Trump | The HollywoodBowles

I guess impeaching a president is a little like riding a bike, with one modification: Not only do you remember the process; you become better at it.

Just look at how streamlined impeachment was this time around. There was no dallying on a charge; no bickering over wording, no debate over the meaning of “I want you to do me a favor, though.” We didn’t have to learn another country, or another obscure foreign diplomat’s name; no Ukrainian recipes to remember. There was even a highlight reel!

Think about it: When have we ever seen a crime and trial within six weeks? The rest of our legal system should be so brisk.

Of course, doing it better doesn’t mean a different outcome. The verdict is as predetermined as O.J.’s murder trial — and just as sensible.

But that’s the beauty of the theatrical encore we get to the Trump presidency. Just as Donald Trump is the most honest liar to ever hold political office, so too are his supporters. Unlike Trump, however, the GOP must put its fealty to the mad king in writing.

They did it on Insurrection Day, and they will do it on Impeachment Day. They have said, in the form of a roll call vote, that to be a proper conservative, one must assert feeling over fact, faith over evidence. If you have a hunch about something, they argue, that’s enough to challenge the reality of it.

And the reality is: Donald Trump is above the law in conservative eyes. Full stop.

But there is reason to be optimistic. While House impeachment managers made their case to persuade a Senatorial jury the first two days, The final day of prosecution was made to persuade the nation — or at least an evidence-based nation. And granted, that may be only 55 percent of America. Maybe less. But that is America of the present.

But even that 45% must now ask themselves: Do I want my vote to become a lifetime appointment? Because that the goal in the first coup attempt.

It will be fascinating to see what the GOP becomes in the next two years — presumably in the vacuum of Twitter space — without a circus leader. Perhaps it will find a new Great Leader. Perhaps a Cruz. Or Hawley. Or Taylor-Green. Maybe a Trump. The Republican Party has been a cult of personality since Reagan, so there’s no reason to assume that will cease.

But in the impeachment sequel (which, like the Godfather II and Empire Strikes Back, eclipsed the original), we have seen those in office willing to sign a petition opposing the factual. That strikes me as risky strategy for those seeking higher office in the next election cycle.

Just a hunch.

Facebook and Shopify boot Trump following Capitol siege - MarketWatch

^{“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”}

— Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Shhh, did you hear that?

Me either.

Isn’t it beautiful?

That wonderful audio void comes courtesy of Big Tech, which fulfilled its moral obligation on January 8 by removing the megaphone from the lips of Donald Trump and other unhinged conspiracy theorists — the first time that’s happened since Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf created the internet to share government research data in the 1960’s.

Who actually invented the Internet? - Quora — *_{Vint Cerf, left, and Bob Kahn}*

A few decades after the internet’s creation came its impenetrable armor: Section 230. The legislation holds that internet platforms like Twitter and Facebook cannot be held legally responsible for defamatory content. While the 26 words of Section 230 have been credited with creating the internet, that’s not true. Cat videos created the internet.

But Section 230 did create fake news.

And removing it would largely solve the problem.

It is that simple. While nothing can prevent a writer from concocting fiction, holding an outlet liable for libel mandates an additional level of caution before publishing. Newspapers have grappled with it for decades: They can’t publish a libelous letter to the editor and skirt prosection. It’s time big tech — Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and Microsoft — faced the same scrutiny. They can afford the lawyers.

Twitter must have sensed it was on the hook when it de-platformed Trump and nixed the accounts of more than 100,000 “Stop the Steal” cultists two days after they stormed and graffitied the U.S. Capitol. Since then, Big Tech has also squelched websites like Parler — and thousands of its imbalanced patrons. That’s why your uncle is forwarding less shit.

On Thursday, Politico called the Trump Twitter ban a “priceless gift” to Democrats, and said the move “realigned the political universe and shielded the new president from what surely would have been rabid attacks from his predecessor.”

It begs the question: What took Twitter so long? While Trump and his slackwits surely aren’t done braying conspiracy theories and white male grievances, the radio silence is a blissful respite from four years of MAGA programming. In irony no Republican will catch, conservatives were bitten by the rabid pit bull they raised; namely, private enterprise. Twitter is an American success story that would have been a sentinel for Republicans in another era. In this era, it’s just playing the boss in Celebrity Apprentice.

Speaking of which: The great thing about American capitalism is that it demands that anyone, including angry white men, have the same right to a social media platform as anyone else. So launch your Facebook, announce your new party, hold press conferences about your plans to secede. At least it would be honest and would no doubt draw millions. Best of luck, sincerely, because every vote should count.

Parler, The Alt-Right Twitter For Trump Fans, Is Being Taken Down By Apple, Google & Amazon

The beauty of repealing 230 is that Washington won’t need to bother coming up with a system of implementation. Just name the revision Liable for Libel, and the courts will do the rest. They decide what’s defamatory and libelous, anyway. Simply add Big Tech among the susceptible. When lawsuit money is at stake — Big Tech Lawsuit Money — does anyone doubt that Silicon Valley will discover a system to check accuracy?

For as much as FOX News bellows that conservatives are being censored, the truth is that conservatives simply are not being coddled as they were for four years. After all, the angriest tweeter in America also happened to run the Justice Department and the FCC. Who was going to crack down on him — or his chamber maids?

Big Tech still needs to face a reckoning (and maybe cellular dissolution). Even Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ted Cruz can agree on that. But at least, for the first time in a half-decade, we can share a common reality as a starting point.

And the reality is this: If you’re on social media, you’re a reporter. If you have an email address, a Facebook login, a Twitter handle, an Instagram account, a cultural following, you’re in the mainstream media.

Time to act like it — or face the consequence of shirking that responsibility.