Getting Close to the End

We are getting close to the end now. That would be the end of democracy as we have always known it.

When it happens in the next few hours, or days, depending on the whims of Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell there won't be any immediate catastrophic consequences. The Washington Monument won't crack, then fall. The dome on the capitol building won't melt and neither will Lincoln in his chair, or the statue of Jefferson which gazes directly at the White House and Oval Office.

In fact, in many corners of the land there will be celebrations and cries that the President has been exonerated of baseless charges leveled against him by treasonous usurpers hell bent on nullifying the results of an election held three years ago. Yea, hundreds of thousands will say, the Deep State and its legions of vile conspirators have been dealt a mortal blow.

While those who rejoice, then take to social media and TV, or attend Nuremberg type rallies a line from one of the Star Wars movies will describe the moment best. "This is how liberty dies," it goes, "to thunderous applause."

One of Trump's lawyers explained the new imperial power this way. "If a President did something that he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment."

In other words as, Professor Jonathan Turley wrote in USA Today, "For want of a crime, Trump could not only trade foreign aid for the investigation of Joe Biden, but he could give Delaware back to the Dutch."

When Turley, the main stream media, and much of the public reacted in revulsion to Alan Dershowitz's words, the Harvard Professor emeritus seemed shocked and hurt by the push back. "I did not say, or imply that a candidate could do anything to reassure his reelection," he whined, "only that seeking help in an election is not necessarily corrupt."

You had better explain that distinction to your client, Professor because he isn't much for legal fine points. In truth the naivete displayed by Dershowitz is why academics world wide are considered utterly out of touch with reality. In this case there is no doubt in any sane mind, once this sham of a trial is over, Donald John Trump will now believe he CAN do anything he wants and that isn't restricted to elections. Indeed, in Trump's mind, there is no difference between his interests and the public's--he isn't just the President of the nation, he is the nation and that dangerously warped notion has now been validated.

The past few days we've watched republicans in the Senate essentially create a Presidency which is no longer constrained by constitutional checks and balances, but only by the moral instincts of the person who occupies the office. In this case a rabid hyena with delusions of grandeur.

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Donald Trump's banana republic. You may send your notes of thanks directly to the cultists, cowards, and fascists now residing in the United States Senate.



1-31-20