The Circus is Coming to Town

Ah yes, the ultimate showman of them all is coming to a TV
station near you and he is bringing his entourage with him.
Donald Trump has consulted with his production company,
Fox News, and its crack team of reporters, and has opted to
bring in more entertainment for you amusement.  If it wasn't
so terribly, terribly sad it would be hilarious.

In 'The Donald's defense, he didn't really have much of a choice
in prestigious legal firms, as his reputation preceded him. Namely
he's a deadbeat, he doesn't pay his bills.  And this trial may or may
not rack up some biggies.  Also, most firms would like to keep
whatever shred of decorum they possess, L1s and L2s will be
watching and the best of them will shy away from this three-
ring debacle.  Ditto for clients who prefer less notoriety.

Trump the entertainer, ever on camera, needs to bask in the
bright light of notoriety, (perhaps that's where the orange hue
comes from).  The more invidious the situation, the more
Trump glories in it. And he has added to his defense team
two lawyers who also, are drawn to the camera's light like
moths to a flame.

Alan Dershowitz, a name that conjures up memories of the
most appalling, and odious clientele in the past forty or so
years; Klaus von Bulow, O. J. Simpson, Mike Tyson, and
Jefferey Epstein.  Ah but the sensationalism that followed
those trials was priceless, Dershowitz is now a TV legend,
sought after by stations looking to boost their ratings during
sweeps week.  His trial strategy has been; 'yes, my client is
a sleazy character of disrepute but did he do it? And if he did
do it, he really didn't mean to do it.'  This should work with
his latest client very well.

And then we have Ken Starr, there is a name out of the past, and
a face you would probably like to forget.  He could use a bit of
the orange makeup Trump uses to liven up that pasty whiteness
of his.  Ken Starr isn't known for his defense as much as for his
being a prosecutor, you will remember him from the Clinton
impeachment trial.  Where he demanded witness after witness
appear before the House judiciary, everyone including  the
cleaning lady who emptied the trash in the oval office.  One
would wonder how he will approach the 'no witnesses'
demand of Moscow Mitch. Do you think he will be able to
find some salacious tidbit to perk up the legal briefs to be
presented today?

It appears that sordid business seems to follow Starr, to the
point that he was dismissed as president of Baylor University,
a school that has bible verses etched into the sidewalks there,
for looking the other way after the athletic team was charged
with sexual abuses.  Maybe he just enjoyed reading about it.
We know he enjoyed writing about such things, as anyone
who read the transcripts of the Clinton trial briefs will attest.
Starr is another Fox News personality; it appears this is a
requirement for joining Trump's legal team.

The defense this crack team is going to present; it is not
whether Trump did what he did but whether it is an
impeachable offense.  Does it meet the standard of 'high
crimes and misdemeanors'?  Well let's look back to a
prominent Republican who said on April 15, 1970,
"An impeachable offense is whatever the majority of
the House of Representatives considers [it] to be at
a given moment of history."  That was Representative
and soon to be president Gerald Ford who said those
words,.  Sometimes things just come back to bite you.

The show starts tomorrow, Tuesday January 21, 2020.
Right now the Senate is voting on rules of decorum for
the ensuing trial, if that isn't an oxymoron I don't know
what is.  Last week, each of the one-hundred Senators
raised their right hand and swore an oath to be a fair and
impartial juror.  The world is watching, Senators.  What is
on trial here is not just the President of the United States,
but our Constitution, our way of government, and most
importantly the truth.  Each and everyone of you will be
judged by history, these proceedings will be looked at in
the light day, long after the heat of partisanship has cooled.
And what will future students, lawyers, and congresspersons
think of you?  That is to say if we still have a democratic form
of government by then, or if it has long become a plutarchy.

I'm just sayin'.