"That name will now forever be associated with insurrection."
As members of Congress consider articles of impeachment against President Trump for his role in the events leading up to the siege of the U.S. Capitol last week, George Clooney says the fallout will impact more than just Donald Trump.
Prior to the violence and destruction at the Capitol Building that cost five lives by pro-Trump supporters following an incendiary "Stop the Steal" rally where he continued to espouse unfounded election fraud theories, there had been speculation as to the political aspirations of Trump's children.
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View StoryNow, Clooney thinks those aspirations are as destroyed as the windows rioters shattered to enter the Capitol.
Speaking to KRCW's The Business podcast, he told host Kim Masters, "It's devastating to watch the 'People's House' being desecrated in that way. But it is also a tremendous overreach in a way that everybody kept waiting for what's ... the straw that breaks the camel's back?"
According to Clooney, "that line just kept getting moved and moved and moved, and outrage just didn't even matter anymore. Even to the point of calling the Secretary of State in Georgia and pressuring him, none of that seemed to matter."
That is, until the events of this past Wednesday -- actions many believe were incited by the president and his family's ongoing rhetoric.
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View Story"This mattered. This puts Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, all of them into the dustbin of history," Clooney said pointedly. "That name will now forever be associated with insurrection."
Clooney took heart from all of those on the right side of the aisle who condemned the siege as vehemently as those from the left, from calls for the 25th Amendment to be enacted to voicing support for a proposed second impeachment of the president.
"If this is what it takes to sort of set us on the right path," he said. "At least we should find something hopeful to come out of some of this disaster."
For good or bad, depending on your political views, many believed that Trump would remain the dominant figure in the Republican party, even despite his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
And there was early talk of space in that party for his daughter Ivanka and sons Don Jr. and Eric, who've played key roles in his administration. Now, the GOP is at a crossroads, having to decide if it'll reject the Trump family outright or continue to support them despite everything.
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View StoryThis on the heels of Wednesday's violence, and Trump's perceived role in it, leading to him being shut down from every major social media platform, including a permanent ban from his favorite source of public communication, Twitter.
Even Parler, the perceived social media safe haven for conservative voices, has found itself under fire for its own believed role in inciting the violence at the Capitol.
The platform has been removed from both the Google and Apple stores and faces an imminent shutdown Sunday night as Amazon will remove it from its cloud-based hosting. It could take a week or more for Parler to get set up again on a new hosting site, according to its CEO, John Matze.
Meanwhile, with few avenues of communication open to him, Trump has resorted to releasing statements from the White House, which he has primarily used to decry the bans and tease the possibility of launching his own social media platform.
Articles of impeachment could be brought against Trump as early as Monday. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden is to be inaugurated at the U.S. Capitol on January 20; Trump has indicated he will not be in attendance.
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