Over time, I've gotten use to "Righteous Indignation" (tm) from Republicans about something that isn't even remotely true, or which is something that they themselves have already done, often repeatedly. But there are limits, and I've at last grown weary of Republicans pontificating in "Righteous Indignation" (tm) about how it is unconstitutional (!!!) to impeach a former president who is no longer in office and now a private citizen. Outraged they are! Outraged.
By the way, my reaction has nothing to do with the matter before the Senate. It's even more basic and easy than that. Just to be really, really clear -- which shouldn't be difficult because this actually is incredibly easy and basic -- Trump was already impeached by the House of Representatives, and it was done while he was still in office. Totally constitutional. As constitutional as it gets. And as basic. And easy. Just yesterday, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader, sent a tweet about this, that you couldn't impeach a private citizen. Apparently he's unaware that the House actually did vote to impeach Trump. I'm surprised he didn't know that since it was in all the newspapers. And because he was there at the time and voted on the measure. What is left in the process is not impeachment, but the trial, whether or not Trump will be convicted. Now, Republicans may want to case that it's unconstitutional to hold a trial after a person has left office and is a private citizen -- they'd lose that argument, mind you, because there's precedent where it's already happened -- but that's a totally separate matter. That's a trial -- where there are House managers prosecuting the case, defense lawyers working on behalf of the accused, witnesses, evidence and someone to preside over it all. Just as if it was a trial...which is exactly what it is. What it is not is an impeachment. That's something totally different. And it already happened. And Trump was impeached. While in office. Which is constitutional. This is really basic. This is really easy. And I don't know which Republicans in Congress don't actually grasp this, or do but want to confuse their base. But both are galling. Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives. While he was in office. It was constitutional. And now the Senate has to have a trial to decide whether a someone should be held accountable for trying to incite a mob to insurrection and overthrow the United States government. Whether or not he is still in office or not. Because the precedent for the next president who doesn't like the results of losing an election is critical. That's really basic and really easy, too.
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Okay, this seems like a really good way to end the variety of videos I've been posting with Laura Benanti, since it's totally different. Previously, the videos have dealt with her performances in such Broadway shows as The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Gypsy and She Loves Me -- along with some funny music videos for Stephen Colbert as 'Melania Trump' and with Randy Rainbow. But while this is related to Broadway musicals, it's just pure funny. You may remember that in 2014, NBC broadcast a live production of Peter Pan. Here we have a video that Ms. Benanti put together of her audition for that show. Stick with it to the very end. In his long interview last night with Rachel Maddow, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was as good as I’ve ever seen him – aggressive, pointed, and moving as he talked about the deeply liberal causes that got him into politics, and when he not only spoke about the issues that are important to him now (the environment at the top of the list, something I didn't expect), but why.
The thing is, I’ve never been bowled over with Schumer following-through with great intensity on his words, so I’ll hold it all with some wariness. But I like very much what he said. And I liked how firm he appeared to be in standing up to McConnell's attempt to bully for power and in stating how firm the entire Democratic caucus was in support -- all the more so when noting what a mistake McConnell had made in his efforts when giving his initial speech to the new Congress. What's possible this time, especially given how he spoke, is that he might feel more unleashed now being the Majority Leader, most especially after years of living under the heavy, repugnant hand of Mitch McConnell. I got that sense that that might be the case. In the conversation that Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell had between their two shows, he noted that it seemed to him like a new, aggressive Schumer. So, obviously that did indeed come across. And I do hope that Schumer's actions support that. All the better when McConnell’s statement acceding to Schumer's leadership was revealed during one of the live breaks in the recorded interview. Clearly, Schumer's firmness did make its way to McConnell. The question remains whether or not Majority Leader Schumer stays as resolute. But he's off to a good start. No, we're not done with songs about Trump leaving yet, and here's one more. You have my pal Eric Boardman to blame for keeping this going -- or more likely, to thank. Because this is a tour de force performance by Rufus Wainwright for the Jimmy Kimmel show. Eric brought it to my attention after I'd written about the challenge of not calling Trump a bad nickname for four years. This goes in the other direction. And wonderfully, if oddly. Ever since President Biden (I was going to type "Joe Biden," but typing "President Biden" feels oh-so much better) spoke about unity at his Inauguration, that's the catch-phrase that the Republicans and press have picked up on to analyze what people want.
