That was an interesting trial of the impeachment of Trump. It seems that it was called in support of providing political cover for those who voted to acquit – at least is what it seemed to me. It all seemed pretty obvious to me, and had seemed that way for months – especially those days after he had used up millions of dollars in taxpayer’s dollars chasing after an obviously failed attempt to find evidence of fraud when none existed. What a farce! I don’t think anyone honestly doubts the House’s contention that Trump was instrumental in setting it up, and then sending the crowd down the street in strict violation of the terms of the permit that had set the location and boundaries based the known threat profile of the event. That one thing should have been more than enough to result in his impeachment, but there was so much more.

The defense centered around a lot of procedural issues because while they knew perfectly well that Trump was responsible for creating the environment, anger, support, direction and lack of timely efforts to stop the riot after it got started they were there to provide cover for the Republicans. That cover consisted of being able to tell their constitutes that the process was flawed, rather than having to tell them that they thought what Trump had done as somehow “appropriate”, “innocent” or “Patriotic.” If they hadn’t been provided with that cover they would have been forced to admit that they voted to acquit because they are also in alignment with Trump’s rhetoric and position that there is a need to “take back America” and “Make America Great Again” – which are both code phrases meaning re-instate the old ways of white supremacy and Christian dominance. But even though they support those values, they needed an alternative story – and the procedural one was fit the bill nicely because they didn’t have to face the actual question of whether or not they think Trump was actually innocent of the changes. They know he was guilty, but they couldn’t afford the political blow-back from their “base” to say so in a public forum. So they hid under the cover of a weak procedural argument. Shame on them!

I wonder what will now come of this. Does this tell the folks that support the MAGA movement that they were correct, that the “Country” supports them, that they are actually “Patriots” for fighting that way? Does this mean that there will now be an escalation of that sort of activity and boldness? I suspect it does. I also suspect that Mr. Trump will be front and center in that new wave of atrocities. My prediction is that we are now taking a deep dive into domestic terrorism, insurrections, and just plain nasty activity. It appears possible that this will now roll right into an actual fighting revolution, but with no goal except to take as much as possible from as many people as possible. There is no offering of a better union, of anything like democracy, or anything like freedom for anyone except those that have the most weapons and are the most aggressive. It looks to me that a band of criminals has just been handed the keys to the kingdom. It looks exactly like the path that Hitler (and other dictators) took to power, I certainly hope I am mistaken about that, but I see no other obvious next step.