My Outrage is Unoriginal but No Less Real

But her e-mails!

Look, I know this is not original, and than any number of commentators have said the same thing much better than I have, but the Republican complaint that impeaching Trump is divisive is an absolute outrage!

First of all, when Joe Biden was first elected and talked of unity, Trump supporters angrily rejected the offer, saying they were not willing to forgive the way Democrats had treated them for the past four years. And now they expect to be taken seriously talking about unity after spending the last two months denying the outcome of an election because they lost?

So it's divisive to impeach Trump, is it?  

You know what else is divisive?  Refusing the accept the results of a free and fair election.  Filing sixty completely frivolous lawsuits to overturn the outcome. Pressuring state legislatures to override the will of the voters and send their own slates of electors.  Pressuring Congress to refuse to certify the outcome.  Demanding that the Georgia Secretary of State rig the vote. And when all that fails, inciting your followers to to march on the Capitol and force Congress to vote your way.  Donald Trump did all those things.  So don't come whining to me that it is divisive to make him face consequences for it.

So what, you may say.  Granted it was divisive, but being divisive is not an impeachable offense.  Otherwise, what President would ever have escaped impeachment.

Granted.  Divisiveness is not an impeachable offense, although Trump's extreme instance of it makes any criticism of the other side look disingenuous.  And I agree that it is not impeachable to assert without evidence that an election was rigged.  It is not impeachable to file sixty completely frivolous lawsuits seeking to overturn the outcome (although it may be grounds for court sanctions).  It is not impeachable to bring political pressure on state legislatures or members of Congress to override the results. 

I am even open to argument that withholding military aid duly appropriated by Congress to force a foreign leader to give you dirt on an opponent is not impeachable.

But trying to rig the outcome of the Georgia election is clear electoral fraud and strikes at the core of our whole system of elective government.  That is (or should be) an impeachable offense.

And if inciting an insurrection against a lawful election is not an impeachable offense, I can't imagine what is.