No one expected him to ride quietly into the sunset. But when Donald J. Trump vacated the White House — freshly impeached for a second time, and still insisting on the lie that the election was stolen from him by massive voter fraud — it was an open question as to how much influence he would still wield within the GOP.
After all, this latest impeachment was about Trump inciting those who stormed the Capitol, resulting in five deaths, including the killing of a police officer trying to fend off angry intruders waving Trump banners and determined to stop the certification of the 2020 Electoral College results. For all of the norm-busting outrages of his presidency, the assault of January 6 was of a far greater magnitude than what came before it.
It did not, however, mean the GOP was ready to turn the page and look ahead to a world without Trump’s influence.
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