And so it Begins

I. like so many others have been following the impeachment proceedings,
I have listened intently to both sides.  I must say at the onset, I thoroughly
dislike Donald J. Trump.  Not always for the same reasons most people give,
but my reasons are more personal.  I disliked him before he even became
president.

Through-out my career I have dealt with men like him, arrogant, overbearing,
simple-minded fools who cover their ignorance by shouting.  Men who feel
that their money or position give them the right to do as they wish and to treat
those, who they consider underlings - insert women here - with total distain.
Perhaps it is not his fault, after all his father lied and cheated to garner his wealth,
and rather than pay the government money in taxes, he hid it by endowing it to
his half-wit of a son.  The son he had shuttered off to military school to get him
out of the house, hopefully to 'make a man out of him'. Unfortunately, the one
thing that junior learned wasn't his father's acumen for business, but his father's
disgusting behavior.

Donald Trump has lied and cheated just like his father, he has left a trail of
bankruptcies, ex-wives and half-wit sons in his wake.  The only difference is
Donald hides what little money he has managed to salvage from his inheritance
behind tax loopholes and in foreign banks.  His braggadocio has fooled many,
and many have paid the price, losing everything, their money, their pride, their
reputation.  And for all of this, some men still look up to him because they see
what they think is a smart, successful, powerful, man among men, and women see
a strong male figure.  The kind of figurehead they wish their man to be.  Lincoln
said it best, "...you can fool some of the people all of the time."

And with the support of this delusional 'basket of deplorables' and the indifference
of those voters who thought that a Hillary win was a foregone conclusion and the
whiny Sanders supporters who were too bereft to make  it to the polls, we now
have president Donald Trump.  And what did they think was going to happen when
he was elected?  Did they think that this man who hasn't the slightest shred of
human dignity, who shows no empathy, a man who all of his life bullied his way
to get what he wanted, they thought that some how he would grow into the office of
president?  This man who cannot distinguish between lies and the truth, who lacks
a moral compass, and cannot even understand that just because he wants something
he can take it, by force if necessary.  The same way he thought he could grab any
woman where and when he wanted.

And yet in spite of this aberrant behavior, there are still those who support him, why,
because they want something from him.  Quid pro quo?  You bettcha!  "I will give
you my support as long as you continue to do my bidding". No wonder they could
not recognize what Trump did was wrong, they have been doing it for the past three
years themselves.  But the greatest of these hypocrites are the leaders of the Christian
Fundamentalists, those bible bellowing, psalm singing, salvation sellers.  Those who
preach that heaven is for they who are pure in spirit, they who live a life of self-sacrifice,
who tithe and do good deeds.  It was those leaders who looked upon one of their own
and castigated him for having  consensual sex in the oval office, yet hold up Donald
Trump as a shining beacon, and demand fealty from their flocks to follow them in
voting for this despot.  A man who has brazenly broken everyone of god's
commandments,  a man who couldn't find a church with a GPS signal.  But there are
cracks beginning to show in the wall of belief.

Last week, the magazine founded by Billy Graham, Christianity Today, ran an article
calling for Trumps removal from office, "...to the many evangelicals who continue to
support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember
who you are and whom you serve.  Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump
influences your witness to your Lord and saviour.  Consider what an unbelieving world
will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump's immoral words and behavior in the
cause of political expediency."

Infuriated, Trump said he will never read that magazine again, I'll bet they are worried.
The  magazine is a very popular periodical with the conservative right, and though the
article may not make a huge impact on the general believing population, it might cause
some of them to think.  Still the message from the pulpit remains; god, guns and gays.
The Democrats will lead the country down the road to perdition right after they take away
your religious freedom, your guns and allow perverts to reach 'yer youngins'.  No matter
that you have to shield them youngins from the profanity laced speeches the president
makes daily.  It begs the question; what are those preachers getting out of the Trump
administration?  The answer; containing a free-thinking congregation that may at one
at one time in the future find that perhaps these men of god(?) may not have all the answers
and there goes the meal ticket.  But fear won't work forever and one day reason will take over.

The house of Representatives has voted for Articles of Impeachment and Speaker Pelosi
will at some time refer them to the Senate for trial.  To find the president guilty and remove
him from office, twenty Republican Senators must cross over and vote with the Democrats.
Impossible you say, maybe or maybe not. The Senate is not like the House.  Where the
House represents the people, the Senate represents the State.  If I may use an analogy, the
House is much like the House of Commons in the British Parliament and the Senate is
more attuned to the House of Lords.  The raucous debates and shouting matches in the
House are but showbiz for the folks back home, one hopefully will find quiet deliberation
in the senate.  A Senator four years away from reelection may find he doesn't have to
walk in lock-step with the leadership.  He may even seek out others who he feels think
the same way he does.  What is there to gain?  A place in the history books forever, the
gang that took down the president!

We know there are Senators who find Trump repulsive, there are Senators who think
that Trump has coopted the Republican party and they feel it will take years to right
the ship of state again.  The whole story of what Trump and his sidekick Giuliani have,
and are, presently doing will come out slowly but surely, and with each revelation the
picture looks worse for those trying to defend the president's actions.  A Senator who
stands too close will be tarred by the same brush.  The Senate can see the slow but
inexorable shift in public opinion.  With each passing week, the polls are leaning
more and more against Trump.  A lot can be revealed before Congress returns on
January 6th.  And with Senators scattered to the wind it will be harder for Trump's
henchmen, McConnel and Graham to exert pressure on them.  And Lindsay has an
opponent closing in on him.

If I were Trump, I would be just a bit worried.  Nothing is a foregone conclusion,
not when men of good will and integrity look into their conscience.

I'm just sayin'.