Occasionally, I regret moral progress and think it’s unfortunate that corrupt leaders are no longer frog-marched to a public square and beheaded. Hell, I’d spend actual money for a ticket if I knew some contemporary politicians and Holy Men were on the docket.
So, really, I think The Donald is getting off lightly with impeachment and, if convicted, nothing worse than a lifetime ban on holding federal office. He belongs in prison — at least.
The question du jour seems to be, Why bother? There are two good reasons:
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First, a country unwilling to defend itself and hold sedition’s ringleaders accountable is decadent and deserves to be overthrown. Civic health demands that Trump be held accountable; it’s a matter of mental hygiene.
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Second, what offense will we say that Hawley and Cruz et. al. have committed if Trump himself is not held to account? How will we hold them accountable? How will we hold the rioters accountable if we don’t hold those who urged their lawlessness accountable?
I have sympathy for the argument that ‘getting’ Trump may not be worth the civic turmoil it will inevitably entail, but that price must be paid.
Further, though all the talking-heads seem to agree that Trump will be acquitted by a trial in the Senate, I’m not so sure of that.
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The Senators have at least 2-years of breathing room, 2-years before they again have to face the voters — and the likelihood is that Trumpism will weaken as time passes and the diehards resort increasingly to violence. There will always be a Loony Right — but they are on track toward the fringe, again, where they belong.
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I imagine that Senators, just like everybody else, are moved to Old Testament levels of vengeance when a mob is sicced on their offices.
So I don’t think at all that it’s foreordained that Trump will escape scot-free; I think there are at least even odds that he will be convicted.
Last, I don’t have any warm feeling for those people — including Joe Biden — who carry-on about ‘unity,’ ‘unifying,’ ‘understanding,’ et cetera, et cetera. I don’t want to be their friend, and I don’t want to understand them; I want the people who attacked this country out of our shared public life life, and preferably out of this country. Since that isn’t likely, I’ll be satisfied if they’re in prison and I’m not obliged to share the public streets with them.