10-08-2019, 12:27 PM
I see Donald Trump as a failed President, and as I recall Carter's people were delighted that "unelectible extremist" Ronald Reagan was the Republican nominee. We know how that turned out. Reagan was ready to do what it took to deal with stagflation, which was to get people to work more for less and create more productivity. Reagan successfully broke the expectations of young workers who got the signal that if they thought that they were not paid enough on their miserable low-paying jobs that they ought to get another miserable low-paying job to supplement their meager wages. Think of the 1980's -- never was there a better time to be a shopper or a diner when there were so many well-educated people working as waiters and store clerks.
I cannot see a vindication of this President. The impeachment process will continue and will be surprisingly swift. Democrats will impeach him in the House, and the Senate will try him. Democrats will find the High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Senate Republicans will have the marginal decision of removing or keeping him.
Four lines are possible. One is that the Senate will decide that he must be removed for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which case all the polling of approval and disapproval of President Trump becomes simply a statistical chronicle. This thread goes into the "dead thread" category and a new one such as "President Pence: polls of approval and disapproval" emerges. Related to this is that Donald Trump finds some non-judgmental cause for resignation such as "reasons of health". Maybe he has those. Problems of blood circulation? Syphilis or cocaine in the past, as both tend to make people cruel over time?
The other two involve acquittal. One is that the President comes out appearing innocent. Heck, serial killers such as Ted Bundy and John Gacy thought that they might walk out of the courtroom as free men instead of being hauled off to Death Row. I cannot see Trump acquitted on grounds of either complete innocence or the triviality of his offenses. Another is that Republicans let him get away with serious breaches of law and ethics. In such a case, the public will know what has happened and will blame elected Republicans for enabling some bad behavior by the President -- bad behavior that rips the checks and balances and holds statutory law in contempt. In that case I can imagine Trump losing the Presidency in 2020 much as Hoover did in 1932 or Carter did in 1980, with many of his Senate enablers going down to defeat with him.
Americans consistently loathe corruption and malfeasance and frequently vote against politicians who do gross misbehavior. They can defeat a crooked pol even in a wave election for his Party in an ultra-safe bailiwick. Example: the only incumbent Democratic Representative to go down to defeat in the 2008 Obama landslide was William "Cold Cash" Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District. The state notwithstanding, his district (mostly in greater New Orleans) is safe for just about any Democratic incumbent. Not if there is bribe money in the freezer as exposed by law enforcement.
I cannot see a vindication of this President. The impeachment process will continue and will be surprisingly swift. Democrats will impeach him in the House, and the Senate will try him. Democrats will find the High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Senate Republicans will have the marginal decision of removing or keeping him.
Four lines are possible. One is that the Senate will decide that he must be removed for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which case all the polling of approval and disapproval of President Trump becomes simply a statistical chronicle. This thread goes into the "dead thread" category and a new one such as "President Pence: polls of approval and disapproval" emerges. Related to this is that Donald Trump finds some non-judgmental cause for resignation such as "reasons of health". Maybe he has those. Problems of blood circulation? Syphilis or cocaine in the past, as both tend to make people cruel over time?
The other two involve acquittal. One is that the President comes out appearing innocent. Heck, serial killers such as Ted Bundy and John Gacy thought that they might walk out of the courtroom as free men instead of being hauled off to Death Row. I cannot see Trump acquitted on grounds of either complete innocence or the triviality of his offenses. Another is that Republicans let him get away with serious breaches of law and ethics. In such a case, the public will know what has happened and will blame elected Republicans for enabling some bad behavior by the President -- bad behavior that rips the checks and balances and holds statutory law in contempt. In that case I can imagine Trump losing the Presidency in 2020 much as Hoover did in 1932 or Carter did in 1980, with many of his Senate enablers going down to defeat with him.
Americans consistently loathe corruption and malfeasance and frequently vote against politicians who do gross misbehavior. They can defeat a crooked pol even in a wave election for his Party in an ultra-safe bailiwick. Example: the only incumbent Democratic Representative to go down to defeat in the 2008 Obama landslide was William "Cold Cash" Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District. The state notwithstanding, his district (mostly in greater New Orleans) is safe for just about any Democratic incumbent. Not if there is bribe money in the freezer as exposed by law enforcement.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.