Today in America | 13 FEB 2021…

 

The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted former President Trump on the charges that led to his second impeachment.  This decision WILL haunt America!

 

An entire month to the date the world is watching, once again…

A lot of things have happened since the last time I’ve gotten a chance to sit down and rant.   I have a lot of topics in mind and in cue that I would write about, but it seemed pertinent to put my thoughts down on a historical day – the very same day they occurred.  Upon the conclusion of last time’s impeachment, I made a lot of predictions, and those predictions did come true.  You can read all about it on my “Today in America | 13 Jan 2121…” article.   In case you’ve stumbled upon these years from the time I’m writing this article, I wanted to put my historical record of what happened today.

The twice impeached by the House of Representatives, Former President Trump, was also twice acquitted by the Senate – the latter happened today.  I should go on to say that I am not surprised in the very least about the outcome.  This trial was very similar as far as minds made up, as the first time Trump got impeached.  This time once again, all Democrats voted to give Trump the boot from pour Political discourse, and [ most ] Republicans chose Trump’s side. The vote was 57 to 43, which means that it was 10 votes shy for a conviction. In other words, it would have needed what it’s known as a “super majority” of 67 votes.  From the beginning many Republicans and Democrats announced in many platforms how they planned on voting in the end.

Senate trials are different than other courts. For instance, the accused was not going to end up serving a jail time with a Senate conviction.  Also, witnesses could litigate against subpoenas and delay the trial indefinitely. In fact, that was very real on Trumps first impeachment… subpoenas are being litigated to this day.  There are other differences, but as you can see these factors can very well become a political game, because the longer a trial extends, the less time Congress is able to focus on anything else.  That opens a Pandora Box to all kinds of arguments to legitimize the preceding’s.  So, it is not a clear cut and execute deal when it comes to the mechanics of a Senate trial, there are a lot of intricacies.  I’ll make a rant about that sometime in the future, because understanding politics is important as an adult, even if most people find it boring.  Why? Because adults vote, and if they don’t understand what they are voting for it affects us all.

 

The freedom of not leaning left or right.

I’ve said it before, and I will repeat it again. Politically, I do not lean left nor right…  As an American Citizen, my loyalty is to our Country and the Constitution of the United States of America – and that means that political bias does not affect my position. I will call out or praise the left leaning leadership just as I would call out or praise the right. While understanding that there is freedom of speech under the First Amendment… and that means that my speech is not intended on discriminating of projecting hate to any side.  In fact, I am a firm proponent of UNITY.  This can be achieved if there are no double standards, and everyone is equal under the law.  The law in the United States of America gives US persons plenty of latitude to become the person they’re mean to be, which I am also a big proponent of that.  But whenever I see gaslighting and hypocrisy, I feel it is my duty as a responsible adult to help fill gaps of understanding.

Often those gaps are propagated by people’s intrinsic and acquired biases.  The latter being significantly larger, and often more dangerous than the first if it gets hijacked by a puppet master for nefarious purposes.  For example, an intrinsic bias would be that a person prefers not putting pineapple on their pizza because it makes them gag.  An acquired bias would be not liking a particular sports team because mom and dad took them to the stadium to root for said team… ad they have very fond memories associated with that team… and even if that team sucked and they didn’t win a season since the ’60s — they will be like — “don’t talk $#!^ about MY team, because it is MY team.”

I’ve seen it with my own eyes, cities getting desecrated because their team lost.  Quick story to illustrate, I was ~15 or 16 when I still lived in Ecuador.  That day there was a big soccer game where Mexico (visitors) was playing versus Ecuador (obvious home team).  That day I was with a friend who lived no $#!^ right next to the capital’s soccer stadium.  I am not a soccer fan, but my friend was a very avid fan (probably still is) Sidebar #2… sorry, I just never found much fun on kicking a ball around, a lot of people love it… if you’re one of them — hey more power to you.   I was more into martial arts at that age.  But I digress… despite being so close to the stadium we could not get tickets (no duh, right?) – but we could hear the roar of the crowd and the excitement even outside the stadium – we decided to walk around the mall located next to the stadium because we were not ready to get back home yet.  Eventually, the game was over.  Mexico defeated Ecuador in their own stadium.  There was a donuts shop nearby, so we went there to eat doughnut holes waiting for the crowd to dissipate… and as we did that a front road spectacle unfolded.

