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Donald Trump has always been obsessed with his place in history. It’s now cemented: no other occupant of the Oval Office achieved the distinction of being impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors. The vote was 232-197. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in making this historic action bipartisan.

The articles brought against him read, in part: 

On January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College. […] Shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump, addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, DC. There, he reiterated false claims that “we won this election, and we won it by a landslide”. He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—lawless action at the Capitol, such as: “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore”. […]

In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.

Wherefore, Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.

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Newly elected Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri came into office on the mandate that she is fighting for Black lives. She has been very clear that she intends to do everything in her power to help save the lives of millions of Americans mistreated by a racist and unequal justice system. Bush is also very aware that there is a history of white supremacy in our country that is deeply embedded in the institution she is now hoping to reform. Bush, like every Black person who has risen into a politically powerful position before her, is now faced with the tangible political and physical violence that always accompanies the threat she poses to white supremacists and their anxieties.

On Wednesday, in a room filled with Republican white supremacists who want to bullshit America into believing they have some claim to the concept of “unity,” Bush delivered a short, powerful, and pitch perfect reason why she would be voting to impeach Donald Trump. This will be the second time Donald Trump is impeached during his presidency, and considering his actions over the last four years, the only surprising thing is that Donald Trump will have only been impeached twice.

This is the entire 30-second speech Bush gave. One might consider it the Gettysburg Address of impeachment speeches:

Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I we rise in support of the article of impeachment against Donald J Trump. If we fail to remove a white supremacist president who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it’s communities like Missouri’s First District that suffer the most. The 117th Congress must understand that we have a mandate to legislate in defense of Black lives. The first step in that process is to root out white supremacy starting with impeaching the white supremacist in chief. Thank you and I yield back.

Fin.

Rep. Bush’s speech was cheered by Democratic representatives in the chamber and booed by … some others.

Fin, part deux.

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How does a small, mostly rural state soar up the charts to exceed every other such state when it comes to killing the largest percentage of its population? It definitely helps to have Kristi Noem as governor.

What that openness has earned her state is an astounding 12% positive rate for COVID-19. In this case, that’s not 12% of tests coming back positive. That’s 12% of the total state population testing positive. There is also good evidence that the entire Midwest surge that hit multiple states in the fall is tied to Noem’s “openness,” which she demonstrated by holding the Sturgis motorcycle rally without restriction. That surge not only spread across a dozen states, the echoes are still going, contributing to new record levels of COVID-19 each day.

So as the nation hits 4,281 deaths in a single day, everyone should take time out to remember Kristi Noem for all that she, and other Republican leaders like her, have done for this nation.

While Republicans in Congress have made a point of placing their loyalty to Donald Trump above the institutions of the nation—right up to the point of encouraging insurrection—Noem, and other Republican governors like her, have placed support of Trump’s policies ahead of the lives of their citizens. Which is worse may be impossible to determine. Both are simply horrendous.

In order to show their support for Trump, Republican leaders have forced open schools even in areas where COVID-19 numbers were high. They have not just failed to issue simple mask mandates that could provide an immediate effect in helping their states; multiple Republican governors have issued orders that prohibit cities and counties from issuing local mask mandates. That includes Gregg Abbott in Texas and Doug Ducey in Arizona, both of whom were forced to lower those barriers after cases in their states exploded. 

Despite having guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that identified reasonable stages for reopening businesses, Republican governors in state after state hurdled past those guidelines to reopen much faster than the level of disease would indicate. And those governors have been uniformly neglectful when it comes to re-imposing restrictions when cases rise. That’s how Texas, Arizona, and Florida have returned to the top of the “new cases” charts even after they were at the peak of a previous surge over the summer.

Of course, it’s not just red states that are suffering. On Tuesday, California alone reported an astounding 605 deaths. Those losses were centered in the Los Angeles area where hospitals have now been overrun for weeks. It’s too early to be sure, but that number may indicate that the case fatality rate in the area is moving up due to the simple unavailability of ICU beds, exhausted and overburdened staff, and a shortage of oxygen.

Meanwhile, though earlier reports of a new, more infectious United States strain of the coronavirus were largely a theory pushed by Dr. Deborah Birx to excuse continued failures in containing COVID-19, it now seems that two new strains may have actually emerged. As CNBC reports, researchers believe these strains emerged in the last three weeks and appear to contain some of the same changes to spike proteins as new strains in the U.K. and South Africa. These new strains may be more contagious, but there is not currently any indication that they are either more deadly or better able to evade vaccines.

