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Putting all of these actions together, it appears that Donald Trump led a vast conspiracy, in which he enlisted the support and cooperation of Republican federal, state, and local legislators and officials, to overthrow the results of the November 3 presidential election and, consequently, the Constitution of the United States.
Why have we heard virtually nothing about federal or state grand juries investigating these alleged crimes?
There have been only a few exceptions, such as the grand jury in Atlanta where a courageous prosecutor is investigating a blatant case of apparent election interference for which there is recorded and public evidence.
Why indeed has former President Donald Trump not yet been indicted for the many crimes he has apparently committed?
When will he be indicted?
Moreover, when will his many Republican co-conspirators and accomplices in these apparent crimes be investigated and themselves indicted?
What is going on?
We are all tired of thinking about Trump and his crimes. However, democracy is a very fragile flower, and we have just seen how close we can come to losing it. If America’s first fascist president, and the many members of the Republican Party who engaged in a vast conspiracy to overthrow the Constitution, are not held accountable before the courts for the very numerous crimes which they committed, the lesson of political impunity will not be lost on others.
Americans who are too cowardly to defend American democracy by prosecuting, and insisting on the prosecution of, those who have committed criminal acts in furtherance of the Republican conspiracy to overthrow the Constitution, will have only themselves and their own passivity to blame if it is lost.
The great political challenge we all now face is to find a way to dismantle Trump’s propaganda bubble and alternative universe, so that rational people, no longer fearful of fascist mobs and voters, can resume a politics of reason.
Yet let us not lose sight of the great success of the House Impeachment Managers in presenting a compelling case, Let us also not lose sight of the fascist challenge that America faces, and the hard work that remains to be done to overcome it.
Democratic Impeachment Managers need to slow down, and give Republican Senators time to change their minds. Brilliant lawyering. Not so good on understanding psychology. The…
Let there be no doubt about it. The American body politic is infected by a cancer. That cancer threatens the existence and survival of American democracy. Currently all of the antibodies and forces defending the body politic are fully engaged in fighting the cancer.
The cancer on the American body politic must be killed, with the political equivalents of chemotherapy, radiation, and even surgery where necessary.
Unlike a human body, the American body politic does not have the expected lifespan of a single human life. In the case of an individual fighting cancer, remission for five or ten years might, in some cases, be regarded as a “success”.
This is not the case with the American body politic, however. A five or ten year remission of the cancer would not be sufficient to save the life of a democracy that is already 244 years old.
The cancer is represented by the current Republican Party, and most but not all of its Senators and Representatives in Congress.
Now, 50 Republican senators face a similar moment of truth.
Will they honor their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution and to defend their country against all enemies foreign and domestics, “so help me God”?
Will they honor their solemn oaths to do impartial justice in accordance with constitutions and laws in the impeachment trail of Donald J. Trump, “so help me God”?
Or will they betray their oaths, the American people, and their country, kowtowing and genuflecting instead before the false god who threatened our democracy, who attempted to stay in power through a coup d’état, the last act of which was the Capitol Insurrection?
…But you know that they have sold their souls to the Devil, that they have entered into Mephistophelean bargains they hope will give them continued political life, just as Goethe’s Faust sought to prolong his life.
These 50 Republican Senators have one last shot at redemption: they can honestly evaluate the charges in the Article o impeachment and weigh the evidence, which will lead them ineluctably to a decision to convict Donald Trump for the his attempted coup and the Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Their decisions will mark their lives and careers for all time. It is as if their children and grandchildren, and further descendants could read on their tombstones, “He (or she) voted to honor his (or her) oaths and to save the Republic,” or “He (or she) voted to betray the Constitution and his (or her) country, and for the false god Donald Trump.
Throughout their lives, they will have to face their children and grandchildren, and every one they know or may come to know, and answer that question.
If they make the wrong choice, the shame of that choice will mark them for the rest of their days.
Whatever you think of AOC, or have heard, imagine that she is your sister, or your daughter, or your granddaughter, and make the time to listen to her story of the trauma she experienced on January 6, as if she were your sister, or daughter, or granddaughter.
Developing See, 1) “Jim Rutenberg, Jo Becker, Eric Lipton, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Martin, Matthew Rosenberg and Michael S. Schmidt, “77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert…
The Democrats have the power to act. They should act now, decisively.
The time will come for bipartisanship on some bills in the future.
But first the Democrats need to take firm control of the Senate, and seek bipartisanship in the future when the Republican goals are to solve the country’s problems, and not simply to withhold support for obstructionist and partisan ends.
The Democrats in Congress now propose to hold a quick trial in the Senate which will neither convict ex-President Trump nor educate the American people as to the nature of his crimes, and his attempted coup d’état.
What will future authoritarian leaders learn from the Senate trial, and the zeal with which the Democrats prosecute the case against Trump?
The Republicans’ greatest weapon over the years has been the stpidity and cowardice of their Democratic opponents, who never seem to lose an opportunity to seize defeat from the jaws of victory.
Any Democrat who supports a motion of censure against Trump to hold him to account for his attempted coup, and the numerous crimes that it involved, should never be re-nominated or re-elected to legislative office.
Real Democrats need to stand up and call out the stupidity and cowardice of Democratic colleagues who support censure or a quickie trial that fails to present the evidence, educate the American people, and burst Trump’s propaganda bubble for what it is: Appeasement of the fascists* in our midst.
If any person other than the President of the United States had incited such a riot, with such consequences, he or she would by now have been arrested and put in jail.
Yet Donald Trump is no ordinary criminal. As long as he occupies the office of President of the United States, he poses a uniquely dangerous threat to the country and to American democracy.
Trump is a criminal who is armed and dangerous, and on the loose.
He should be removed from office immediately.
The question remains of when Trump should be arrested.
If he engages in any actions to further his ongoing attempted coup, he should be immediately arrested and brought before a judge.
In any event, an order for his arrest should be issued, in order to prevent him from fleeing the country.
How and when he should be arrested, if before noon on January 20, 2021, is a delicate issue which all potential actors should now consider on an emergency basis.
When an attempted coup d’état is undeway, defenders of democracy must act swiftly, without hesitation, and decisively.
The principal instigator of the attempted coup which included the insurrectionist invasion of the Capitol, on January 6, 2021, is the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Trump remains in office, holding all of the powers and emergency powers of the Presidency, including the secret, classified Emergency Powers invested in his office.
So long as the instigator of the attempted coup remains in office, we should all understand that a continuing, ongoing attempted coup d’état is underway.
Trump must be removed immediately in order to end this threat to American democracy.
Trump must be viewed as a criminal who is armed and dangerous.
He is armed with all of the powers of the Presidency, including his secret, classified Emergency Powers and his Powers as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, and commander of federal authorities under the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.
He has the authority to deliver critical classified information to Russia and Vladimir Putin, such as the identities of CIA personnel and other clandestine operatives, including Russian agents in Russia working for the United States. Such information could also include details for access to defense, intelligence, and communications systems.
To end the ongoing coup, the king must be removed from office.
This is no time for Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic Caucus to falter.
From reports of the Democratic caucus conference call today, Nancy Pelosi wants to wait until there is enough support in the country to move forward…
