I am not a Trump apologist but neither are my eyes closed to the human weaknesses and venality so well exposed by the actions of both Democrats and Republicans in Washington and in state assemblies throughout the country. Let’s be honest; the lack of civility has long been a prominent feature of American politics. Without getting overtly religious, I suppose we can call it the result of what Catholics believe is Original Sin that affects all humans. Whether you accept that doctrine or not is somewhat immaterial as most people believe it expresses the innate weakness of humans and our propensity to commit acts that are harmful. In other words, we believe being “sinful” is part of the human condition.
Assuming that statement to be true, then why are so many liberals upset with the behavior of President Trump? After all, Jack Kennedy slept around with plenty of women not his spouse and was not roundly condemned or held up to public ridicule. As did Presidents Johnson and Warren Harding. Either President Reagan or Vice-President Bush was involved up to his eyeballs in the Irangate scandal yet neither suffered consequences of that illegal behavior. President Bush Jr. lied shamelessly to the American public and to Congress about Saddam Hussein and he skated. Yeah, Trump isn't perfect but who is?
What is it about Trump that has rubbed so many Democrats and others so raw until the only remedy they can see is impeachment? Here’s my take on that fascinating subject.
Many Americans more or less wrote off George W and people like Sarah Palin as amiable idiots and not as pathological or serial liars. Most of those Americans believe Donald Trump has not discovered any lines he would hesitate to cross in the pursuit of wealth and self-aggrandizement. I believe anti-Trumpers see him as so brazenly immoral and unstable that he is inherently dangerous to the very institutional fabric on which America was built.
Here’s why I believe anti-Trumpers pushed so hard for his impeachment. For those Americans, Trump’s extraordinary character flaws are so grotesque and contemptable they put him beyond the pale of acceptable behavior. He flaunts convention, thumbs his nose at what had previously been universally accepted presidential norms, openly and unashamedly lies about what impartial observers recognize as factual, lacks ordinary decency and morality, exhibits such extreme narcissism that would in other circumstances be ludicrous, ignores and publically berates his advisors, is unabashedly vulgar and dishonest, and engages in abusive bullying. Hey, what’s to like about the guy?
Well, many conservatives love Trump because they see him as ripping the false facades from his political opponents, showing them to be the “whitened sepulchers” they are. Yeah, he’s a bully but he bullies people who need to be taken down a peg or two. Maybe his Twitter posts are a little rough but he says what he feels, which is something Washington politicians have never done. Plus, his judicial appointments have conservatives dancing in the streets. Hey, what’s not to like about the guy?
We have a situation where impeachment will solve not one thing and thus all America, blue state/red state, will have to wait until November 2020 for a definitive solution. Not very satisfactory but our Founders never thought our political system would fail so spectacularly and thus failed themselves and our nation by not incorporating in the Constitution more stringent safeguards against blind political partisanship.