That more contagious strains should emerge over time is exactly what should be expected. In fact, the ability to spread is practically the only evolutionary pressure on viruses. That more contagious version could be more deadly or less deadly and it would likely have no effect on its ability to spread; the most contagious period for SARS-CoV-2 is in the days just before and after the appearance of first symptoms. If patients uniformly burst into flames a month after infection or 100% recovered without incident, it would make little difference in the rate of spread.

There have been diseases in the past where more damaging variants have been replaced by a rapidly spreading version with mild symptoms. Or in which an extremely deadly disease limits its own spread by knocking off hosts before they can effectively pass on the virus. Neither of those cases describe what is happening with this coronavirus.

What can be expected is that more variants will continue to arise and, if given sufficient time and a large enough pool of hosts, a variant is likely to appear that is not restricted by current vaccines. This makes it critical that vaccines are distributed widely and rapidly simply to reduce the ability of the virus to spread and bring down the potential sources of a vaccine-breaking mutation. 

There is good news on that front: Both vaccine distribution to states and the critical “last inch” from syringe into arm appear to be improving. Vaccines are getting out there more quickly and are actually getting into the population, if not always to the people who might need them most. In spite of stories showing reluctance by some to take the vaccine, public offerings appear to be so overrun that appointments are being filled within seconds of announcements.

There is also one other bit of good news on the way: Johnson & Johnson, which produced a single-dose vaccine that entered phase 3 trials late in 2020, has announced that it expects to issue initial results within two weeks. It’s not clear whether the company will immediately apply for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration or wait for more cases in trial volunteers to give definitive results. It also appears that the company is running behind on production and may not catch up to earlier projections until spring. However, it does seem there could soon be a third vaccine available in the U.S. 

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Ten days after joining Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene continues building the case for her removal from the House of Representatives. In the wake of the violent attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to keep Congress from formalizing his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, Greene tweeted out another incitement to violence.

“These Democrats are the enemies to the American people who are leading the impeachment witch hunt against President Trump,” Greene tweeted Wednesday. “AGAIN!”

Then, ominously, “They will be held accountable.”

Enemies to the American people who will be held accountable, huh? That sounds like a call to violence from a member of Congress who described Jan. 6 as a “1776 moment.” When you have spent months trying to overturn an election and then compared the day on which a violent attack on the Capitol was planned to the American Revolution, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt on “enemies of the people” who “will be held accountable.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene is dangerous and she’s reveling in it. She’s positioning herself as some kind of brave freedom fighter, but she’s standing on the sidelines, in a position of privilege, egging others on to do her dirty work. She’s joined Trump in spending months working to convince his followers that the election was stolen—every single fact to the contrary—and now she’s trying to use that belief to get people killed. To get elected Democrats killed in a larger coup attempt.

She needs to go before (more) people are killed, not after.

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The new security measures at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., were predictable. Also predictable, the response of pro-gun, pro-school metal detector conservatives whining about having to go through metal detectors. Many of the “freshman” representatives, like Republican Lauren Boebert of Colorado have been openly flaunting their gun carrying around the Capitol. They do this because they’re cowardly folks, with small ideas, fragile egos, and an inability to manage the rage they feel that Santa Claus didn’t turn them into the most popular people in the universe.

Like Boebert, Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is a special kind of terrible. A day after the insurrection on the Capitol building, Cawthorn told a newspaper that he had a gun on him, “Fortunately, I was armed, so we would have been able to protect ourselves.” While it is against the law for even permitted citizens to carry firearms on Capitol grounds, these officials are trying to stretch an old rule that allows members of Congress to keep guns in their office and carry them around “Capitol grounds.” Of course, even this rule does not allow for guns on the House floor—a law that Cawthorn and Boebert may have already violated.

Cawthorn has not responded to questions about how he happened to have his concealed firearm on him when the Capitol building was beset by insurrectionists. If he was able to go back to his office and retrieve his gun, or someone else was, in between the point when the House chamber was closed down and representatives were escorted to safety, is not known. In fact, it seems rather unlikely. Cawthorn’s communications director Micah Bock released a statement that didn’t assuage anyone’s fears that Cawthorn isn’t absolutely breaking the law. “Rep. Cawthorn exercises his 2nd Amendment rights, as well as the privileges available to members of Congress. Congressman Cawthorn seeks to follow the guidance of Capitol police and is immensely grateful for the work that they do.”

Cawthorn, like a good bootlicking Republican, has attempted to decry the new security regulations, while also saying he isn’t entirely against them, reportedly telling the news that he “didn’t want to be patted down like a criminal,” while also saying “I had no problem being wanded. But I don’t want to be handled and patted down just because I’m in a wheelchair.”

