Jamie Raskin, the head of the Democratic prosecutors of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump concluded the two days devoted to their indictments, Thursday, February 11, by inviting the jurors to rely on their ” common meaning “. This loan from the pamphleteer Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was on the part of the elected representative of Maryland a call to speak out on the basis of the elements patiently delivered to the audience. According to him, they demonstrate the reality of “Incitement to insurrection” whose former president is accused for his role in the assault given by some of his faithful against the Congress of the United States on January 6. This attack had been preceded by a virulent speech in which he had invited his followers to march on the Capitol.
The House of Representatives prosecutors had the task of binding one to the other. The negligent sponsor of an attempted coup without precedent in American history, the former president facilitated it by leaving in its wake, in the months preceding this descent into the abyss, a heap of elements to charge. Dozens of messages posted on Twitter and as many speeches made it possible to reconstruct the trap of a “Big lie”, according to the prosecution, which closed on January 6 on the president and his supporters.
The impossibility of demonstrating that the presidential election of November 3 had been rigged, the exhaustion of legal remedies and the resistance of the leaders of the decisive states to his pressures to modify the results led Donald Trump, “Chief instigator”, a worst-case scenario in the eyes of prosecutors. “Just like building a fire, you don’t start with the flames. Donald Trump, for months and months, pieced together tinder, kindling, and throwing logs to make his supporters believe the only way to lose was to steal the victory. So, in case of defeat, President Trump was ready to strike the match ”, summarized Eric Swalwell (California).
“Trump sent us”
On Wednesday, the prosecution described its activism, before the fateful day, in order to mobilize its base to lead it towards Congress, the very day of the certification of the results which would seal its fate irreparably. She contrasted her energy then with her inaction, when the time came, as her supporters wreaked havoc on the beating heart of American democracy. The latter had not been stingy, nor of pieces of evidence. “Trump sent us”, “We listen to Trump”, “We are waiting and taking the orders of our president”, recalled the testimonies gathered by Diana DeGette (Colorado).
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