The GOP is dead, and they have no one but themselves to blame

The GOP is officially dead. There, I said it. OK, so I know that people have been predicting the death of the Grand Old Party for decades, but this time, it's really true, and there's no coming back. 

   How can I be so certain? Well, yesterday, Feb. 13, 2021, The Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump AGAIN, this time on charges that he incited the deadly Jan. 6 riots through a speech he gave urging his supporters to "march to the Capitol" and to "fight like hell." But wait, Trump supporters say, how can Trump be responsible when there's proof that this insurrection was being planned BEFORE Jan. 6? To that, I say, Trump's incitement didn't BEGIN on Jan. 6, 2021, it climaxed on that date. 

The truth is, Trump has been priming the pump for just such an event for months, if not for years. He did it by urging supporters not to trust the mainstream media, not to believe what they saw with their own eyes, but only what HE said. He did it by convincing millions of Americans that November's election was illegitimate, that it was, in fact, stolen. And finally, he did it by urging his supporters to march on the Capitol and to "fight like hell, or we won't have a country anymore."

The evidence of Trump's guilt was overwhelming, both through his speech on Jan. 6, and in his own words over the past four years. The evidence was right in front of them, in black and white, as it were, and still they voted to acquit. Which brings me back to my original point: The GOP is officially dead. Why? Because Trump needed to be removed once and for all from the national stage. He needed to be barred from ever being able to hold public office again, and Republicans failed to do so. Through their negligence, they have now left him free to roam the backfield, and to work against them. And believe me, he will.

Who thinks that Trump won't find a way to go after the Republicans who both voted to impeach, then vote to convict him? Who thinks he won't try to start his own party where he can be center stage? The main attraction? If that happens, it will only harm Republicans' future electoral prospects. Trump won't be drawing voters away from Democrats, after all. He'll be drawing votes away from the Republican base. And if that happens, the GOP will be vastly weakened as a national force. It could be years, if not generations, before Republicans win another national election. Of course, this all could have been avoided if they had just voted to convict a man who was clearly guilty of the crime he was accused of. But they refused, more interested in saving face than in doing what was clearly the right thing. And so, here we are. 

Clearly, the best thing that could happen at this point is for one of the multiple cases pending against Trump to bear fruit. All it would take is ONE felony conviction, and Trump would be barred, not only from ever holding public office again, but from even having the right to vote. That might seem like a long shot to some, but clearly it is the best we can hope for, since congressional Republicans clearly lack the intestinal fortitude or the moral clarity to do the right thing, not only for their own party, but for the country as a whole.

GOP faces long road ahead in life after Trump

 It's now been four days since our long national nightmare came to an end with the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. So far, there have been very few surprises. Biden has started doing exactly what he said he would do during his campaign. He's signed a national mask mandate requiring people to wear masks on federal property. He has halted the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and the useless and ill-advised border wall. And he's rejoined he Paris Climate Accords, among other things. In short, he has moved swiftly to reverse some of the most egregious and dangerous decisions of the past administration. That's great news. What's even better news is that it finally feels as if this country is  back on the right track, as if there's an actual adult in charge and making decisions.

   With the Democrats firmly in control of both Congress and the White House, it raises an interesting question, though. Specificlly, what's next for the GOP? Can the Party of Lincoln now move past the stain of Trumpism and maintain its place as a viable national party? That, unfortunately, is yet to be seen.

   My best guess at this early juncture is that a long and nasty civil war is in store for the GOP. It could last for years, if not generations. On one side, you have the "establishment Republicans," folks like Mitt Romney and the late, great John McCain, who, while conservative, basically uphold the traditional Republican values of fiscal responsibility, smaller government and lower taxes. On the other, you have the firebrands, the diehard Trumpers. These include people like Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio. These people are both amoral and vicious. They long ago sold their souls and whatever principles they might have once have held in the greedy pursuit of raw, unadulterated power. They are immune to both truth and facts. And they have shown absolutely no evidence that they are going to fade away quietly, even though Americans soundly rejected them and Trump in the 2020 election. That makes them extremely dangerous.

   So what happens now? In an ideal world, every one of Trump's allies in both the House and the Senate would be voted out in two years and sent home to face their constituents. Barring that, it seems appropriate to me to move to expel them from from their seats, then bar them from ever serving in government, or from benefitting from their connections by becoming lobbyists. These are the people, after all, who coddled Trump and supported his  incompetence for four years. Worse, they actively worked to overturn November's election results and the will of the people. And by refusing to convict Trump during his first impeachment last year, by leaving him in place to continue to wreak havoc,  they are, in no small part, at least somewhat responsible for the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. In my mind, because of their willingness to collude with a madman, they have lost the right to continue to serve in their positions of power and influence.

