The Enablers

Although Trump's unethical and immoral behavior was known from the beginning the true uprooting of our democracy took 3 years to develop. Now we face an abyss. Few could have predicted his egregious lawlessness would have gotten exponentially worse since he was impeached and acquitted in the Senate. He was not found not guilty mind you but acquitted which does not mean not guilty. For his base, though, who cultishly worship Trump as a god-like figure, know little and will see it as a not guilty verdict. Not only was he monumentally guilty he is increasingly even guiltier of more impeachable offenses.

It is illegal to go after witnesses who have testified before Congress if they are telling the truth which all of them were. Sondland, a former ambassador to Ukraine, paid one million dollars to get the Ukraine ambassador position by contributing to the Trump campaign fund. In the end, he had to protect himself from perjury by telling the truth before Congress then the so called "president" fired him. 


Trump is ruining careers and maybe even the lives of those ethical witnesses who testified on oath to the truth. He even fired the Lt. Colonel Vindman, the recipient of the Purple Heart when wounded in Iraq. Trump has even gone after Vindman's twin brother as well who was guilty of nothing except being Vindman's twin brother. These heinous actions are the actions of a mafia don by not only going after those who in the don's mind betrayed him but his family as well. These are not the actions of a once democratic nation.


He, of course, fired Ambassador Marie Yovanovich whose spotless record for over 15 years at the State Department can only be lauded. Georgetown University bestowed upon her the 2020 J. Raymond Trainor Award for Excellence in the Conduct of Diplomacy. Not only did he fire her but he dragged her reputation through the mud sullying this upstanding woman of invaluable experiential excellence. Her crime? She told the truth. At the bestowal of this award at Georgetown University the audience filled with people of intellectual heft gave her a loud cheer and a lengthy sanding ovation. She deserved that and more. She deserved to keep her job! 


How our nation survives this frontal attack on its institutions I do not know but I do know the Republican Party were the enablers of this presidential monstrosity just like the Weimer Republic bestowed upon Hitler the Enabling Act which enabled him to enact decrees absent the consent of the Reichstag (Germany's Congress.) Trump now thinks he can do anything he wants because the Republicans in the Senate will have his back and never convict to eliminate him. Who could have predicted this president's Herculean efforts to exact revenge? I can only hope, the revenge enacted will be turned on its head and land on him using our Founders' only remedy -- impeachment and conviction to remove a president who defiles the sanctity of the Oval Office.