Is it the wheelchair thing or the criminal thing, Rep. Cawthorn? Because Black and brown kids in city schools without wheelchairs and with wheelchairs go through that every day and they haven’t promoted an insurrection against the government. As one House Democrat told CNN, “Until there’s an investigation and until we understand our colleagues’ level of complicity in the attack, we don’t know how involved they really were. Until we have answers, I don’t think we should trust them—not all of them of course, but some of them.”

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Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano has been a big anti-coronavirus lockdown protest organizer for the past few months. This is basically most of what one needs to know about Mastriano. That and you might remember how after the election—the one being contested on no grounds other than seditious ones—Mastriano, his son, and his son’s friend had to abruptly leave a secret meeting in the Oval Office with Donald Trump because they had tested positive for COVID-19.

This gave the world about a week or two of no Mastriano news. And even with God and nature telling Mastriano to sit this one out, you cannot stop someone hell-bent on making their brand fascism. In the least surprising news of the last two weeks, it turns out the Pennsylvania official was an active part of the Washington, D.C. protest-turned-riot-turned-insurgency at the Capitol building. Calls for his resignation have grown, especially after social media posts showing Mastriano and two-time Republican loser Rick Saccone surfaced showing the two fake-triots at the Washington event. Mastriano also reportedly organized one of the bus trips from Pennsylvania down to the rally.

Mastriano tried to defend himself on Facebook, saying: “At no point did we enter the Capitol building, at no point did we tread upon the Capitol steps, and at no point did we tread upon police lines,” and stated he left before the violence began. He also called the riot repugnant while blaming it on a few bad apples in the crowd. This appeal by Mastriano has not satisfied many. Reps. Brian Sims and Tim Kearney continue to call for his resignation.

WHYY reports that records show the Pennsylvania senator used “thousands of dollars on charter buses ahead of the Washington D.C.” Those “thousands” came from his campaign and as such are logged into his campaign finance ledger.

Below you can watch Mastriano appearing on some right-wing radio show on Jan. 4, saying things like: “Where are we at as a nation? We’re calling out to God for divine intervention. I feel like my back is up against the Red Sea right now, and we’re waiting for something to happen, some revelation to come forth, and part the waters and the truth will come forth.” He also had this to say: “But on our side here, I feel like Wile E. Coyote, you know, we are so self-righteous and think we’re so smart while the Democrats run circles around us and we don’t even realize that, you know, basically we’re in this death match with the Democrat Party where we’re playing by all these, you know, Chatham House Rules and what have you. And meanwhile, they’re running circles around us.”

”Death match?” Gotcha. It’s interesting that Mastriano says he’s like Wile E. Coyote, a predatory animal that keeps on trying to murder another animal and is outsmarted at all points. Is the predator white guys with guns? Just asking so we can all understand how you think of our democracy.

Here’s Mastriano rallying the crowd on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., telling them that “it’s time to rise up, Americans.”

Obviously feeling the pressure, Mastriano posted a placard on his Twitter account early Wednesday, Jan. 13, that reads: “Please, do not participate in rallies or protests over next ten days Let’s focus on praying for our nation during these troubling times”. Guess he won’t be using any of his campaign finances for new bus rides to the Capitol.

Here he is talking about Wile E. Coyote.

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From the GOP rank and file to those in leadership roles, Republican lawmakers are placing their bets—about their own political futures, the future of the party, and even how history will reflect on this fraught moment for the country.

And while Democrats’ resolve to hold Donald Trump to account for inciting violence has proven uniquely unifying for most of the country, the Republican party is dividing amongst itself between those who think Trump is culpable and even impeachable and those who have hitched their raft irrevocably to Trumptanic. And make no mistake, Trump’s support is tanking, even among Republican voters. A Morning Consult poll of GOP voters released Wednesday found that just 42% of them said they would vote for Trump in a 2024 presidential primary. Given what Trump has done, that level of support still seems high, but it’s slipped 12 points from a Nov. 21-23 survey when the outlet posed the same question. And it’s a far cry from the high-80s/low-90s support Trump has enjoyed among Republican voters throughout his term.

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House GOP’s No. 3, became the highest-ranking Republican Tuesday to firmly plant her flag on the side of impeaching Trump, saying, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

Last Wednesday, Cheney was attempting to convince her GOP colleagues to vote for certification when she received a phone call from her father informing her that Trump had attacked her in his rally speech. In her statement Tuesday declaring she would vote to impeach Trump, she wrote, “The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not.”

Cheney’s declaration marked a sharp break with her fellow GOP leaders, Reps. Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, both of whom echoed Trump’s post-election fraud claims and then voted to reject the election results even after his cultists stormed the Capitol. 

Meanwhile in the upper chamber, soon-to-be Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, signaled his much squishier lean toward potentially convicting Trump through anonymous sources to several different outlets.

