IMPEACHMENT: DONALD J. TRUMP

It's all over except the shouting. It was over before it started. Here's my take - today:

The Republicans in the Senate voted not to call witnesses or documents. Senator Lamar Alexander stated, and a number of Republican Senators agreed, that the House Committees proved their case, Trump did what they said he did, and therefore it is not necessary to call witnesses or subpoena documents; however, it is not at the level of an impeachable offense. Furthermore, because it is so close to an election, the voters should decide.

This view is actually understandable within a certain context, and it cuts through - intentionally, I think - the fog of BS and lies presented by the Trump legal team. I can understand, again within a certain context, why removing Trump from office now would create a very dangerous situation in this country, and widen the divide between political camps. The danger, however, is that Trump decides that a not-guilty verdict in the Senate means that he can continue to do whatever he wants, the law be damned. And, in fact, he has already decided this, and preaches it every time he opens his pie hole!

There is, in my mind, another step the Senate needs to take; one that can be supported by the more moderate - or less fearful - Senators. As part of the not-guilty verdict, the Senate needs to attach the most severe rebuke of Donald Trump allowed in the Senate rules.  Make it clear that the Senate agrees with the House on the Articles of Impeachment - Trump did what he was accused of doing, that these actions were wrong, that Trump should never again try to bribe a foreign country for his personal gain or obstruct the actions of Congress. It can be a very simple and clear message: "Mr. President, you did things that a president should not do, we want you to understand that you should never do these things again, and we did not remove you from office because of the very severe impact that would have during an election year." Or something like that.

We all need to keep in mind that this isn't over. Additional evidence will come out, in books (John Bolton's, for example), interviews (Lev Parnas, for example) and other means. The House Intelligence and perhaps Oversight Committees will continue to investigate, and will certainly uncover and make public much more damning evidence about the Trump Gang conspiracy (conspiracies). It will become more evident that many high-level players were involved in the Ukraine "drug deal" and other underhanded activities; people like Mike Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mick Mulvaney and others will be exposed. As it has been said, the truth always comes out, eventually. And the more we, the public, find out about these nefarious characters, the worse it will be for a Trump re-election.

I left phone messages for our two Senators today, asking them to work hard to get the Senate to issue the most severe rebuke of Trump it can along with the not-guilty verdict. I'm not hopeful that this will happen, not one bit actually, but it's worth making noise about.

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