Man, I despise Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt is a conservative radio talk show host out of Wisconsin. His show is on the Salem Radio Network, and can be found on most \u201cmainstream\u201d conservative stations. When you\u2019re falling asleep at the wheel, he\u2019s a great choice. Whatever they\u2019re talking about, it\u2019s bound to raise your blood pressure. By the end of the show, you\u2019re mad, frustrated, and wide-awake. There\u2019s your highway safety tip for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t despise Hewitt for his views. Lots of folks, many of whom I call friends, share his positions. Hewitt was a conservative before Donald Trump, working in various Republican Administrations and the Justice Department. In fact, I respected Hewitt in the months leading up to the 2016 election. He stuck to his conservative \u201cguns\u201d, in spite of Donald Trump. He called Trump \u201cas he saw him\u201d, a charlatan and a fool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No my big problem with Hewitt was his conversion to Trumpism. In a few short weeks in January of 2017, Hewitt went from a conservative critic to a Trump mouthpiece. Every Trump talking point became a Hewitt battle cry. I\u2019m sure it didn\u2019t hurt that Hewitt\u2019s son was working in the Administration. And it that\u2019s convenient change of heart that frustrated me. I knew Hewitt before, and I knew him after, and I don\u2019t like what I know now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it isn\u2019t a surprise that Hewitt wrote a long editorial for the Washington Post <\/em>calling on Americans to let Trump finish out the eleven days of his term. Hewitt does not want Trump impeached; he sees that as a form of revenge and retribution, not justice. He even pulls out the term \u201cTrump Derangement Syndrome\u201d claiming that those who wish to remove Trump before January 20th<\/sup> are simply suffering from some mental disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just an aside \u2013 I hate the term \u201cTrump Derangement Syndrome\u201d. It is the way that pro-Trump folks use to denigrate those who oppose Trump. It’s all about \u201cwell the stock market set records,\u201d \u201cour taxes went down,\u201d and \u201che built the Wall\u201d. It says that because of the \u201cmental disorder\u201d, hatred for Trump, those suffering from the \u201csyndrome\u201d are ignoring all the \u201cgood\u201d that Trump achieved. I\u2019ve got to tell you \u2013 it\u2019s hard to find much good achieved in the past four years. And the bad so outweighs the good: ask 375,000 Americans dead in the last ten months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donald Trump fomented an insurrection. He did it by promulgating false information about the American election, claiming that there was massive fraud that took \u201ca beautiful landslide victory\u201d away from him. Trump convinced millions of Americans that their storied Republic was being subverted. He called them to Washington DC, on the day that the Electoral ballots were counted. And he sent many thousands of them to the Capitol, primed to \u201cdefend their President\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump didn’t have the \u201cballs\u201d to lead them into the Capitol building. He was the ugliest kind of leader: an arsonist who lit a match then went back into the White House and laughed as the mob smashed into the seat of our Democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then the President issued a staged video, telling his loyal followers that it was now time \u201cto accept the results\u201d. I didn\u2019t see \u201cthe wink and the nod\u201d, but the entire nation is still waiting for it. We all know how this works; we saw it after Charlottesville. \u201cThere were good people, on both sides; I know it and you know it too\u201d. Trump is incapable of accepting the loss; he will call on his \u201cpeople\u201d again. Maybe we should call that \u201cTrump\u2019s Derangement Syndrome\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I\u2019m all in favor of getting Trump out of office as soon as possible. Vice President Pence and the remaining Cabinet members could do it. This is one of the scenarios the 25th<\/sup> Amendment was written for. Unfortunately, Pence and Pompeo have made the political calculation that they will need Trump\u2019s \u201cpeople\u201d to fulfill their own ambitions. Pence should get a couple of \u201cAtta-boys\u201d for doing his job and counting the votes, but I\u2019m sure that\u2019s as far as he goes. And Pompeo (rhymes with pompous) is hiding from the world, probably in an \u201cundisclosed location\u201d in the State Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or Pence could cut a deal with Trump: a resignation for a pardon. I can hear President Pence\u2019s speech to the nation now, subverting Gerald Ford\u2019s \u201cnow our long national nightmare is over\u201d speech after the Nixon pardon. But I\u2019m not holding my breath for that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I don\u2019t blame Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats for seeking any means to remove this President before he can do more damage to our Constitution. He literally tried to overthrow the government. Men were walking through the Capitol Building with handcuffs. A gallows was erected on the Capitol lawn. Sure they looked like fools at a drunken college riot after losing the football game, but America was close to seeing some South American style power grab. As long as Donald Trump is in the White House, the risk is still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But damn, Hewitt\u2019s right. Impeachment won\u2019t get us there. Mitch McConnell\u2019s final act as the Majority Leader of the Senate will be to shelter Trump one more time. He\u2019ll do what he does best \u2013 delay. Like Pence and Pompeo, it\u2019s not about protecting Trump, it\u2019s about protecting Republican Senators from taking a vote on Trump\u2019s removal: politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impeachment won’t get Trump out of office any sooner. What it does do is exactly what Hewitt claims: revenge and retribution. And while there is no one more deserving of both than Trump, we have better processes for that than impeaching and removing a man who will no longer be in office when we get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have the Courts for that. And if Trump pardons himself and his family, we have the Courts for that as well. If the Courts fail, we can always resort to the ballot box. Meanwhile we need to hang onto our Republic tight for the next eleven days. It is at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wink and a Nod<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Insurrection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n