The core of Donald Trump’s impeachment defense is that he’s a private citizen, making it unconstitutional for the U.S. Senate to move forward with a trial.
The only problem with that argument is that the same team of lawyers are also refusing to recognize that Trump lost the election and is a former president, not the current occupant of the Oval Office.
As Dave Weigel of The Washington Post noted on Monday after the ex-president’s legal team released a statement, “The Trump office’s insistence on never calling him ‘former’ president while screaming that he’s a private citizen is genuinely funny. How many private citizens have official seals[?]”
The Trump office’s insistence on never calling him “former” president while screaming that he’s a private citizen is genuinely funny. How many private citizens have official seals https://t.co/Iegl8mSbEx
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 8, 2021
Weigel went on to explain the great lengths to which Trump’s defense team goes to not refer to him as the former president of the United States.
Like, just say “former president Trump is a private citizen.” They don’t! It’s “president” and “45th president” and then, separately, “private citizen.” They prevent the words from touching, like a kid making sure his peas don’t touch his mashed potatoes.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 8, 2021
Trump’s fragile ego is undercutting his defense team’s argument
If Donald Trump’s legal team really wanted to lean in on its “private citizen” impeachment defense, then they would repeatedly refer to him as a former president.
But as conservative commentator Bill Kristol said on Monday, Trump’s ego is standing in the way of that strategy.
“Trump’s vanity requires it to be ‘President Donald J. Trump’s legal team,'” Kristol said. “Trump’s defense strategy requires him to be merely ‘a private citizen.'”
Trump’s vanity requires it to be “President Donald J. Trump’s legal team.”
Trump’s defense strategy requires him to be merely “a private citizen.” pic.twitter.com/xO0uawmFV5
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 8, 2021
It’s no surprise that Donald Trump struggled to find any lawyers willing to represent him in the Senate impeachment trial.
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