Make America Sane Again: The Republican Party Has Betrayed Us

Trump’s impeachment "trial" is over. Both Indiana's senators, Mike Braun, and Todd Young displayed their cowardice by voting to acquit Trump. Now, it is left to us to try to rescue our "democracy?" I hope we stand up to the challenge, but I would submit that our senate has shirked its duty.

Only laziness and cowardice have kept us from finding out the whole truth about our president's betrayal of the American public. It is the duty of the Senate to keep us from being governed by a narcissistic mad man. In this, it has failed utterly.

If Republicans had called witnesses and admitted documents at Trump's impeachment trial, I still would have hoped for his conviction. However, whether or not he was found guilty, Americans would have had their day in court. Instead, we have all been cheated out of the protection our constitution is supposed to afford us.

Trump did not win by a landslide. His ascendance to the presidency was because of the electoral college, not universal popularity. He doesn’t have the mandate to follow his dangerous and arbitrary whims. Yet, his toadies, including our two senators, didn't have the integrity to insist on learning the truth before acquitting him out of hand.

The impeachment trial was an opportunity to restore some sanity to our government. Our senate wasted the chance to normalize America’s dialogue with its own citizens and the rest of the world. Mike Braun and Todd Young went along with the Trump cult because of politics. They should be ashamed, and they should be fired as soon as possible.

Being a patriot used to mean being loyal to your home country. Since the word has been co-opted by the extreme right-wing, it has changed its import.

Now, to be a patriot you must be a religious zealot with the God-given right, not only to judge others but to force them to adopt your beliefs. You must be heterosexual, white and Republican. You must be pro-Israel and believe that America has the right to kill people in other countries to promote its business interests.

You must be intolerant of foreigners and immigrants. Apparently, real patriots think that there isn't enough of America to go around. They certainly don't hesitate to take their share out of the middle, leaving the rest of us to scramble for their leftovers.

I would submit that you don't have to be liberal or conservative to be a patriot. You just have to want the best for your homeland. You and your neighbors may not agree about what "best" is, but it isn't because either of you is inherently evil or disloyal to America.

This is one reason no one has the right to criticize your vote, your spiritual life or your lifestyle. We are all entitled to our differences as long as we don't impose our choices on others. In fact, our differences are what keeps our society vibrant.

I understand why people voted for Trump. To many, he seemed like a breath of fresh air. He wasn't a career politician, and he promised to clean up the swamp, which is unfortunately Washington. He ran against a career politician who was a Washington insider, and although he lost the popular vote, he appealed to enough Americans to win the presidency in the electoral college.

This is how our elections have worked since our founding. None of us can complain that Trump wasn't elected pursuant to the Constitution. Whether we should eliminate the electoral college is a discussion for a different article.

However, Trump has been impeached. He was acquitted because it was the Democrats who pushed to make him account for his actions in Ukraine. This is unfortunate because whether or not he betrayed his office has nothing to do with political affiliations.

The only thing that the senate should have considered was whether Donald Trump conducted himself in a way damaging to the rest of us. He and his cronies have admitted that he pressured Ukraine to repeat an investigation that had already cleared Joe Biden’s son from wrongdoing so that he could embarrass his political opponent.

Do we want another country to pick our politicians for us? I would just point out that their choices aren't going to be based on anything but their own best interests. Shouldn't Americans get all of their information from reliable sources who share their interests?

Mitt Romney is conservative. This means that he does not agree with a lot of the ideas supported by Democrats. Yet, he had the guts to demand that Donald Trump be made accountable for his actions in Ukraine. He listened to witnesses and considered documents before voting to convict Trump. The rest of his party chickened out and agreed among themselves to acquit Trump no matter what.

By taking this brave position, Mr. Romney knew his less responsible colleagues could exact revenge on him by withholding their political support in the future. In short, he put aside his personal interests by voting to protect us, instead of pandering to Mitch McConnell and his Trump sycophants. That took guts. I don't have to agree with Mitt Romney's take on our current issues to say without hesitation, he deserves to be called a true patriot.

Congressional Record - Order of Adjournment

Vol. 166

WASHINGTON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020

No. 22

Senate

ORDER FOR ADJOURNMENT

Mr. YOUNG. "Mr. President, as a U.S. Senator, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, but I changed my mind. And, while sitting in this High Court of Impeachment, I have fulfilled my duty to the king, if not to my country."