Angry Ecuadorians were destroying the city in the vicinity of the stadium… they vandalized cars parked in the streets, broke windows, a lot of them were crying and sobbing because the team lost the game.  That was an awaking moment for me – to see “grownups” being irrational.  I know they have pride on their team, still it is only a game, and they were not in the field playing against the other team, just sitting looking and cheering.  As a teenager, I thought I was invincible, so I was not even scared about what I was witnessing… cynically, I found it hilarious to see “grownups” acting like toddlers experiencing tantrum meltdowns.  For instance, there was this drunk guy, probably in his late 20’s kicking a barricade, he got his foot caught between the strut’s, he somehow flipped over the opposite side of that barricade, fell on his @$$, and started crying of pain with his foot still stuck in the strut, while his friends tried to get him free, and he just kept screaming in agonizing pain, blaming the barricade he just kicked.

This was by no means an isolated incident, a lot of objects these angry fans picked a fight with ended up losing to said object… also there were fist fights, obviously every curse word known to man loudly screamed… and to me it was just a validation that the city of Quito at that time was populated by a copious number of imbeciles – willing to destroy their own city – because their team lost a game.  Yeah, that would show those mean Mexican soccer players to win in our own city! — Right?  The doughnuts were delicious by the way, it was cold, so we paired with some hot coco until the crowd somehow made it their way away from the stadium and the surrounding areas.   All this long set up to illustrate that people from all walks of life would do something stupid, if they are emotionally invested enough on a particular subject.  And this was just a sport (game).  Dissenting with religion or politics could be a lot more volatile.

One thing I learned that day is that common sense is not very common, and somebody who is not involved in the trenches could look from a safe distance the entire world burn.  It didn’t affect me or my friend that day, this establishment was just far enough from the action… I remember sipping my coco and enjoying my doughnuts while watching in disbelief – too bad there were no cell phones with cameras back then.  But for those who got hurt that day, those who got their car and property damaged, the events of that night became a very real thing inconvenient at best, very expensive at worst.  And that is my point, many times we are lucky to see as spectators some crazy stuff from afar… safely removed from the realities that affect others.  Emotional maturity is then needed to understand what those in the front line went through, even if you disagree with them.  For example, that idiot who kicked the barricade probably got a compound fracture, I don’t agree with kicking an object out of rage (and have the object win the fight by the way).  But I can understand why this person became so emotional, as I understand he descended into becoming a joke I am telling almost three decades later.

 

What does this story have to do with anything? 

A lot actually, I sometimes prefer to give my readers an analog of a situation at hand so we can all see the more important topic objectively. That way, if they are from a dissenting point of view this will help us be intellectually honest.  I’ve written before about intellectual honesty.  To summarize, it means that if a person is willing to give a pass or make mental gymnastics to justify an action from somebody, they “like” – then they should be able to unequivocally apply the same metric to somebody they “do not like” for doing the exact same action under same or similar circumstances.

That’s why I don’t lean left or right in the political spectrum, I’m perfectly at peace by condoning or condemning situations from either side.  That’s what it is really meat by accountability, that is how we earn unity.  And I say “earn” unity, because it might require getting out of our comfort zone, become our own devil’s advocate, and if we are intellectually honest, then we open ourselves to really understand the multi-dimensional level of intricacy present in every situation.  Oversimplifying to gain favor on a bias is not only dishonest, it also can likely place a person in the wrong side of the argument – or history.  And what it is worse, these people in the wrong side of the argument tend to be convinced they are 100% right.  That begs the question, how do you know you’re in the wrong?

Right or wrong is surprisingly subjective, but generally right is when we strive to reach a win-win, and we are able to make out our own mind by looking at ALL the sides of the issue at hand OBJECTIVELLY.  That does not mean you agree to the dissenting school of thought, it does mean that you would apply the same agree/disagree argument as it if was directed towards your own bias – that means look at it from the other person’s perspective.  Red flags include some of the following: Us vs Them mentality, fear about the other side, literature or messaging that promotes violence of extremism, anything with racist overtones, anything that paints with a big brush minorities and majorities.  Any indoctrination to “hate” somebody else, or to impose (not the same as educate) your beliefs onto them… I can go on… but I hope I am making my point here.

