I would call what the GOP engages in "pretzel logic," but that is an insult both to logic and to pretzels.
Before the impeachment trial started up again on Thursday, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) went on MSNBC to attempt to defend her vote against impeaching Donald Trump, and her alleged distress about the insurrection he incited on January 6, 2021. Andrea Mitchell asked her about her vote in the House, and if she would still cast that vote after seeing and hearing the evidence House Impeachment Managers have laid out. Mace affirmed that she would, indeed.
"I did take a few moments to watch the video that the Democrats presented. I only got halfway through. I felt physically ill. I cried when I watched it. I know firsthand that rhetoric does and can lead to violence," she said. Then she (of course) made herself out to be a victim, claiming she'd also been the target of deadly threats from both Republicans and Democrats. But she attempted to appear emotional by saying, "Watching that video brought me to my knees. It was very emotional to see that and what we went through. I never want to see this again in our country."
Yeah, the way you accomplish that is by convicting Trump and barring him from ever holding office, lady.
Mitchell pressed her, asking if she was then disturbed that Trump didn't intervene for six entire hours while the entire Capitol was under siege. "[H]e was pressed to intervene, and when he kept going after the vice president, Mike Pence, who was sheltering with his family and under threat with the protesters, the mob going through -- they weren't protesters, they were a mob and rioters going through and saying, 'Hang Mike Pence!'" Mitchell said. "They even constructed a gallows outside the Capitol."
Rep. Mace basically answered that yes, she watched the whole video, Pence sure is a swell guy, and the rioters were terrorists. Mitchell broke in to try to focus this dumb bunny on the terrorists' leader, Donald Trump. "What about the president -- I wanted to ask about the president's role though," she asked Mace.
She admitted that "the" rhetoric "can" lead to violence.
How precious.
Then she quickly moved on to how impeachment robbed Trump of due process, and made sure to mention that she did vote to certify the electoral college, so she could still claim her "moderate" card. She then showed her entire uneducated ass.
"Impeaching a president who is no longer president has never been done before in this country," she concluded.
Craig Melvin jumped in, "But Congresswoman, he WAS impeached while he was president." (Ruh roh, Nancy.)
"Right. This is a second impeachment trial. We have never impeached a president who is no longer president. That's never been done in our nation's history, to my knowledge," she fumbled.
Hoo, boy. See, now, Nancy, Melvin meant that his second impeachment also happened while he was president. Trump is the former president now. But when the House impeached him for the second time back in January, he was still president. Do you mean "try" someone who is no longer president? Do you get the difference? Should we google and talk about other impeachments?
Craig Melvin clearly did not have the time, and decided to go back to her BS about rhetoric maybe sometimes having the slightest chance of causing a teensy bit of violence.
"Yeah, well, also, Congresswoman Mace, you just said when you look at the rhetoric, it can lead to violence as we watch the president's legal team continue to make their way into the Capitol," Melvin said. "'When you look at the rhetoric, it can lead to violence.' This is rhetoric that DID lead to violence. It led to DEADLY violence. How do you square the two?" he asked.
"Well, it's very difficult to," she said, before she spent the next minutes or so talking about how she was also threatened by people who didn't like her politics by people...wait for it...wait for it...
ON BOTH SIDES.
