News of the day: Donald Trump and the second impeachment case

one. Riot calls

On my word The impeachment process The current German translation has reached its limits: an impeachment procedure against a former owner is literally a contradiction. The lawyers of Donald trump Also consider this a compelling legal argument. However, an overwhelming majority of jurists see it differently, especially since there is a precedent: in 1876 a certain William Belknap resigned, he was Minister of War in the cabinet of Ulysses Grant and had sold arms to France to enrich himself. By resigning, Belknap tried to avoid impeachment, without success.

Donald Trump’s Senate trial begins tonight. “Incitement to revolt”, is the accusation because the president of the United States incited the mafia on January 6 to storm the Capitol. Anyone who has seen the president’s speech that day suspects that a German criminal trial would not be enough to convict. Trump’s statements were too ambiguous. “Republicans always fight like boxers with one hand tied behind their back. We have to fight much harder ”. That is what he said. Trump’s lawyers argue that there has been no call for violence or unrest throughout the speech. It was to be understood figuratively when it demanded “fight like the devil.”

Trump fans got it anyway. Hundreds of arrested rioters claim to have followed only the wishes of their president. “His followers hear his message, even if he doesn’t express it explicitly,” writes New York Times reporter David Leonhardt. The “Trumpian style” is deliberately obscure.

Now, Trump’s defense attorneys describe the attack on Parliament as the act of “a few hundred people” that caused “horror and confusion” to all Americans across the political spectrum. “The former president stabbed his most ardent supporters in the back”says my colleague Alex Sarovic, who reports from Washington. “The day of the attack he yelled at them: ‘We love you, you are something very special.’ Now he is distancing himself from them ”.

2. Slogan blocking

So tomorrow we will meet again Crown summit to the chancellor. More rigor, loosen or follow, these are the options. Let’s play.

• He speaks against more austerity: the rulers seem to lack determination and determination and the ruled, insight and power.

• At first glance, the numbers speak in favor of easing (the trend is correct, infections and deaths are declining), but a second glance at the numbers speaks against it: we are still a long way from the somewhat arbitrarily set target of the 50s. incidence. And newer, more contagious variants of the virus are likely to spread rapidly.

• We will continue to do so with perhaps less school and daycare facilities.

Of course, no one knows for sure what is right. But I am convinced of the arguments put forward by the scientists that support the »No Covid« -Ansatz Propagate: Now head towards zero, even if it will be difficult, so we can breathe a sigh of relief after Easter. If kindergartens and schools open something in advance, strict countermeasures should be taken elsewhere: actually close the offices, control the rules of contact more strictly, things like that.

Who will prevail? “Merkel is convinced that the mutant is a great threat, that the drop in numbers is misleading and can explode again very quickly,” says my colleague Philipp Wittrock, director of our capital city office. That’s why he wants to push the numbers even higher and basically extend the lockdown, for schools and daycare centers too. “But of course she knows how high the pressure is, so she wants to give exhausted families a sign that there are vacancies in the offing, but only as of March at the earliest.”

This is what it seems to boil down to: a six-page motion for a resolution on Tuesday morning (at 10.15am) shows that the federal and state governments want to extend the shutdown until March, as my colleagues Florian Gathmann and Christian Teevs report. Until when in March? That leaves the paper open. In the Union faction, Merkel appointed 1.

3. Origin puzzle

While everyone is thinking about how to get rid of the coronavirus, an expert mission has the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Chinese city Wuhan examines where exactly the pathogen comes from and how it spreads to humans. Unfortunately, the provisional result from the experts is unclear after a few weeks. “The central finding is that it will be difficult or impossible to elucidate the origin of Sars-CoV-2 in the short term,” says my colleague Julia Merlot from our science department. “A very strong indication would be the detection of a closely related virus chain in an animal.”

Despite all the uncertainty and provisionality: According to the experts, a laboratory accident as a cause is “extremely unlikely”.

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What else is important today?

• Austria only allows the departure from Tyrol with a negative corona test: A travel warning has already been issued, and the Austrian government is now stepping up: Anyone who wants to leave the state of Tyrol must be able to prove negative defamation of Corona.

• The EU Foreign Affairs Representative Borrell threatens Russia with sanctions: Josep Borrell has been criticized for not finding clear words about the Kremlin when he visited Russia. But now the EU’s foreign representative is attacking Moscow harshly.

• The Mars probe “Hope” reaches the orbit of the red planet: The first space mission from an Arab state to a distant planet has cleared a major hurdle. The “Hope” probe reached Mars several million kilometers from Earth.

My Favorite Interview Today: A Fire Department Chief About Snow Chaos

More than 70 kilometers of traffic jams around Bielefeld – many drivers had to hang out one night bitter coldI think that’s the correct informational phrase. The next day, my colleague Peter Maxwill asked Fire Department Chief Dirk Fortmeier how it happened.

“It came from heaven” Fortmeier responds. “So much snow fell that several trucks got stuck. Then the technical assistance organization tried to tow the vehicles freely, but that was not so easy: the roads were slippery, the snow masses immense. So there were pretty long wait times. “

Peter says: “It is a kind of national sport to be outraged by the failure of the Deutsche Bahn, especially in such storms. In this conversation, however, I discovered that it can be even more uncomfortable to stay in the car, without toilets or food on a snowy highway. And you have to stay awake because the traffic will clear again at some point. “

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +

• The matriculation exam: High school graduation was never fair, but this year it takes place under even more unfair conditions. What alternative formats could save the final exam? Four ideas.

• “Bitcoin needs as much electricity as Norway”: The rise of cryptocurrencies has dire consequences for the climate – computer scientist Ulrich Gallersdörfer explains why this is the case and how it could be done better.

• A Chinese blockbuster challenges Hollywood: The world’s most successful production in 2020 was the Chinese war movie “The Eight Hundred.” What does this mean for the future of cinema?

Typo of the day, now fixed: “By the way, owners of an older record player don’t have to do without Bluetooth”

Caricature of the Tages: Lockdown-Koller

You could spend the time visiting Accidentally Wes Anderson’s website and Instagram page. There are places all over the world that look like places for a Wes Anderson movie: abandoned churches, ornate casinos, pastel pink hotels, but none of them have anything to do with a Wes Anderson movie. There is also a picture book, but you need to order it first (more here).

In this sense: whose spirit I called, the image I see.

You have a good night. To be honest
Yours Oliver Trenkamp

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