To summarize, these red flags (I put in italics) will be catalysts on drawing people to fall into an echo chamber.  Subsequently, they might be descending into a level of radicalization without even knowing it.  People trying to control others will not start by being “mean” – generally… they will try to ping on their biases and, provide a “what about” scenario, and little by little, this sparked curiosity will direct the unsuspecting crowd towards the echo chamber.  I am a firm believer that most people are deep inside good human beings. That’s why if you tell a self-proclaimed “patriot” that they are stupid or “unpatriotic” you can bet your sweet @$$ that this “patriot” will shut you down and gravitate to their own echo chamber.

These echo chambers then to be cozy also – at first.  All their friends and like-minded people are gathered.  They seem to agree… they all dislike the same thing, they tend to share a similar congregation (faith, religion, political and/or ideological views), they tend to consume the same media outlets, they have similar “words” that are parroted by said outlets and repeat them as fact – without thoroughly reviewing dissenting views to ensure these facts are indeed accurate.   There will be also a “leader” or hierarchy that makes all the decisions for the group.  Then things start getting darker, once there is trust, fear of the other side starts to be injected.  It happens gradually, for an extreme example: Hitler didn’t start with the Holocaust, he built up to that gradually until there were millions willing to follow his misguided views.  Again, echo chambers will have a “dear leader” mentality… spoiler alert these can be far left or right… I’ve told you in a different article how the political spectrum is not linear but rather horseshoe, and the deeper a person fall on either extreme side, the easier it is to be controlled to those who want their bidding.

And this is the fun thing, about the person (or entity) pulling their strings — they don’t care about their followers — the dear leader will convince them he/she cares about these followers in the echo chamber.  The leaders often don’t even believe the same crap their masses are led to believe.  That is what makes it the more despicable.  Just look at any cult or fringe group ex-member story, they will tell you.  They believed everything, and normally would state that at-the-time they were convinced their actions were justified (even the damaging and violent ones) … because of some sort of reward or “better” solution was the end state… for whatever is that the leader wanted to sell or propagate.

These puppets masters know that if they keep their “audience” entertained with the same echo chamber and rhetoric, these people will eventually be willing to take action to do their bidding obediently, and with perceived impunity.  But you know who won’t be in the front lines?  The puppet master… Sadly, there are quite a few people out there that are willing to be subservient to a puppets master of their choice.

Hey, if blindly following somebody makes them happy and have a fulfilling life for everyone, without entrenching on other people’s rights and lifestyle or engaging in criminal conduct of any kind… so be it.  But if that “Leader” starts affecting the common denominator, then an equal level accountability so that no one is above the law will be required.  That means that the leader must be held at the same standard as the populace.  Authoritarian regimes shift laws on their side, where the leaders get away with actions (generally criminal in nature) that the rest of populace would be thrown the book at, either by imprisonment or in extreme cases by execution.  This stuff does happen around the world.  This has no place in America, that’s why we have checks and balances are written in our Constitution.  The only way to circumvallate them (in USA) is if those in power choose to look the other way or fight on “technicalities” to protect was actually demonstrably wrong.

So, what happened today? 

What’s done by the US Senate its done.  This is an unbiased analysis.  If you’re a Trump supporter, you might be elated about the verdict.  If you’re not a Trump supporter, this was a very scary day in history indeed – because of all the underling unintended consequences the verdict opened.  So, to all my Trump supporter readers, just replace the name “Trump” with whatever liberal figure you dislike the most (and I’m sure you can come with copious amounts).  And if you’re absolutely okay with acquitting the person you just chose (which might be your perceived nemesis) then you’ve proven intellectually honest.  I can’t say I would agree with the “acquittal” myself, but hey that’s why there were 67 votes required. I’ll tell you at the end why I don’t agree with the acquittal… and no, it is not because it was Trump.  I would have been just as disappointed if it was anybody else in the same position.  Let me quickly summarize.

