Impeached

Well, it’s official.  Der Sturmtrumper has become the third president in US history to be impeached, and the first one who actually deserved it.

Andrew Johnson was impeached for getting in the way of Congressional Reconstruction, though the formal charge was violating a law that Congress had no right to pass in the first place and which he didn’t technically violate.  Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about a blow job – which is hardly a high crime or misdemeanor – when his real offense was not being a right-wing fanatic like the Congressional leaders who impeached him.

Nixon should have been impeached but he had the street smarts to get out while the getting was good.

The evidence presented for Trump’s criminal conduct was overwhelming, conclusive, and damning.  It barely scratched the surface of what we already know he’s done, but it’s enough. 

The Republican Party has mounted no credible defense of his actions, perhaps because underneath the screeching partisan nonsense and the distraction tactics they know very well that there is no credible defense.  All they can do is make fools of themselves, which they are doing with energetic abandon.

I used to work in law firms – bottom of the barrel temporary paralegal stuff and hardly Perry Mason material, but enough to know what it is like to work with lawyers.  And the old saw about defense lawyers is indeed true.

When the law is against you, argue the facts.  “Yes, murder is illegal but I didn’t kill him.”

When the facts are against you, argue the law.  “Yes I killed him, but it was self-defense.”

When both are against you, pound on the table, call the other guy names, and try to change the subject.  Just as the GOP has been doing since this came up.

It's not rocket science.

We’ll see if the Senate upholds its Constitutional obligations and holds a serious trial.  The odds of that are not good.  Mitch McConnell – the single most corrupt man in Washington, Trump notwithstanding – has already declared himself eager to violate his oath and prejudge the issue, as has Lindsey Graham, both of whom should be thrown out of the Senate for that alone.

But the bottom line is that this will never go away.  Trump will always be known as the corrupt and depraved criminal who was impeached by a righteous majority in the House and in all likelihood allowed to skate by a corrupt Republican Party in the Senate.  The articles of impeachment will be studied in history classes and the cowardly embrace of corruption by the GOP will be remembered for as long as the republic stands.

Which may not be much longer if Trump has his way, but we’ll see.

I know not what the future holds, but today is a good day to be an American.