A (non)Trial For All Time

There is a 99.9% certainty that barring a meteor the size of Brazil hitting the Earth before Senators in Congress cast their final vote in President Trump’s impeachment trial, he will be acquitted. Once that happens, with no surprise to anyone, President Trump will be a “free man”. Free to continue to do anything that he wants, now that the nation has a Republican led Senate that lacks the political courage to protect the Constitution. The president can, according to a GAO ruling, violate an existing law that mandates him to deliver congressional funds to allied nations without delay, or at least notify the House if he doesn’t. It has been established that President Trump violated the Impound Control Act by withholding approved funds to Ukraine because he wanted President Zelensky to conduct an illegal and corrupt investigation into his perceived presidential election opponent Joe Biden. Biden may/may not be the Democratic nominee, but that was more than enough for President Trump to push the panic button. It was only through the courageous actions of a whistleblower within the Trump administration, who alerted the nation and the world of the president’s nefarious actions. The whistleblower followed the proper procedures in his/her complaint that has been acknowledged by Trump officials not in the White House, but in the intelligence agencies. If not for the whistleblower, President Trump might have gotten away, but alas, he got caught in his backdoor operation trying to “get dirt” on Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

What followed later was investigations and an impeachment inquiry that lead to charges of impeachment in the House and a subsequent “trial” in the Senate. That is where the debate began over whether President Trump was actually tried in the Senate, and will it continue because “something” seemed to be missing in that so called trial. That “something” missing was witnesses and documents. The president’s lawyers fought tooth and toenail to suppress any witnesses and documents coming from the White House that they apparently knew would be more than enough to convict the president. Trump’s lawyers cited a flawed process by Democrats and “executive privilege”, while a helpless Supreme Court Chief Justice could only sit and listen to things that he probably knew were not going by the book. However, thanks to Senate Leader Mitch McConnell who orchestrated the trial to the president’s benefit, seemed to be more of a judge than Justice Roberts. Whatever McConnell wanted, he got. It didn’t matter that what the president did was public record, the lawyers and McConnell made sure that the truth was not going to come out. It didn’t matter that John Bolton has information and was in the room when the “perfect” phone call was made, or that two wealthy businessmen with extensive knowledge of what Giuliani and others were doing, it wasn’t enough for the truth to come out. This shows ordinary people how the system works differently when the rich well connected individual can sway the system in their favor. Nevertheless, we are told that impeachment trials are not handled the same way regular court trials are held. If any of us were able to watch a considerable amount of the impeachment trial, consider yourself educated.

The question now becomes…what will President Trump do with what may be “unlimited power” granted to him by Republicans in the Senate? With a certain acquittal expected, President Trump or any president after him, because a precedent has been set, will be able do practically anything while in office. He/she can claim executive privilege and prevent anyone from testifying or releasing incriminating documents against him. History has told us that out of the three-impeachment trials (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Trump); this is the only one without documents or witnesses. Republicans have gone on record saying that the president’s actions “were wrong/inappropriate”, but not enough to warrant removal. The next question before the nation is, exactly what is impeachable? Will the president repent for his actions? Has he learned anything on how to govern according to the nation’s laws? The jury (pun intended) as shown by Republican senators, not Democrats, basically told the president to have his way. The president likes to say that when things don’t go his way, it’s rigged. He won’t be saying it this time. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.