This impeachment judgement did not just start this week.  What we witnessed today have been the making for a very long time.  In fact, well before the time Trump started his presidential campaign.   Many people, even his most fervent Republican allies who voted to acquit TWICE, were very much against him during the Republican primary before the 2016 election.  Trump would say something crazy that would end up any other person’s political career… but instead of retracting, Trump doubled down on these criticisms – never accepting wrongdoing.  People who liked him, thought that this is the zeal of a great leader.  For the great majority of Americans, this was concerning because they know that if a person is incapable of admitting wrong-doing, and then this person is enabled to do the wrong thing again, and they will… and the actions will get bolder and bolder – until it this bad behavior gets normalized, and everyone is numb to react to it.  Here, look at how we’ve got to yesterday.

• Trumps was no stranger to controversy before his presidential run (second run, he ran also back in 2000 and was fairly quickly dismissed and dropped out of the race – he also though about running in 1988 but chose against it).  In the decades leading to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he was already embroiled in a lot of alleged scams, to include Trump University who ended up settling for $25 Million.  This was among many other perceived red flags which were identified by Democrats AND Republicans.  Don’t take my word for it, it is all very well documented in the public record.

 

• His presidential campaign for 2016 started with him coming down an escalator.  Among some of the highlights Trump boasted how rich he was – the fact he was going to self-fund his campaign… and attacking Mexicans, saying quote: “When Mexico send their people, they’re not sending their best. They are sending people that have a lot of problems, and they are bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” – after this gem of a start, and the well-deserved criticism, Trump doubled down on his tenor.  Then he would stay something controversial literally every day and gain a lot of free-media attention.  This ironically created a massive following and cult of personality that exists to this day.

 

• People in his OWN party tried to disqualify Trump from being elected as the Republican front runner before the 2016 election.  Interestingly, those who tried to get down to his level were swiftly removed and subsequently many of those because fervent allies.  For example, when Sen. Marco Rubio (who was also running for President) talked about Trump’s small hands as a reference that Trump might have small genitalia, Rubio’s campaign sponsors immediately dropped Rubio and had to drop of the presidential race.  This is significant because even by this time Trump has been spouting quite a few disparaging epithets and falsehoods about his fellow primary Republican candidates and engaging in policies that many people would qualify as divisive (even from the Republican side).  But Trump would attack anyone in his way… for example the attack against Ted Cruz (who also running against Trump at the time) – Trump didn’t just share a very unflattering picture of his wife, he also said that his dad was part of the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy.  Yes, that did happen… he said that Ted Cruz was the son of a person who was involved in the assassination of Kennedy.  Look it up, it is all public record, Lindsay Graham also had a lot of choice words for then candidate Trump… but despite all this Trump became the nominee for the Republican party.  It is interesting because by this time even pundits and other subsequent cabinet members were very much against Trump… for example Kellyanne Conway who ended up working on his campaign after Paul Manafort (who later got convicted for inappropriate campaign managing) and subsequently became a senior advisor.  Another example is Right wing commentator Tommy Lauren.  Both of these ladies have very much the SAME questions most Democrats had about Trump before AND after he got in power.  So no, this was never a one-sided argument, politically speaking.  For any of them to say that they were fervent supporters from the start would constitute gaslighting.

 

• By this time most right and left leaning people predicted that a person with a narcissistic personality such a his could end up one day sending a mob to do his bidding against political enemies.  I mean, he was perfectly fine attacking his loyal allies, and have demonstrated that he would disavow anybody who would be considered a liability (we know this to be true during his presidential tenure… a few examples are his lawyers, pervious supporters, previous cabinet members).  Despite all this Trump prevailed and got the republican nomination.