Honestly, I'm not so sure that "unity" is What People Want. I'm not suggesting that people are against unity -- hardly. Indeed, I think most Americans would be extremely happy if there was unity throughout the country, amid all the deep divide. But the only antidote of national division isn't that everyone is united as one, but instead that the unbending wall or rigidity comes down, so that at times there can be flexibility and openness and a willingness to occasionally compromise. In fact, I suspect that if you asked people right now what they really want in American, it wouldn't be "unity" but a vaccination for COVID-19, and getting some manner of emergency economic relief, and having health insurance and a job and a way to get children to school and being able to go to a restaurant and a movie. If people could get all of those things, I don't think most Americans would care in the slightest what the vote in Congress was. If a person could get a coronavirus vaccination, relief check and growing economy, I think most Americans would be absolutely fine with a bill that allowed for all that passing the Senate 51-49. "Unity" would be great, but far down the list. Going further, one of the big problems when "unity" is seen as The Goal you're offering is that it lets other side nitpick on every single issue by claiming that since they're against it, it isn't unifying. And it should therefore be ignored or diminished to near-nothingness. Never mind if the proposal is good and actually helps the country. If a plane crashes lost in the desert, and there are experts on board who know the way out, if some of the group doesn't have a clue and is pointing the wrong way to go, it's best not to follow them just for the sake of unity and instead listen to the people who actually know what they're doing and will get you home safely. The thing is, the American political foundation is not unity. We have a two-party system. That's not designed to create unity. It's designed to create differences that can lead to presenting those views best to find a majority or build a consensus. Liberals and conservatives will always have differences of opinion. It's the very core of being liberal and conservative. And within each side are battles for how liberal or conservative they should be. America is about the disagreement of viewpoints, based on the idea that the give-and-take and discussion and debate will create a stronger result. It's why for centuries the country took pride in being a melting pot, where different people with different backgrounds and different perspectives was not just good, but made America special in the world and stronger for the diversity of views rather than limited isolation.. Unity, of course, is important when the entire nation as one is under some manner of threat. When America is fighting a war for its survival, or in the middle of a pandemic or struggling to get out of an economic Depression, then unity is essential. Unity is important for giving a nation a common goal, say, like that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But there will always be differences in the country for how to reach those goals. And those differences are not only fine, but important. Because working through those differences to determine what's best for as many people as possible is at the core of what America is. The problem is not when people disagree what to do with the facts presented them, but when people don't accept what the facts are -- and worse, what a fact is. When they say there are "alternative facts." When they ridicule living in a "reality-based world." When they follow and enable a leader who makes 30,573 lies. When they base their decisions on what a totally anonymous "Wizard of Oz" faux-omniscient being tweets them to do. Don't look behind the curtain, just listen to whoever is -- or whoever are or whatever may be -- hidden there in total secret and is telling you something you have no way on earth of knowing is true. And the problem, further, is when there are people who perpetually act like a petulant teenager feeling obligated to defiantly do the exact opposite of whatever their parent says, even if it's "Don't drink and drive and crash your car into a crowd of innocent people." And who stomp their feet and whine and try to overthrow the government when they don't get their way because the majority has decided something else. Unity is a good thing. A very good thing. Often a great thing. Sometimes an essential thing. I do not believe it is the main thing. The main thing is getting out of desert and reaching home safely. And that requires two things: knowing how to do it and wanting to. Just being a leader without those merely for the sake of being in charge will always keep others at risk, and never create unity. Knowing what to do and actually wanting to do it are the only way to succeed. And the only way you can ever then finally create unity.
From the archives. This week's contestant is Kevin Shaw from Charlotte, North Carolina. I was pretty sure that I had the hidden song -- but I didn't. There were quite a few passages that overlap, but alas not enough. Which is why I was wrong. And the composer style is one that just isn't in my ballpark -- though my guess was the same as the contestant's, and he was told that he was close. But close or not, I don't think it's one I could likely have done. So, in the end, I was 0-for 2... But that means there's nowhere to go but up!!
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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