If you’re one of the masochists who still on Twitter like myself, you’ve probably seen a pattern rising among the people.
Firstly, you’ve noticed resignations popping up from time to time. Usually, these announcements begin with something along the lines of “following the events at the Captiol” followed by a resignation notice. Former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao have both resigned.
As Mulvaney said, it’s likely he won’t be the last.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of my friends resign over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours, and it’d be completely understandable if they did,” Mulvaney said. “Those who choose to stay, and I have talked some of to them, are choosing to stay because they are concerned that the president might put someone in to make things even worse.”
The other trend gaining steam online is the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment, which effectively removes Donald Trump and puts Mike Pence in charge.
What do these two things have in common?
They’re both really big virtue signals.
Two things have happened that make the 25th Amendment wholly unnecessary. For one, Joe Biden has been officially declared the winner of the 2020 election and the debate is over. Trump is about two weeks out from not being the President anymore. His hands are tied.
Trump has also said that with Biden declared the winner and his official title now President-elect, he will peacefully transition power to him. This announcement by Trump was made public, and despite his claim that the election was stolen, he’s not seeking any further course of action against the election results.
It’s over.
Yet every Tom, Dick, and Jane on Twitter is invoking the 25th Amendment. Even Republican politicians are invoking it like Rep. Adam Kinzinger.
“Sadly, yesterday it became evident that not only has the president abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people’s house, he invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw,” he said during a video posted to Twitter. “When pressed to move and denounce the violence he barely did so.”
“I call for the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people, and that we have a sane captain of the ship,” he added.
Kinzinger says Trump “barely did so” but Trump he must have missed the part where Trump released an entire video telling people to go home in peace. Yes, he acknowledged their anger and agreed with it, but he made it very clear that people needed to go home and respect law and order.
Perhaps Kinzinger didn’t see it because Twitter censored it.
It appears to me that these resignations and attempts at invoking the 25th Amendment are people showing off just how good and proper they are. If they’re Republicans, they want to be able to stand up and say “I was calling for Trump’s removal even when it wasn’t cool to do so,” and pass themselves off as brave.
If they’re Democrats they’re doing it because it’s trendy, and one final slap in the face to Trump before he leaves office is too good of an opportunity to resist.
If we’re being realistic, Trump is over. There’s nothing left to do but take a knee and run down the clock. Trump has said he’s not making any more plays.
At this point, Trump is really just a symbol. His name is a catch-all term that people can either be seen opposing or approving, but in the end, it won’t really do anything. It’s just one more way for people to declare that they supported doing the right thing.
If we’re really looking to move on, then people should stop sensationalizing him or their reactions to him.
It’s over.