 

• The 2016 election was especially contentious – a lot of democrats did not like Hillary Clinton.  So, they would be voting against her regardless… or the great majority actually stayed home.  Now, despite this Clinton did win the popular vote by about a million people or so.  During this time, we did see a lot of state actors (other countries conspiring) to compromise our election.  Spoiler alert, what is the best way to do that? With a disinformation campaign, put people in their own echo chambers – blast them with damaging information against the candidate that adversarial nations do not want to see in power.  Say what you will about Hillary Clinton – but she was indeed the most qualified candidate – by far.  Working in government is a very complex endeavor and learning on the job is not an optimal avenue for holding the highest office in the land.  You know who else understood that?  The adversaries who did not want to see Clinton in power.  It would be the same if any person starts a new job unrelated to their field of expertise. They will have a delta to gain the level of proficiency to understand the intricacies… during those gaps, it is easier to “get away” with stuff that a more savvy or experienced person would be able to quickly identify.  Regardless, Trump won the electoral college, and fought for the entire presidency the legitimacy of Clinton’s votes.  Trump at the time went on to say that the Electoral College was a rigged system, but that he didn’t care once he realized he was wining.  Do you see why some people had a problem with that train of thought?

 

• Trump assumed power, and soon enough many of his problems started.  There were twitter storms every day against his political adversaries AND private citizens.  Trump would give demeaning nicknames to his targets, and a lot of his policies were considered controversial at best. I know some people agree with his policies, so I won’t delve into that political argument… that is a subject for a different rant.  I’ll just quickly say that Trump was able to get away with stuff no other president in the history of the United States of America has been able to get away with… from the little things such as having a personal smartphone during his tenure in the Presidential office where he twitted often very controversial rhetoric, to the bigger ones (such as the twice impeachment/acquittals).  For people who only see the US as the center of the Universe, they might not know that the rest of the world thought that the great US of A went insane.  They would look at the shiny city upon the hill as a very unrecognizable place. When we lowered our standards, the rest of the world followed suit… again, you might not see it because we seldom see international news in US channels… but that did happen.   The significance of USA as the primary voice on the table in the foreign policy realm became less and less prominent, and other nations started filling that gap of influence.  I won’t go to all his presidential up and downs, but just know that was happening was not normal.  And from a security manager stand-point there were a lot of red flags.  For example, having so many close people to his circle being convicted of crimes, most people would not be able to get a job at a fast-food franchise with that background.  But apparently the highest office in the land had much relaxed threshold under those rules.

 

• Trump committed various impeachable offenses during his term.  But remember what I said, once it gets normalized then people get numb to it. It is similar like when people get ‘nose blind’ – For example, have you ever been in a person’s apartment, and it smells funky… but after a while you don’t smell it anymore?  The human mind does not like to suffer, so it will “turn off” something that makes them suffer in order to survive. Something similar happens when you’ve gotten an oversaturation of media. Some crazy stuff that would be a career ended to anyone, turned into “it’s just Trump being Trump” – a couple of examples…. send 100+ twits in the middle of the night attacking private American citizens, or what about attacking a witness DURING his first impeachment hearing.  Withhold the private conversation with world leaders behind closed doors with zero American witnesses and confiscating the notes by the translators… when those documents are required to be part of the presidential archives.  If Biden does something like that, how would his opposition react to that behavior?  Should they condemn such actions? You bet they should.  Fortunately, I don’t see Biden doing any of those… he’s been in power since 20 January… and I have not seen any attacking tweets to private citizens from the incumbent president.

 

• Trumps first impeachment, we spoke in a previous article, so I won’t repeat it here.  But fast forward to the second impeachment.  The intent for the Senate trial was to disqualify Former President Trump from holding officer ever again. The hearing started on Tuesday, 09 February 2021 in the United States Senate, and it ended on day six today 13 February 2021.  As you remember the House of Representatives Impeached Trump for the second time on 13 of January 2021.  Two days later they brought the articles of Impeachment to then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, who refused to take action, and delayed the trial AFTER Joe Biden’s inauguration – essentially almost a month after the House Impeached Trump.  McConnel at-the-time signaled that he would indeed vote against acquittal.  After all, McConnel was very upset about Trump sending the mob and desecrate Capitol Hill.  We know now that people died, and there were hundreds of arrests and convictions to the perpetrators who attacked the Capitol… McConnel even said that (today) that Trump did in fact send the mob to Capitol.  However, the reasoning for the “delay” was to provide enough time for the Trump defense to prepare a case.  Democrats believed him and didn’t push more about it. By that time Trump was out of office, and the defense rhetoric changed.  McConnell is notorious for doing this to Democrats on any policy, he’s a very shrewd politician, I don’t think Democrats realize that. However, McConnell said during his post-trial speech that the former President has not gotten away with it “yet” – alluding to the fact that his many civil and criminal cases are ongoing and would likely have Trump finally answer to his actions in a court of law.  We will see how that goes.