"After hearing all counsel arguments and playing with my very own Fidget Spinner for 2 whole weeks, I am convinced that we should be allowed to drink something stronger than milk when we are perpetrating a farce on the American public. Kentucky bourbon would be great, but I'd settle for a nice cold imported beer."

"You can't blame me for being bored. I'm just glad Uncle Mitch kept the press at bay so no one would catch me napping. 17 witnesses, 192 witness video clips, and 28,578 pages of evidence would bore anyone silly, and I was silly to begin with."

"Procedural rules, and constitutional concerns, are also lacking in entertainment value, so my colleagues and I diverted our attention from the trial to ponder more important matters, like whether Kim Kardashian could get us introduced to a famous rap star. However, when Justice Roberts told us, it was time to acquit, I was the first to put my I-phone down and do my duty to our orange sovereign. Just to show you how seriously I took my responsibilities, I remind you that I was winning at solitaire when I had to stop and vote. Talk about bad timing!"

"A fair and accurate reading of this chapter in our Nation’s history will never happen if I have anything to say about it, and I'll be darned, I just found out that I do."

"While the Senate was not impartial and open-minded throughout this so-called trial, it must be acknowledged that it was a political necessity to appease the king. After all, people in Indiana are so stupid, they would never vote for me again if I did my duty honestly."

"First and foremost, a fair legal process is not advisable when you know the result you want. Like thinking members of the public, the House Democrats never liked Trump. In fact, they crucified Him the first time he was here 2000 years ago, and there is no reason to believe that they would be any kinder to him during this, His second coming."

"The House managers have repeatedly emphasized that no Americans are above the law. I could not agree less in this situation. No private citizen, President, or assembled majority of Congress could violate the rights guaranteed to other Americans under the Constitution until now. Any other American is still bound by the law, but our precious King cannot break laws because he is above all men, no matter what the cost."

"Accordingly, the President and King of our formerly great democracy is entitled to basic due process rights, the most important of which is the right to remain silent when you realize anything that comes out of your pie hole can be used against you. the House failed to warn King Donald to shut up, and now they think his incriminating statements should be used against him. How fair is that?"

"Due process includes the right to legal counsel, the right to review evidence, and the right to ignore the public trust whenever it is convenient to do so. Ignoring the 70% of the American public who thought that evidence was more important than sucking up to our Tang hued leader was certainly convenient."

"House Managers insist that “overwhelming" evidence already in the record proves 'beyond any doubt' the President’s continued service constitutes an imminent threat to the American people. They are right, but that is beside the point. The House’s flawed and rushed process led to unfair proceedings and might have ended the king's reign if Republican senators had listened to their consciences instead of their own fear of the orange man's wrath."

"Separation of Powers used to be a cornerstone of our constitutional republic, and those idiots in the House didn't get the memo that the rules have changed. In the future, they should exercise extreme caution when they base impeachment upon the truth. After all, we will get them back."

"The President’s exercise of his foreign relations prerogatives are expressly granted in the Book of Life, not to mention our overactive imaginations. Additionally, in developing its Articles of Impeachment, the House majority chose to circumvent the majority rule of the Republican senate by demanding justice for the American people. Our stable genius should not have to answer to rubes and idiots when his financial profits or political interests are at stake."

"The Democrats should have whined to the courts to compel our sovereign to turn over documents. Mere subpoenas are not enough when ineffective court proceedings that could take years are available to waste even more time and taxpayer money. Things would have been different if a Democrat was president, but the American public elected a king, and it's too damn late for them to change their minds and demand that he be hobbled by mere legalities."

"For the Senate to accept this invitation to do justice would be, as we've mentioned before, political suicide. In fact, the rumors here in Washington are that anyone who voted against the king better get a good security system for their cars, offices, and houses."

"Senators might be tempted by a burning curiosity or crass political calculation to further develop the House’s impeachment articles. After all, even Republicans enjoy a little entertainment as long as it doesn't cause them to miss tee times or dinner reservations."

"We must not set aside our personal preference because, under the Constitution, we are duty-bound by our self-interest, and we don't want our family members to be disappeared, well, at least not ALL of them."

"Lastly, Americans should stand against anything that lets their government function well and fairly. Any Senate action which abets the creation of a constitutional crisis through the politicization of impeachment should only be attempted when Democratic presidents are in the White House. The House majority’s misguided process created a precedent to weaponize impeachment, a new precedent that will lead to serial impeachments any time the president commits a high crime or misdemeanor."

