I just listened to the Senate Trial Presentations and have a few thoughts. Others will disagree, even violently. Listen to my thoughts, and then I’ll listen to yours...
The “House Managers” just refuted what I thought were preposterous Republican arguments that the Constitution won’t even allow for a trial of impeached ex-president Trump. I come away more than ever impressed with the Constitutional importance of what is now at stake.
This is not a ridiculous impeachment over lying about sex, or a hearing over the tragedy in Benghazi. This is about taking a stand against an out-of-control lame-duck President who tried to keep himself in office. This trial is about dealing with an attack on our whole democratic electoral system, on the Capitol itself. It is about re-asserting the power of Congress to stand against a mad President.
I personally have sometimes dreamt of seeing the impeachment and conviction of Presidents (of both parties) who lied and led us into murderous and totally unnecessary overseas military adventures. Of course these impeachments never happened. Yet now in D.C., in the heartland of our Republic and “empire,” political marketing and “America First” demagogy has succeeded ... in dividing the minds and hearts of Americans ... rather than Iraqis, Russians or Chinese.
Many of our own obsessions as a nation led to Jan. 6th, and its shadow will lie over our Republic for a long time. I think if this Senate doesn’t make an example of our most dangerous and outrageous recent demagogue we will be guaranteeing further more serious political mob action and even coup adventures in the future.
This is not a “show trial.” Well, just perhaps it will go down in history as a “show trial” ... if our people and politicians treat it as one. If few Republicans rise to the occasion and do their duty, if Donald Trump is not repudiated in the most severe Constitutional manner possible, then we are “showing” that we treat our great Republic and its institutions as crap.
It’s our Republic ... if we can keep it.
We lost the Republic on 7/5/16 when Hillary walked and the 'Rule of Law' officially died!
Only Republicans......Scooter Libby, Dinesh D'souza....go to prison.
All these ridiculous partisan explanations of how we supposedly “lost the Republic” on a — name your choice —
specific date, just like the “personality politics” of Trumpsters in general, can not disguise the fact that something historically unprecedented, violent and anti-Constitutional happened on Jan. 6th.
I have long argued that
several of our past Presidents (of both parties) should have been impeached and prosecuted for crimes committed in office. They and their henchman have generally escaped and usually remain feted “senior statesmen” of our Republic.
That was because the legal and institutional processes of Congress, the Court system, the two-party system, the corruption of both parties by big money and corporations — these have frustrated action that I and many others would like to see.
But none of this means we no longer
even have a Republic, a representative democracy, or the basic freedoms that they allow. What Trump wanted to do by disregarding the confirmed results of the election he lost would have caused a civil war, a military coup, or led directly to imposed martial law. Our Republican system and representative democracy, not to mention our court system and “rule of law,” might never have recovered.
In a perfect world, Trump especially, but also many other corporate and political figures (of both parties) would join the Scooter Libby’s & Dinesh D'souzas, and at least get a passing acquaintance with prison.
But all this must be done
legally, and not as the result of mob action. One day there may well be a genuine coup, a bonapartist or authoritarian dictatorship like Trump seemed determined to impose. If such succeeds it will be too late for effective normal parliamentary and political action.
Only then the kind of violent extra-parliamentary action that occurred in D.C. on Jan. 6th may be justifiable.