 

• Remember, former President Trump was unable to get legal representation.  The team who defended him was the third team who agreed to defend him.   But even his former lawyer and front-row fan Rudy Guiliani was not able to defend him during the Senate trial because he would be considered a witness, and now Giuliani is even the accused on a couple of multi-billion lawsuits.  And to make it more fun, Trump refused to pay Guiliani the legal fees.  But back in topic, Trump’s dissent with his second team was because Trump wanted them to reiterate a “stolen election” – which was already debunked and did not win any in any of the numerous cases (which Guiliani was hired to represent the President.  It is interesting that for such a high-profile case there were no lawyers across the country lining up to defend the former president.  Why you think is that? Maybe because trying to defend something that is demonstrably inaccurate would count as perjury, that’s why NO OTHER lawsuit actually fight the language of stolen election.  However, this narrative was repeated by Trump and his followers (to include media outlets) far and wide, resulting in a lot of angry Americans who believed his words.  Don’t take my words for it, that is all in the public record, you can read the cases for each lawsuit.

 

• The prosecution led by the House of Representative managers during the Senate trial were successful in proving the case.  Former President Trump did incite violence and did nothing to stop or condemn the violence until they have already breached Capitol Hill, engaged in violence and even shed blood. The acquittal was in the “technicality” that Trump was no longer in office, but not because the defense could prove Trump did not incite violence.  In fact, when confronted with this the defense just pointed at the scope of the investigation, not defending the president on the fact that Capitol was ransacked… they ran the defense that Trump is no longer in office… that’s really it… and that he should be able to run again.  Which on its face it’s not even really necessarily realistic, because Trump’s age alone might be a factor in a 2024 election candidacy, add that to the fact all social media platforms banned him, all the criminal cases against him, and his loan sharks who will be pressuring him to pay his debts… The following months will be very intense to Trump due to all those factors.  This impeachment trial was just to demonstrate to America and the world that the leaders in the country are willing to give everyone equal accountability under the law.  That was it…. it is part of the healing process, by holding somebody’s feet to the fire.  After all, the trial happened in the SCENE OF THE CRIME, there were hundreds if not thousands of witnesses in the flesh present and was broadcasted live by both the media and even the perpetrators themselves.  These facts were undisputed during the trial.

Trump himself did not agree to testify in Congress.  Now, how would any person (left of right), if they are accused of something such as creating incitement of violence against Capitol and putting in assassination danger the second and third highest holders of office in the land (along with many others) …. would not want to present the facts of the story directly in order to set the record straight if they are innocent of the charges? Former President Trump would have been able answer a few questions and save everyone time and effort explaining himself – showing by example that he’s not above the law and he has the courage to face his accusers, just as he had the courage of giving nicknames and insults via tweeter to whomever he pleased.  Some question I have (and I would have asked the same if Trump was a Democrat under penalty of perjury).

1. Did you willingly send the mob to Capitol?
2. Did you realize that your words and the words of your clout actually incited people to fly and drive from all over the country, so they could on that day to march to the Capitol?”  (Which they did – these people travel far and wide)
3. Did you know that some people might take your words “out of context” – if they are already fired up and dressed up for the occasion? Did you realize that they could interpret your words as a call to arms?
4. Did you know that Vice President Pence was evacuated by his secret service detail while you sent tweets and video-media to your supporters to correct “wrong doings” of the electoral process? Which included saying that Pence and other dissenting congress people were weak because they would not go against your rhetoric of a stolen election?
5. Did you know that supporters erected gallows and a nuze with the intention of hanging Pence? What about those who were looking for Nancy Pelosi to assassinate her?
6. Did you know that a lot of those “supporters” said they were sent by you?
7. Why did you not stop the violence immediately? It was on live television?
8. Why did you tell the protestors that you love them? And go in peace? You are very vocal when you’re angry at people, with nicknames and disparaging epithets? What gives dude?
9. Why didn’t you attend the funeral of the Capitol Police Officer who was honored postmortem for defending Capitol?
10. Why didn’t you condemn the violence the SAME DAY – it took several days for the official world to come – first official world finally came from then Press Secretary Kelly McEnany, who read a statement condemning the mob and briskly left without taking any questions from the press.
11. Why did you tell your fans that day that you would walk to the Capitol with them, and then go the other way towards the White House?
12. Why did you condemn the “fans” who did what you told them to do after the fact?  You know they loved you; they trusted you; they followed you to the end.
13. Did you know that you didn’t only betray the county that day?  You also betrayed your blind followers, just like you’ve disposed of any other person not in your clout… would you do that again?  All this is in the public record, so it is factually accurate.

