Aftermath

 “There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.” 

That was how Senator Mitch McConnell chose to sum up his opinion about the evidence he saw during the weeklong impeachment trial of the former gameshow host. It is also a matter of public record that Senator Mitch did not choose to vote to convict the person whom he believes is practically and morally responsible for the siege of the Capitol. It is a certainty that if his vote had been added to the other seven Republicans that crossed party lines with their guilty votes, more would have followed and that would have changed the outcome dramatically. 

But, as the bard once put it, you can't always get what you want. It is significant that this is the only president to be impeached twice. And he managed to do that within the parameters of his first and we expect only term in office. The managers of the case against the twice-impeached "president" chose to focus on the hours of January 6 that showed a clear dereliction of duty as well as incitement to a mob to riot. And while these folks allowed the argument to get mired down in the semantics of the word "fight," there was no way that anyone watching the video evidence presented could ignore the very real threat presented by the aforementioned mob to representatives, senators and the Vice President himself. Unless you were one of those senators like Cruz or Hawley who chose to tweet or work on their overdue homework as the prosecution made its case. 

Ultimately, it was made clear to us that the former gameshow host maintains his death grip on the Republican party, who seem determined to go down in a blaze of glory even though the former majority leader believes there is "no question" that the gameshow host was responsible for the events that put him and his colleagues in danger. A majority of senators were willing to convict him for inciting the violence that lead to the deaths of a civilian and two Capitol Police officers. A majority of American citizens polled felt the same way. Which wasn't good enough. It give me pause to imagine under what circumstances would ten more senators been willing to vote their conscience instead of their party line. After four years of failed leadership that culminated in hundreds of thousands of Americans dying from a virus that should have been controlled instead of ignored, a crashed economy that was built on the backs of working people rewarding the rich, and a tumble into disrespect worldwide as our country became the laughingstock of the rest of the globe, they couldn't come together to say, "Yeah, actually encouraging the violent overthrow of the United States government is a bridge too far." 

However, that same bard once noted, "if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need." The cracks in the façade of the Republican party are there for all to see. A light has been shone for all to see the hypocrisy and blunt arrogance that has been fomented over the past four years. Not just in the oval office, but in all our elected officials. The ones who are there cheering on the agenda of one man versus those who are there to serve the people who elected them. Organizations such as the "Proud Boys" are starting to splinter because they feel they have been left out to dry. As citizens are being charged and sentenced for their part in the siege of January 6, it will be more and more difficult to hide the truth. Donald Trump got away with murder. His minions won't. 

We cannot let that happen ever again.