Among rank and file GOP members, a smaller anti-Trump cadre has emerged with some members faulting Trump and his GOP enablers for the siege and others even stepping up to back impeachment. 

“To allow the President of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy. For that reason, I cannot sit by without taking action,” New York Rep. John Katko, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee and a former federal prosecutor, wrote in a statement. 

The reality is, many of these GOP members stepping forward also fear for their lives now that Trump has turned the party into a raging mob. CNN is reporting that many of Republican lawmakers are getting direct pressure from Trump not to defect on the impeachment vote, which isn’t exactly surprising but certainly underscores the urgency of his removal from office. McCarthy has reportedly urged his pro-Trump members not to verbally attack pro-impeachment Republicans because their lives could be on the line.

But at the end of the day, impeachment is happening, with or without House Republicans. And momentum is clearly on the side of Democrats’ strong stand against Trump as corporate titans, big tech, public opinion, military leadership, and other entities join the push to draw a line in the sand. 

The McCarthys of the world have bet wrong. There’s simply no way he can erase his fealty to Trump, and he also doesn’t have the spine to disavow Trump. And as hard as it is to imagine a Trump loyalist losing his leadership role in the party, it’s equally as hard to imagine having a GOP leader who can’t fundraise because he’s been shunned by corporate donors and polite society alike as a seditionist. That is simply an impossible position for a GOP congressional leader.  

And if there’s one way to judge exactly how incomprehensible that posture is, it’s by looking at the Republican leader of the Senate caucus. McConnell’s lower-profile openness to potentially convicting Trump is both a seismic shift and a window into his vision for safeguarding the future existence of the party. And if McConnell ultimately supports conviction of Trump, some GOP sources are openly wondering if the 67 votes to convict might actually materialize. 

“If Mitch is a yes, he’s done,” said one Senate GOP source who asked not to be named, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, McCarthy has been running around pushing to censure Trump in an effort to ostensibly hold Trump accountable without actually holding him accountable. Safe to say McCarthy’s political fortunes aren’t particularly bright at this moment. Perhaps he can form a support group with Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri. 

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The final debate to impeach Donald Trump for inciting insurrection is currently underway in the House of Representatives . A vote is expected later this afternoon. 

Follow the speeches and vote here.

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A retired U.S. Navy SEAL special warfare operator who videotaped himself on Facebook bragging about “breaching the Capitol” last Wednesday was obviously seeking attention, and as of recently, he got it in the form of FBI questioning, according to ABC News. Adam Newbold, 45, was on his way home from the Capitol riot when he said on camera that he was “proud” of the deadly attempted coup and that “destruction” was necessary.

“There are stories to tell from generations upon generations, um, that hopefully, uh … that hopefully it pans out to be a positive revolution,” he said. “HOOYAH!” He also attempted to explain away vandalism that occurred in the riot. “There was destruction, breaching the Capitol, our building, our house,” he said in the video since deleted from Facebook. “And, um, to get in you had to destroy doors and windows to get in.”

Newbold, who wore a T-shirt representing his firearms training company Advanced Training Group Worldwide, seemed to imply in the video that he witnessed the destruction himself and that there may be more to come. “I’m hoping the message was strong enough,” he said. “Unfortunately, maybe it wasn’t. I’d hate to see this escalate more.”

In another video posted on his YouTube page Dec. 13, Newbold talked about “a storm coming.” “Hello patriots,” he started the video. “There are dark forces in this world pulling the strings behind the curtain, and you’d better believe it’s not just Joe Biden because we have bigger worries.”

He continued:

“I’m not an anti-government guy, but I am anti-corrupt government. I believe in the Constitution of the United States. Most all of my military, law enforcement, FBI, CIA, and other federal agent friends as well as Intelligence Committee personnel feel the same way. There’s a storm coming. Noone’s coming to save us. It’s up to we the people to stand up and voice our opinions strongly. Prepare yourself, for you are the protector of family, friends and country. Get ready for whatever’s coming. God bless our country. Keep us all safe, all safe, right and left-leaning personnel. Everyone thinks they’re doing what’s right for this country. Democrats are not bad people. I’m a Republican. Republicans are not bad people. They believe in what they’re doing, but they are, we are, being manipulated, and we’re putting, we’re being pit against each other for the purpose, I believe, of destroying our country. We’re not going to let it happen. Stay safe and effective.”

A spokesperson for the Naval Special Warfare Command declined to comment to ABC News. “It would be inappropriate to discuss the actions of an individual, whose reserve service ended almost four years ago, that are subject to an ongoing federal investigation,” the spokesperson said.