I can go on but hope this makes my point.  Bottom line, the defense did not “defend” Trump on the merits.  They defended in the “technicality” that he is no longer in office…  even though there is a precedent (however old) of somebody getting disqualified for holding office ever again after leaving their post.  I guess I will make another post just in these things that made no sense during this trial – and there is plenty of material for that.  Even McConnel, who voted “Not Guilty” went on a rampage in national television after the case was closed to say Trump was indeed a danger, and that the defense accurately portrayed the horror of that day, and of the events leading to that insurrection.

He did say also that because Trump is a “private citizen” – then this case was outside the scope of the Senate.  Even though they voted in the VERY FIRST DAY on the constitutionality of this trial, that’s why it went at it for six days.   In case you forgot already, McConnell HIMSELF was the person who blocked the articles of impeachment from reaching the Senate floor, while Trump was in power. All that I’m saying is public record, you can read it, view it unedited… it is out there as part of our American history.

A few senators did cross the aisle and voted their conscience. Not surprisingly, and these interviews are in national and international television.  Even before the articles reached the Senate a lot of the Republican Senators have already made their mind to acquit. So, the question remains, if these charges and allegations were pinned on a Democrat, would we see the same willingness to acquit by the majority of Republican Senators?  Were they voting for our constitution?  The House Managers were able to show in the merits that Trump was indeed the catalyst for the attack, and by the way the only one that was able to stop the attack… which he did finally, once told his follower he loved them and go to in peace and remember this day.  However, that was a very long time after the damage was already done, which is dereliction of duty.

I remember that day, 06 February, in horror.  Despite all this the Senate voted against getting witnesses. Goodness, they could have gotten one or many of those “patriots” who are now very disappointed after Trump disavowed them after they stormed the Capitol and failed to overthrow the electoral vote count.  To you who stormed the Capitol, and are under arrest, know this.  Trump played you, he was the puppets (plural) master, you followed him to his echo chamber, and once he didn’t need you he let you fend for yourself in federal prison.  Don’t take my word for it, your lawyers would use that line to defend you. But the fact is that personal responsibility lies on us all.  Situations like this can be mitigated with intellectual honesty.  Please tell others to escape the echo chamber, your story also deserves to be heard, and hope you can see for yourself what others have been telling you all along.  Trump will utilize you until he does not need you anymore.  That’s why millions of people voted AGAINST Trump in the 2020 election.  Because they wanted to prevent you and others from living what you’re experiencing right now.  All those “fake news” were apparently not so fake after all.

People died on 06 January 2021 and the days following. Lives were destroyed, arrests and criminal records opened, and self-proclaimed “patriots” charged with felonies, and for all their trouble, Trump did not even show up his face to the front line or let alone his trial.  Trump is perfectly happy sitting in Mar-A-Lago while his most gullible followers who broke the law are now fighting for their freedom against prosecutors spanning the entire country.  Yes, Trump even disavowed his followers who stormed the Capitol – after he asked them to go to the Capitol and “Fight like hell” or they would not have a country anymore…. Guess what? The country is still here, business as usual… Trump’s lawyers disavowed these “patriots” too… these people were just a pawn in Trump’s power chessboard, nothing else.  In fact, the lawyers and Trump himself emphatically said that they should be punished to the greatest extent of the law.  And that is something both Republicans and Democrats fully agree upon.  I bet these “patriots” feel very dumb traveling across the country by bus, plane, car or whatever way they got there… spend money in lodging, logistics, taking hard-earned day’s off, and experiencing the freezing cold just to be shunned by both sides for committing criminal offenses on Federal grounds.  And if they (patriots) have any sense of decency, hopefully the epiphany hits home and they are now repenting from their wrong doings, by educating others not to do the same $#!^ that just destroyed their lives and livelihood.

