Trump's defenders argue, amongst other things, that what he did doesn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense since it can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that his words led to the insurrection (at least now they've admitted that what took place was an insurrection). While most reasonable people, polls show, actually find that hard to swallow, it's not what he did that is really instructive. It's what he didn't do that matters more. While they argue that Trumps might not have seen that his actions could have led to the insurrection and thus he is not to blame, once the insurrection was underway, he can no longer hide behind the "no one could have seen it coming" defense because 'it' was now clearly there and no longer a indeterminable hypothetical. And it was his lack of action (and by some accounts his pleasure in seeing what he had wrought) that is so telling. He took no action to quell the riot although many options were available, both in his executive capacity as commander-in-chief and in his symbolic role as the president sworn to uphold the country's democratic institutions. Watching, unconcerned, from the shore when someone is drowning is tantamount to culpability. Sometimes in-actions speak louder than words.
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