Impeachment 2 & 3

With the prosecution’s case closed on Thursday afternoon, the defense’s time started Friday, February 12. Their job is large. A strong case has been made against Trump. I cannot imagine the defense undoing the stellar job presented by the House’s Impeachment Managers. They did an excellent job building a prima facie case against the former president; but they went on to build an evidentiary case to seal the deal. For all the world, Trump appears guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

But this is not a court of law. No, this is a sitting political body acting as jury. To make matters worse, the jury is biased along party lines. A guilty verdict requires all 50 democrat senators to vote for the verdict, plus another 17 republican senators to join them. That is not likely. The political rub through this entire sorry episode – an invited insurrection by a sitting president to physically stop the certification of the Electoral College affirming the loss of an election by that sitting president – most likely will end in acquittal.

And they did vote to acquit. 57 guilty; 43 acquital. 67 votes were needed for guilty.

That does not erase the impeachment. That stands. The guilty verdict would not stand, but the indictment (impeachment) does remain for all of history.

Yes, I was for a guilty verdict. I believe the four year term of Trump was a preparation for his ascendancy to a prolonged presidency. In his mind, he was the Chosen One. His original campaign for the office in 2016 was a forerunner of his oddball exercise of the office of President. Nothing normal occurred during the Time of Trump. Nothing normal. All was upside down.

Fact became fiction, and fiction became fact. In was now out, and out was now in.

It is no surprise that election results not favoring him would be defined as a sweeping victory for him. The unreality of this period of our history is staggering.

Yet, the Senate's action is counter to logic – legal, constitutional, and commonsense – but the Senate acquitted the accused because this is not a court of law. It is a court of politics.

That is par for the course for Trump. Everything has been about politics, power and money. It has not been about We The People or the common good of the American people.

We lost. You and I lost. Over four years of lost values, relevance, power and purpose. The soul of our nation was bruised. It was bloodied in the final hours of the Trump regime. And yet, people who should know better will let that verdict of not guilty stand against all reason.

Shame on them. Shame on the Congress. Shame on We The People for allowing this travesty to happen.

From this day forward, let all know that voting matters; it is the highest duty and honor in America to perform. Preparing to exercise that duty takes concentration, study, research and determined fact finding. Then and only then ought the voter cast their vote.

We didn’t do that in 2016. The results are staring us in the face. Be very aware of the Clear and Present Danger such voting caused. It nearly destroyed one of the greatest democracies of all time in human history.

Let that sink in.

February 15, 2021