"If the House majority had its way, and the Senate accepted its invitation to fix their broken articles, either political party would be tempted to impeach and potentially remove their political opponents from office just because the Russians gave him a little friendly assistance during their own elections."

"During President Nixon’s impeachment, then-Democratic Chairman Peter Rodino of the House Judiciary Committee urged that, for the American people to accept an impeachment, it must be powerfully bipartisan. This has been dubbed the Rodino rule, and I embrace the standard wholeheartedly when it serves my purposes. A decent respect for the law and the opinions of fellow citizens and a concern for future precedent requires that I make up stuff to justify my position."

"Every Republican in the Senate agrees that a president can do whatever he wants, that inviting foreign election interference is appropriate, that absolute immunity attaches to Executive Privilege, and that a statutory offense must be committed to impeach. While King Donald has done all of these things, Uncle Mitch will send us to bed without supper if we even question his right to do them."

"In summation, I have ineluctably arrived at a conclusion after impartially applying the rules of self-interest and political survival to all facts presented that the President would have been convicted of his crimes if it was politically expedient to do so. House managers delivered articles of impeachment that would have been more than adequate under the old Constitution. They failed to present requisite evidence to support their high burden of proof because the king knows when to hold them, even if knowing when to fold them isn't in his limited repertoire. Therefore, I am duty-bound to join my colleagues who would have the Senate resume the ordinary business of the American people, as soon as Uncle Mitch buys me the ice cream cone he promised for my vote."

The Founding Fathers, who warned of the political nature of impeachment, also provided us a means to address dissatisfaction with our Presidents: frequent elections. This week, Americans began the Presidential election process. Until they throw His Orangeness out of office, they'll just have to take the chance that the king will get us into a war and treble our national debt. Until then, we shall bow to the king and the consequences be damned.

Trump must be having some trouble walking. After all the Republican Senators, except Mitt Romney, licked his boots so hard his feet must be blistered. That’s okay. Whether his presidential tootsies are red and raw, it hasn't so much as slowed his Narcissistic Majesty down from granting inappropriate favors and dishing out punitive decrees like popcorn. Consider:

1. Since his pals in the Republican senate let him slide when he betrayed our national interest for his own political reasons, the King has granted 11 pardons. Among the lovely people he has let off the hook are:

I. Rod Blagojevich: Former Illinois governor who tried to sell the Senate seat Obama vacated when he became president.

II. Michael Milken: Former rip off artist and junk bond king.

III. Edward DeBartolo, Jr.: Former San Francisco 49ers owner, who was convicted in a gambling fraud scandal.

IV. Bernard Kerik: Former New York police chief who was convicted of 8 felony counts, including lying to investigators and tax fraud.

It reminds me of the joke about the lawyer who fell into a tank full of hungry sharks but was able to get safely back on land.

"How did you do it? “He was asked.

"Professional courtesy," the lawyer responded.

These pardons don't make any sense unless tRump is guilty of the same things. Who’d have guessed! Maybe our Fearless Leader is a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan:

"When a felon's not engaged in his employment

or maturing his felonious little plan

his capacity for innocent enjoyment

is just as great as any honest man"

I won't say that Gordon Sondland is a sweet innocent who has been wrongfully punished. He was neck-deep in the Ukraine scandal before he offered up what little integrity he did have by testifying against tRump. After all, he bought his EU ambassadorship by making a million-dollar donation to Orange Aid, also known as tRump's first presidential campaign.

However, the firing of Alexander Vindman was beyond the pale. Lt. Col. Vindman is a decorated veteran with years of distinguished service to this country. He came forward because it was his duty to do so despite the risks to his career. Firing his twin brother was just icing on the tRump cake.

The odd thing is that both Sondland and Vindman planned to leave their posts at the end of 2019 anyway. But you know, the King can never do anything cruel in private. After all, how could he brag on Twitter if he didn't share his bullying actions with the rest of the world?

Finally, or as a newscaster would say, "this just in", the slime in the Senate continues. The king bribed the senators who voted not to take actual evidence during the Senate's dog and pony show.

Lamar Alexander, Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Maine's senator, Susan Collins all decided to abandon any pretense of honesty they may have harbored in exchange for a bribe from the king. They were each given their own little pork barrel to take home to their states in exchange for their fraudulent votes. Isn't it sweet that Agent Orange knows how to use our tax money to reward his loyal servants? Notice, I didn't preface "servants" with "public".