and the Joint Session fulfilled its responsibility later that night, President Trump’s abuse of office threatened and injured our democratic order. Under absolutely no circumstance may a candidate for any position, at any level of government, respond to electoral defeat by provoking armed violence.
As evidenced by the statements of William Davie, George Mason, and Gouverneur Morris at the Constitutional Convention, the Framers “anticipated impeachment if a President placed his own interest in retaining power above the national interest in free and fair elections.”[3] At a time when ‘‘democratic self-government existed almost nowhere on earth,’’[4] the Framers imagined a society ‘‘where the true principles of representation are understood and practised, and where all authority
