Today, a day that will live on in American history, the third removal trial of an American President begins. However you feel about Donald Trump, it is a momentous time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many will say this is \u201cthe tipping point\u201d in the future of our nation. Will we either be a nation of narcissism or compassion, World responsibility or selfishness, on the arc for justice, or against the curve. It is time to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tipping point is not just today, or even what ever happens in this trial. The \u201cpoint\u201d is much wider, extending to November and America\u2019s choice for our future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But make no mistake about it: we are at that point in history. We, the People, have the opportunity and obligation to choose what that future will be. The trial in the Senate may not give us the answer to that choice, but 2020 will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is hard to imagine a more critical turning point. Perhaps the election of 1800, when the Federalists grudgingly left the government in the lawfully elected hands of their bitter ideological rivals, the Jeffersonians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, if he understood history, could draw a contrast with the election of 2016, demanding that the Democrats did not fulfill the Federalist precedent and allow him to govern. He\u2019s not altogether wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But their is a critical difference between the time when John and Abigail Adams got in the carriage and left Washington before Jefferson was sworn in, and when the Obamas gracefully lifted off the Capitol lawn in a helicopter, no longer Marine One. While Adam\u2019s barely lost to Jefferson by seven votes in the Electoral College, Jefferson carried the national popular vote by over 60%. American government may have been narrowly divided, but the people were not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2016 Trump won the electoral college by a narrow but comfortable margin. But the People\u2019s vote went for his opponent. That does not mean his election was illegitimate – but it did demand some recognition of the majority\u2019s thwarted will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But from the Inauguration Day three years ago, Mr. Trump willfully delegitimatized his opposition. \u201cIt was the greatest election landslide in history,\u201d \u201cthe largest inaugural crowd ever,\u201d and the \u201cvotes against him the fraudulent and illegal,\u201d were the opening gambits in his campaign of \u201cAmerica First\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Mr. Trump, the winner, no matter how narrow or conflicted, got the spoils. And so he began a campaign of altering America\u2019s government and values. Now, three years in, we have a clear vision of what that campaign will yield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What will Trump\u2019s America look like in 2021? Make no mistake, if you are rich, you are likely to get richer. If you profit from polluting our air, water and land; your profits will expand. If you are a white man aggrieved at the loss of prior privilege, you may find your advantages reinstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if you want your personal religious beliefs enforced as law in women\u2019s health, education, and as American societal norms, than \u201cfour more years\u201d is your goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of that, no matter where you politically stand, might be the outcome of a fair election. The loser could get in their carriage or helicopter and fly away. But the Trial today isn\u2019t about any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s trial is about the President and his henchmen trying to alter the very fabric of Constitutional government. George Washington was most aware of the powers he could not use, and the actions he should not take. As our first President, unanimously chosen by the People and the Electors, he could have done most anything. But he recognized that his most important role wasn\u2019t just to lead, but to teach. It is little surprise that the words precedent and President are confused; Washington was most aware of presiding so as not to abuse his authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To quote the musical \u201cHamilton,\u201d \u201cHistory had its eyes on him.\u201d And he governed with that in mind, even teaching us, \u201cHow to Say Goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, 232 years later, we have a President who ignores Washington\u2019s precedents and obligations for the sake of power and control. For that, not the results of 2016, he is being tried before the Senate today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we do here, and November, will unalterably change the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History has its eyes on us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"