I am sure these self-proclaimed “patriots” could have been great witnesses during the Senate trial by explaining their first-person account of the events leading to that event… — even if it was through a video screen — and be afforded to tell their part of the story.  Trump lawyers said over and over again that there was no due process afforded to Trump.  Really?  This dude is in Mar-A-Lago doing whatever is that he does, while there are people out there “fighting” on his behalf, while Trump is looking from afar without having faced even an iota of accountability.  There was a trial, with lawyers on both sides… even if Trump would have gotten convicted, he was not going to be jailed… where is the lack of due process? And for all those who voted “Not Guilty” remember that a person like Trump will only use you as long as he needs you.  Who’s to say he won’t attack his most ardent fans next? He has well-documented precedence of doing exactly that. Why are they afraid of Trump? Or are they afraid of whomever Trump is afraid of? Only time will tell, the truth always comes up in the end.  But as the leaders of this great Nation, remember that your actions do not stay in a vacuum, they affect us all for generations to come.

 

So why am I not happy with the Acquittal? 

As promised, we reached the end of my article.  If you read this far, thank you.  This trial showed a double standard, people who love Trump might not understand it at-this-time… read this again in a few years.  Most of his fans will only ready “acquittal” and equate it to “vindication” but that is a false dichotomy…  most of the fans at this point in time might not be inclined to see the nuisance of what transpired outside their lenses of vindication.  I’ve seen may Trump fans already post in their social media and other out outlets as this Senate trial was a “waste of time, waste of money, liberals got owned again, etc.”

I ain’t liberal, so would have been just as angry if a Democrat would have gotten away with this.  Wrong is wrong no matter who is it.  Just like when we educate our kids and teach them right from wrong, we love them and hopefully hold them accountable, so they rectify their shortcomings and become better people.  Sure, they will be out of their comfort zone for a bit, but they will learn a valuable lesson.  We all have blind spots, and we all can learn something new. This Senate trial essentially just was a bit “look away” and “enable” the accused to do it again.  in other words (and I mentioned this before) … This impeachment proceedings were not about Trump; he was just the “face” of this debacle.  This impeachment is about USA, about our standard of conduct as law abiding citizens were everyone is treated the same under the law.  A symbolic event, if you will… Trump has been getting away with saying and doing crazy $#!^ that no other person in the planet would have gotten away with – for a very long time. Go ahead and objectively name another person who has done as much stuff as him in USA and walk away unscathed… This trial was intended to show that we are not willing to enable anybody to be above the law and get away with it. That’s why the conviction was to prevent him or any would-be copy-cat for doing something like that ever again.

I realize that with the heat of the moment, some of the readers who are Trump fans might even get down right offended about what I am saying.  I’ll submit that we can agree to disagree – and that the way I see it, they might experience what I like to call “the ex-significant other allure.” We’ve all been there… madly in love with “the one” who makes our stomachs churn with butterflies and who we love unconditionally.  And one day this significant other earned their way to the opposite side of the spectrum of our affection.  I bet you that the honeymoon phase for most of those who were in Trump Regalia attacking the Capitol after traveling from all corners of the country — currently sitting in federal prison do not think very highly of Trump at this very second.  Just like that “bad” ex, a lot of us saw the warning signs miles away – we chimed in, and warned this stuff IS NOT NORMAL, it will end badly.  And at the time the infatuated lover would dismiss everyone and cut them out of his/her life until one day he/she had to face the reality.

For our country we all saw how bad it could get on January 6th of this year.  What scares me is that with this acquittal the message is that some are indeed above the law, and I truly hope I am wrong, but January 6th might not be the end of violence in our great nation. However, when history judges us – I want to be able to look at my child in the eye, so she can read my words and understand my position was of unity and accountability because no one is above the law, not even the leadership.  I realize that many people who love Trump might not like my comments today but check this again if you ever fall out of love with Trump. Meanwhile, remember that we are all the future of our great nation, and we can always make our lives better TOGETHER. HLC