Jan. 26, 2020
As the curtain rises, we were treated to a colorful panorama of polished mahogany, American flags, sober faces, a special raised dais for the Judge, a lot of men and a few women in a very elegant courtroom-like setting, seldom seen in movies, theaters or real life. It looks like a trial is about to begin. It’s mid-morning in Washington, D. C. and the actors seem like they have been in rehearsal for this dramatic performance for much too long. The majority of the cast looks bored. All that’s missing in this, the most expensive piece of theatre in the history of the United States of America, is the element of suspense. The fact that this piece of theatrics has only been performed in America three times in it’s almost Two-hundred and forty-four year history—a reasonable person would think—would make this a special, command performance! Only once before, in the history of the not always ‘united’ United States, has the corruption of the defendant been matched by the corruption of the jury. It looks like another travesty of jurist-prudence is about to begin.
As was expected, The Judge begins the trial by swearing (in) the Jury by promising to give their honest attention and commitment to determine the truth and significance of the evidence to be presented. There are snickers heard on the Republican side of the gallery. Adam, whose name usually comes first—even in the bible—begins the proceedings by providing a very coherent outline of events, which are the basis of the first ‘Article of Impeachment’, in a very serious, god-like manner. The Democrats in the jury, although few in number, are very pleased with his presentation. The Republicans, the majority in the jury, don’t really give a dam. The rest of the day is spent in endless hours of repeating the same charges. When the first day is over, it’s Dems one, Repubs zero. The button has hardly moved. Nobody, except the democrat minority, really cared about what the President has or hasn’t done, either in bribing one of our significant allies to further his political career or obstructing justice by refusing to allow significant witnesses to testify or withholding certain documents which the prosecution considers essential evidence in its’ case. And, the later of those two issues consumed most of the time in the second day of the trial. That’s called ‘Obstruction of Justice’—which was the essence of the second ‘Article of Impeachment’.
The third day was given to the defense—which completely ignored the evidence presented in days one and two—basically claiming that the President has the right to do anything he wants to do and claim ‘executive privilege’ to prevent any document he chooses to be entered into evidence. I suppose that would allow our President to start a war or possibly eliminate our Congress—both of which he has proven he would try to do. For months now, I’ve been wondering ‘what stone the Republican Senators have been hiding under?’
Given that our Founding Fathers claimed we were “One nation, founded under God”, the next day just happened to be a Sunday and, ‘God’ knows, a trial couldn’t be held on a Sunday! I find a certain irony in the fact that a trial in which the prosecution is claiming ‘evil’ has been done, the jury will, no doubt, be spending the day in church, hopefully, examining their collective conscious. In reality, the democrats headed for Iowa and the Republicans headed for their country club golf course. After the Sunday intermission, the curtain will come up and the show will go on—starting Monday, January 27th, at 9:00 AM, EST.
A morality play this is not! If one side claims ‘evil has been done and, if the person doing the ‘evil’ is allowed to stay in office, more evil is certain to happen’, and the other side claims ‘no such thing as ‘evil’ really exists’, then morality is not the issue. If that is what our Senate majority really believes, it’s time to print our new currency imprinted with its’ new motto which expresses the essence of the Trump administration and, possibly, the character of the majority of our electorate, “In Lust for Power and Privilege, Avarice, and Greed, We Believe!”
Much to my surprise, a tiny new element of potential suspense has crept into the proceeding, almost, as the poet Carl Sandburg said, “As fog crept in on little cat feet.” A few of the more honest Republican Senators (mostly women) seem to be willing to cross the party line, painted in the sand by none other than our favorite obstructionist, Mitch McConnell, and just might vote to allow the calling of witnesses and/or the presentation of certain documents. It will only take 4 Republican Senators of good conscious to allow that to happen. Be sure to get back to your seats in the theater on time Monday. This show just might get interesting!
Sorry for the slight delay in getting this blog out exactly on schedule. We had a rodeo in town this weekend and Hubris wanted us to go watch the action for a few days. Believe it or not, rodeos take place on Sundays—as well as any other day of the week. Actually, they are most often held on weekends, when most people, even cowboys, aren’t working. I know that for a fact, as I took part in a rodeo when I worked on a ranch in Wyoming, a long time ago. “Those were the days, my friend(s), I thought they’d never end, I’d sing and dance forever and a day!” Alas, if the pols would just attend more rodeos, or try to participate in one, maybe they wouldn’t try to protect a crooked city slicker who lies, cheats and steals as a career. Enough said!
Lou
Copyright, January 26, 2020, Louis J. Christen