Sunday’s signature political talk shows shifted focus this weekend from the novel Wuhan coronavirus to a repeat impeachment for President Donald Trump as calls for removal grow on both sides of the aisle following last week’s capitol unrest.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will again impeach the president just days before the new Democratic government takes office if Trump refuses to resign.
“If the president does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues last week, despite less than two weeks left in office for Trump.
Republican Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Lisa Murkowski joined Pelosi’s call for Trump’s resignation but stopped shy of endorsing impeachment. Democrats say a House vote on articles could come as soon as this week, with just days to go until Biden takes over.
Despite growing talk of an eleventh-hour second impeachment, which pledges to further divide a polarized nation just as the last one did a year ago, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky warned there’s no time for an adequate trial in the upper chamber before Biden’s inauguration.
Such proceedings, the Senate leader said, would require the consent of all 100 senators to be conducted while Trump remains in power. A multi-week trial could consume the first days of a Biden presidency, impeding progress on cabinet nominations, during which Trump would already be an ex-president.
NEWS —> McConnell sends memo to GOP senators outlining how an impeachment trial would work if the House goes thru. In essence, McConnell explains how an impeachment trial would consume the first days of Biden’s presidency. Memo exclusively obtained by WaPo https://t.co/q2f2Quum1Z pic.twitter.com/SAkVVsqPvb
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 9, 2021
The Sunday shows reflected how another impeachment is reducing their attention to the coronavirus. While the novel coronavirus brewed into a global pandemic overseas, the U.S. government and corporate media remained distracted by the sham impeachment proceedings throughout the winter.
The same circumstances are now repeating in wake of the most massive vaccination campaign in human history while hysteria over new variants provoke fears of an endemic. New economic numbers, meanwhile, show where the economy is headed as distribution of vaccines lag and jobless numbers rise for the first time since April.
According to transcripts pulled from Grabien, a multimedia subscription service, ABC’s “This Week” mentioned “impeachment” 32 times, as did “Fox News Sunday” 26 times, NBC’s “Meet the Press” 20 times, and CNN’s “State of the Union” 18 times. Each mentioned “coronavirus” fewer than 10.
Pelosi’s pointless impeachment, launched for the sole purpose of banning Trump from ever running for president again, is already beginning to bear its consequences.
