Impeachment

Roses bloom even in the cold fog.

I am a Democrat, but I am not one of those Democrats who started calling for President Trump's impeachment from the beginning of his term.  Even six months ago, after more than two years of lies and malfeasance, I held on to the hope that we could just vote him out at the end of his term. But I came to see, much as the Democratic congressional leadership did, that there is a limit to what we can allow.

Trump is a narcissist, and as such, everything is about him; his ability to make money, his need to promote himself, his demand that he be praised and agreed with, his denial of anything unfavorable, and his need to defeat and demean any opponents. Being elected president gave him, in his view, the ultimate power. " I am President, you're not!" He considers himself above the law.

His need to please himself is so great that he willingly links himself to other powerful world leaders, the more ruthless the better. He eats up their praise, especially that of the Russian leader, Putin. 

Trump is also corrupt. His business dealings gave us a window in to how he might act as a president, and despite hope that he might actually become "presidential", he has not. His appointees have come and gone until he has surrounded himself with those who will support him and allow his corruption. 

So it was that he seized the opportunity to try to coerce a newly elected president of a fledgling democracy, Ukraine, to do his bidding to dig up dirt on a political opponent and please Russia by trying to blame Ukraine for Russia's interference in our 2016 election. By withholding an official meeting with the new president Zelensky he denied Ukraine important status and support, and by holding up money for military aid he threatened their security and therefore international stability. 

Trump got caught.

I have devoted many hours in the last two weeks to watching/listening to the Impeachment hearings. There is no doubt that Trump is guilty as charged. The witnesses, some wonderful patriots dedicated to the rule of law, have laid out the case beyond the shadow of a doubt. 

Every effort has been made by the Republican spokespersons to discredit the witnesses and belittle the importance of Trump's actions. They want the American people to believe that this is all no big deal. There will be an asserted campaign to get us to believe that, no doubt with the help of Russian bots. 

Trump will be impeached, and there will be a trial in the Senate. So far there is no sign that the Republican support of this corrupt president is weakening. Trump may be acquitted. While an outcry from the people might change this, acquittal will most likely be the outcome.

Then what? Being acquitted by the Republican majority in the Senate does not make him innocent. It says that it is acceptable for Trump to behave above the law. 

We are facing a political crisis, not just here at home, but around the world. Our international allies know that our president cannot be trusted. He is destroying our alliances, and much to Russia's delight, weakening NATO.

We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand. We all need to sit up and take notice. We need to get our country back on a lawful track.