Despite his refusal to concede defeat, outgoing President Donald Trump will be replaced by President-elect Joe Biden on January 20 after losing to Biden in the 2020 election.
As the lamb was sure to follow, Trump's Republican allies in Congress and in state leadership positions have echoed the President's constant stream of misinformation designed to undermine faith in American democracy.
One of Trump's most devout defenders in Congress, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), is focused on painting a hysterical picture of Democrats hell-bent on revenge against Trump for his four year reign.
In a Wednesday morning tweet, Gaetz decried Democrats for supposedly wanting to put Trump in prison.
This is now the Left's goal - throw President Trump, his administration officials, his family and his supporters in prison.
This is where we are now. Disgusting. https://t.co/ryYHTjoBdr
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 18, 2020
The thing is, there's enough evidence to charge Trump for multiple crimes.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress that, if Trump weren't President, there would be enough to charge him with obstruction of justice. The President's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified as well to Trump's multiple purported acts of fraud, such as inflating the value of his properties for personal benefit.
Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers have argued since it is Justice Department policy that a sitting President can't be charged with a crime, Trump should be above all investigation as well. The Justice Department used this to justify the Trump administration's instruction to defy all congressional subpoenas for testimony and documents.
Unlike Trump, one of Republicans' favorite targets for prison—2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton—has testified for dozens of hours and provided hundreds of thousands of documents in a slew of investigations.
None of them turned up evidence to justify criminal charges.
Nevertheless, Trump repeatedly called to "lock her up," an infamous chant gleefully repeated by his supporters.
People reminded Gaetz of this in response to his sanctimonious rebuke against efforts to prosecute Trump after he leaves office.
Are those "lock her up" chants also disgusting?
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 19, 2020
Gaetz himself has repeatedly called for the imprisonment of Clinton and other Democrats.
Awkward.