   A much more likely scenario, I think, is that Trump's supporters will eventually be driven out of the party by the establishment Republicans. If that doesn't happen, then they will leave and start their own party. There's already talk of a new Patriots Party, or perhaps a MAGA Party spearheaded by Trump himself. Can they succeed in this scenario? Maybe. After all, they already have a built in base of 74 million hapless, gullible Americans who were willing to support Trump in 2020. That's impressive, no matter which way you lean politically. But then, have we ever really had a successful third party, one that really lasted? We've certainly had attempts, including the Bull Moose Party in the early 1900s founded by the extremely popular former president Teddy Roosevelt. More recently, we had the Reform Party founded by eccentric billionaire Ross Perot after he drew 19 percent of the vote in the 1992 election, the best ever for a third party candidate. Both of these insurgent parties, coincidentally, lasted one, maybe two, election cycles at most, before they imploded due to in-fighting, or to their founders bowing out and returning to civilian life. 

   Both the Bull Moose Party and the Reform Party were built on the strong personalities and popularity of their founders. Once they weren't there to hold things together, their parties fell apart. And that's the problem with the current third party scenario. Trumpism isn't built on any real, definable principles. Trumpers, after all, HAVE no real principles to fall back on. Instead, Trumpism is built on the strong personality and enduring popularity of Donald Trump, at least among his base. It is, for all intents and purposes, a cult of personality. Once Trump tires of the hard work needed to build and maintain his party and his movement, I don't see him sticking around. And what happens then? Where does that leave his base? His most ardent supporters? I'll tell you where. Out of the mainstream and in the political wilderness.

   It's possible for the GOP to survive Trump, of course. But to do so is going to take a heartfelt apology to the American people for supporting Trump and his incompetence for four years. It's going to take some real soul-searching, a purging (or at least marginalization) of its most extreme voices, and a recommitment to the core principles that made the party great to begin with. Can they do that? Are they willing to do the hard work necessary to rebuild out of the wreckage left by Trump? At this point, only time will tell.

Some thoughts on the inauguration of Joe Biden

It was 12 years ago when I sat and watched the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, as he became the nation's first black president. I was excited then, as the historic nature of the day wasn't lost on me. On that day, this nation's possibilities seemed limitless. Today, for the first time since that historic inauguration, that sense of excitement, of endless possibility, returned. 

   No, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is no Barack Obama. He lacks the personal charisma that Obama carries so effortlessly. He's not exciting. He's not young. In fact, he's the oldest person ever to assume the office, at 78 years of age. What he is, though, is what this country desperately needs right now: a thoroughly decent man who is utterly sincere in his desire to heal this country and to put us back on the right track. He is, in effect, the "anti-Trump."

   Four years ago, I warned anyone who would listen that Trump would be a disaster as president. It gives me no great satisfaction to have been proven correct. The truth is, Trump will go down in history as the single worst president we've ever had. Worse, even, than Richard Nixon, who was caught up in the Watergate scandal, and who was forced to resign in disgrace. Don't believe me that Trump is the worst ever? Think I'm just overreacting, or simply being a partisan "Never Trumper? Consider the evidence. In the last four years, Trump has:

1. Destroyed or severely damaged longstanding alliances that have been in place for decades

2. Undermined the public's confidence in our news media by introducing the term "fake news" into the public lexicon and declaring it "the enemy of the people." 

3. Further fractured an already divided nation by fostering, in fact encouraging, an "us vs. them" mentality.

4. Given shelter and encouragement to the dregs of our society, including white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

5. Badly bungled the response to the Covid-19 pandemic by downplaying its severity, ultimately resulting in 400,000 needless deaths.

6. Refused to concede defeat, and incited a riot among his followers in an effort to overturn the election results and thwart the will of the voters.

6. And perhaps, worst of all, completely destroyed the Republican Party by once and for all exposing its utter corruption and incompetence. It's hard to imagine where the GOP goes from here, or how it even begins to recover any semblance of the moral authority it once held. My sense is, that if the party is to survive, the Trump loyalists will have to be driven from the party, or they will have to simply form their own party. One thing is certain, though. The Republican Party cannot survive with Trump's supporters as part of their coalition.

   Biden faces a tough road ahead as he assumes the presidency, and it remains to be seen how much of his agenda he can accomplish, even with control of both houses of Congress. But you know what? That doesn't even really matter in the long run. The truth is, if Biden can bring this country together, if he can begin to heal some of the deep divisions that have scarred this country during he past four years, and if he can begin to restore some sense of calm, some sense of normalcy, then his presidency will ultimately be judged a success, no matter what else he accomplishes.