Donald Trump is the first politician in US history to convince the vast majority of a major political party that he can do no wrong. Even worse, he has convinced the few members who routinely condemn him for doing wrong that he should never be punished for doing so. That is idol worship truly worthy of the proverbial Antichrist.
Indeed, most Republicans have sacrificed every ounce of political and even personal integrity at the altar of Trump’s ambition. And they have done so in ways that seem comprehensive and incomprehensible in equal measure. In fact, my blog is replete with commentaries damning them for behaving as if Trump is the leader of a religious cult.
The following titles to four are on point. But they also link to related ones that take you down a rabbit hole, where you’ll find Republicans defying common sense to hail their faith in Trump above all else:
- “Republicans Abandon Faith and Values to Hail Trump as ‘Chosen by God’,” March 6, 2019
- “Republicans Knew From Day One That Supporting Trump Was Like Israelites Worshiping the Golden Calf,” November 23, 2019
- “Republicans Whining About Partisan Impeachment of Trump Is Orwellian Claptrap,” January 31, 2020
- “Impeachment Vote: Hail Mitt for Daring to Convict,” February 6, 2020
Given all that, you might wonder why I expressed any hope that enough Republican senators would come to their senses to convict Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection. But I reasoned that, just as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defied conventional wisdom to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the Republicans could do the same to convict Trump.
Except I suppose that would have been tantamount to winning both the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots … in the same week.
And so this unprecedented second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump ended with Republican senators showing even greater moral depravity and shamelessness to acquit him than jurors in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson showed to acquit him. But at least the jury foreman in O.J.’s case had the decency to stand by that verdict. The Republican leader in Trump’s case did not.
Instead, the Democrats who prosecuted Trump had barely left the Senate chamber when Republican leader Mitch McConnell stood and delivered a diatribe that effectively echoed the closing argument they had just delivered against Trump.
You’ve probably seen clips of McConnell denouncing him for feeding his supporters wild lies to prepare them for insurrection the way a farmer feeds his sheep wild oats to fatten them for slaughter. He mocked Trump for throwing the longest temper tantrum in history just because he lost the election. He condemned him for his disgraceful and unforgivable dereliction of duty as the insurrection unfolded. And then he damned him to Hell, if not to prison, by insisting that there’s no question, none whatsoever, that Trump is practically and morally responsible for everything that happened on that day of infamy.
Therefore, just as it was with the first impeachment, McConnell and most Republicans made clear their belief that Trump is as guilty as sin. But they made an equally clear that they just don’t have the spine to stand up and be counted when it comes to punishing him.
Still, it’s noteworthy that, this time, six other Republicans showed Profiles in Courage by standing with Mitt Romney of Utah to put country above Trump. In doing so, they made this the most bi-partisan impeachment in US history. Therefore, I feel obliged to cite their names for the record: they are, in no particular order, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
No less noteworthy, though, is the way Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to McConnell’s head-spinning, gaslighting attempt to frame the historical record in a light most favorable to himself. She could barely contain her indignation and contempt — given the galling and hypocritical nature of his post-acquittal remarks.
Because, you see, McConnell also criticized Democrats for not holding the impeachment trial while Trump was still in office. This, even though he knew full well that he steadfastly refused their request to recall the Senate from recess to hold a speedy trial precisely to avoid that very criticism. Imagine the nerve of that!
Hell, given his remarks, you’d never know that McConnell spent the past four years masterminding every legislative and judicial feature of Trump’s dystopian presidency.
Say what you will about other Republican sycophants like Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, they make no apologies and suffer no scruples for supporting Trump unconditionally.
Of course, we all know about the perverse cuckoldry of Cruz becoming even more sycophantic after Trump publicly humiliated his wife. But Graham takes the cake. After all, this … sucker prosecuted the impeachment of former president Bill Clinton for getting a blow job. So the only thing that could possibly explain his sycophancy is the fear of Trump leaking pictures of him giving one.
And yes, this is the same Graham who, on the night of the January 6 insurrection, stood up in the Senate and admonished fellow Republicans that the time had come to end what had been a “hell of a journey” with Trump. Yet, within 24 hours, he was virtually back on his knees doing Trump’s bidding.
In a case of the life of American politics imitating the art of Brokeback Mountain, you could see Graham crawling back, wagging his tail between his legs, and bemoaning to Trump,
I wish I knew how to quit you.
In any case, Trump’s reprieve is bound to be short-lived. Remarkably his own dimwitted lawyer warned as much. I mean he actually argued that impeachment was unnecessary because prosecutors could now try citizen Trump for any crime he may have committed as president of the United States.
Incidentally, am I the only one who thought Trump’s Philly lawyer made My Cousin Vinny look like Perry Mason…? But, seriously, Trump’s disrespect just keeps piling on: first he sicced his MAGA mob to desecrate the sanctity of the Senate; then he dispatched his mobster lawyers to insult the intelligence of the senators.
Of course, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been chasing him (on charges of tax and insurance fraud) like Inspector Javert chasing Jean Valjean (after his escape from prison). I have written about this Les Misérables-like pursuit in commentaries like “Karmic Irony: Trump Pardons Cronies but He and Kids End Up in Prison…,” August 4, 2020, and “The Tax Returns Cometh: ‘Trump Literally Can’t Afford to Lose the Election’,” October 5, 2020.
With all due respect to his lawyer, however, here is how I warned – in Episode 16 of my Talking iPINIONS Podcast, “MAGA Madness: Trump Incites Insurrection at US Capitol” – about the Damoclean sword of prosecution that will be dangling over the head of citizen Trump:
Trump would do better to plea bargain than risk impeachment. Not to mention the legal jeopardy he would face after impeachment; which, ironically, would rest primarily with two Black women: namely New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis – both of whom I suspect are salivating at the prospect of indicting Trump on state charges that lie beyond his presidential pardon powers.
And so Trump was acquitted today. But his legal woes have only just begun. Just ask O.J.
Dénouement
The Trump presidency exposed the underbelly of America’s much-vaunted exceptionalism. And the whole world saw an America that is like the most beautiful woman in the world choosing to sell her body day in and day out than be wooed over time. Only this explains the shifting dalliances Trump’s America had with dictatorship “Johns” like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea — all of whom he allowed to treat America with a kind of sado-masochistic contempt that was unthinkable four years ago.
And all that, while his America was giving the cold shoulder to longtime alliances with democracies like Canada, France, and Germany.
No doubt Biden’s America will kiss and make up with old friends, and will only touch those Johns with a ten-foot pole. Unfortunately, there’s no way even his ultra-bright smile can blind the world to unsee the underbelly Trump exposed.
And so I fear that Trumpism, and all its permutations, will hang like an albatross around America’s neck — forever.
Related commentaries:
Tampa Bay… Republicans abandon… Republicans knew…
Republicans whining… impeachment vote… Karmic irony…
tax returns… MAGA madness… OJ Simpson…