A few thoughts on the impeachment trial

I haven't written much about the impeachment trial, because why? In spite of the minor drama—will they call witnesses? Will some Republicans revolt?—the result was always foreordained. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the votes to block any witnesses. He has the votes to acquit Donald Trump. When the history of this time is written, McConnell will occupy the blackest of chapters, more so than Trump. McConnell has no care for the country or its Constitution. He cares only for power, and will do anything to attain and keep it. If that means actively turning his party into a fascist organ for an orange buffoon, then so be it.

The arguments Trump's lawyers have presented at the trial are nothing short of ludicrous and un-American. As encapsulated by accused child rapist Alan Dershowitz, via Richard Nixon's corpse, if a president does it, it's neither illegal nor impeachable. This elevating of the president to imperial pretensions is not supported by any Constitutional scholarship, at least not any reputable scholarship. Dershowitz's fetishization of the the presidency is an affront to republican and democratic values. The Federalists in the early Republic did, in fact, want such an expansive role for the executive. They also didn't want to issue a Bill of Rights. They were defeated on both fronts. What Dershowitz and his ilk envision is an absolute presidency where the office holder can run free without restraints from the Congress, the courts, or the states. This is no vision of America that any real patriot would recognize.

What Trump supporters want is some big daddy to smite their enemies and keep the wolf at bay. But their enemies aren't foreign; their enemies are their neighbors, their co-workers, the people shopping with them at the mall. They fear those with whom they disagree, whom they see as taking away their privileges. They're too cowardly to let slip the dogs of civil war, because deep down they know they'd be expunged. So they hitch their wagons to Trump, hoping he'll be able to suppress those they fear. And when those they fear fight back, they take that as evidence that they were right.

The impeachment trial has exposed finally the emptiness at the core of "conservative" ideology. It's nothing but reaction to a changing country and a changing world. A changing country where other groups are demanding their share of power. A changing world that demands a more equitable distribution of wealth and influence. Barack Obama tried to navigate these obstacles; he clearly saw that at home there was a new America being born, and that abroad the US had to be first among equals, rather than global hegemon. And this is what made him, and all those who supported him, traitors in the eyes of those who would wind up voting for Trump.Winding down white hegemony at home and American hegemony abroad is going to happen; Democrats have been trying for a soft landing. But Republicans will stand at the barricades defying fate until everything is in ruins. And the irony is that by doing so they're hastening the inevitable, but with no control over events.

The impeachment trial farce should be over by this weekend. Trump's State of the Union is next week. There's an even chance that, being acquitted, he will go on global television and just admit to everything, thinking he's in the clear. All of this, because too many of our citizens live in fear and resentment.