Trump At Risk Of Impeachment

By: Arif Zahran

Editor: Saeid Juwanda

The Capitol Building surrounded by pro-trump protesters seeking to overturn election results (Source: Al-Jazeera)

BANGI, 11 Jan – United States President Donald Trump’s frequent use of seditious statements on social media that led to the storming of the Capitol Building on the 6th of January has put him at risk of impeachment.

According to the Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) of the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and political analyst, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kartini Aboo Talib, “Donald Trump should be blamed and held accountable for the riots as he systematically and consistently rejected his defeat and deceived his own supporters that he had won the United States presidential election.

“Trump can be impeached and prosecuted for threatening public and national security. He should be convicted for his immoral acts, all in the name of maintaining public safety” she added when interviewed by Nadi Bangi.

She also argued that the actions of social media platforms suspending Trump’s account for disseminating information with the intention of causing chaos or threatening public safety are justified, as even freedom of speech has its limits and is not absolute.

Following the riots on the Capitol Building, Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours, then proceeded to suspend it permanently to avoid the risk of further violence.

“We made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” Twitter explained on their official blog.

Facebook also suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for 24 hours, which also then resulted in an indefinite suspension.

Donald Trump’s personal twitter account has been permanently suspended

Jordan Walker, a 20-year-old New York resident, said that those who stormed the Capitol Building had no justification as they were looking to overturn the results of a fair and legitimate election.

“It was also an attempt to engage the legislative branch of the United States government in mass violence, one that is central to our checks and balances system.

When asked whether the suspensions would change anything, Jordan said “Yes, though there is something to be said about the timing. It is far too late as Trump and his supporters had been engaging in disinformation campaigns and outright lies since before he won the election.

“It is a good thing that they are no longer able to organize so easily. However, there is the concern that when these individuals switch to other platforms to communicate, more dangerous echo chambers are created,” he added.

Another respondent who only wanted to be known as Adam, stated that he believes Trump should be impeached, but “doing it nine days before he’s out of the office is a little late. He’s already been impeached once, but they found him not guilty in the senate trial.”

Adam also stated that he believes that Trump would not be found guilty since many Republicans Senators are not willing to go against their own party.

“As the sitting President, he has a large platform, and he has a responsibility to use it wisely. Unfortunately, he has shown incredibly poor judgement. He was giving a speech and called on those in the crowd to march on the Capitol and interrupt the vote to confirm the election results being carried out by Congress.”

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr will be inaugurated on the 20th of January.

Update: The US House of Representatives has voted to impeach Trump last Wednesday for “incitement of insurrection”.