EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

Donald Trump’s relentless campaign to overturn the election he lost culminated in the mob that invaded the Capitol. His abuse of power and dereliction of duty clearly merited impeachment and conviction. His guilt is not in question; the masterful presentation of the case in the Senate trial by House impeachment managers left no doubt.

After the trial, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confirmed this reality: “Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.… There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.… The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”

McConnell still voted to acquit, on the laughable grounds that Trump was no longer president—even though it was McConnell himself who delayed the trial until after Trump was out of office. But the facts were never in dispute—and were not even particularly disputed by the president’s lawyers. As Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican, summarized, “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing.”

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.