I don't know about you fellas, but after a week of high alarm and deep stress your Head Trucker has felt spent the last couple of days: sort of in a daze, unable to listen any longer to the news and the flood of dire what-ifs about the coming days. I slept ten hours last night and needed every bit of it.
The House did the supremely right thing, impeaching Trump for his heinous misuse and abuse of the Presidency: a testament to future generations of the enormity of his crime. I doubt that the Senate, when it gets around to considering the Article of Impeachment, will do much to punish him. Be that as it may, Trump will not have an easy time of it in retirement from office, considering how many state and federal officials are drawing up plans for his prosecution on one charge or another.
And when and if his deluded followers wake up to the fact that he lied to them too, he may be in even bigger trouble. I do think he will sooner or later reap what he has sown; and then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
You all may be in recovery mode today too, and not ready to hear any more just yet about the events of this historic week. But just for the record, I present here a couple of excellent summations of how we got to this point in American history.
From the Washington Post, a review of the week just ended:
From PBS NewsHour, Judy Woodruff hosts a wide-ranging discussion of how Trump has dragged the nation to this point:
N. B. -- Your Head Trucker does not necessarily agree with every point made in the above discussion; perhaps another day I will post my thoughts and views on these matters, but right now I'm tired of thinking about it, and looking forward to a brighter day under the incoming President - whom God preserve.
A mob of Trump supporters surround the gallows on which they intended to hang Vice President Mike Pence at the Capitol, January 6, 2021. Click to enlarge.
Many fine speeches were made on the floor of the House today; here are two that your Head Trucker thinks particularly well done, covering all the essential points of the case.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gives the opening argument:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gives the closing argument:
Update, 3:36 p.m., Texas time--The House of Representatives has just voted to impeach Trump, 232-197. Ten Republicans voted with the Democrats to impeach. Four Republicans did not vote. House has now adjourned until January 15th. The Senate is in recess until January 19th, when the Article of Impeachment will be presented to them.
For the benefit of my overseas truckbuddies, it is important to understand that impeachment is not the same as removal from office. Rather, an impeachment by the House is equivalent to an indictment by a grand jury; the Senate then acts as a court to try the case, and either convict (by a two-thirds majority) or acquit the President, who would cease to be President immediately upon conviction. Trump was previously impeached by the House in December 2019, but acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.
The Constitution gives each house of Congress the authority to set its own rules of procedure; thus, the Senate does not have to follow the ordinary rules of procedure used in federal courts. Furthermore, it is up to Congress on its own authority to determine what constitutes the "high crimes and misdemeanors" (not defined in the Constitution) for which a president can be impeached.
Even if the Senate convicted Trump of the charge specified in the Article of Impeachment, the only effect would be to remove him from office - and that will be moot, as Biden will already be President by the time the Senate decides the case. For Trump to be barred from running for office again, or to lose his post-presidency benefits, the Senate would have to vote specifically on those points.
Full text of the Article of Impeachment below the jump - or see PDF in original format here.
Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour, March 2, 2019, via Wikipedia
In a startlingly forthright editorial, Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham, yesterday called for Trump's removal from office. Excerpt:
The facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.
The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.
Trump’s evangelical supporters have pointed to his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy, among other things, as achievements that justify their support of the president. We believe the impeachment hearings have made it absolutely clear, in a way the Mueller investigation did not, that President Trump has abused his authority for personal gain and betrayed his constitutional oath. The impeachment hearings have illuminated the president’s moral deficiencies for all to see. This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people. None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character. . . .
Last night, the House of Representatives voted along party lines to impeach Donald Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But after the votes, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she would delay transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where Republican leaders have already said they would quickly dismiss the charges. So who knows what will happen next.
Nevertheless, as numerous commentators have already observed, the House vote means Trump's name will forever be branded with an asterisk in the history books as the third president to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.
For the record, here are some videos concerning the impeachment vote as well as the raging, decidedly unpresidential letter Trump sent Pelosi on Tuesday, accusing Democrats of "declaring open war on American Democracy" by "an illegal, partisan attempted coup" that is a "colossal injustice."
The historical significance of this impeachment:
Former presidential advisers John Dean and David Axelrod on the impreachment:
Republican lawmakers compare impeachment of Trump to Jesus and Pearl Harbor:
CNN's Anderson Cooper on what the Trump letter didn't mention:
Also worth reading: Paul Bergala's comments on the Trump letter. Excerpt:
Trump's letter to Pelosi has been described in clinical terms. It has been called "deranged" or just plain "sick." But while I appreciate the need to understand Trump, I do not believe that understanding will be found in psychology. . . .
But most important, excusing Trump as merely ill lets him off the hook too easily. So, rather than leaning on psychiatry, I think we ought to dig deeper for a more meaningful, powerful, and accurate nomenclature. His letter is not sick; it is evil. His conduct is not deranged; it's tyrannical. I hope every member of Congress reads it.
In my multiple readings, one sentence, however, struck me more than the others. Perhaps because it's one of the few that I think is 100 percent honest: "I write this letter to you," Mr. Trump says in the penultimate paragraph, "for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record." This is Trump speaking to history. This is his manifesto.
And his manifesto, of course, is shot through with lies, mendacity being Trump's native tongue. Like many people, Trump lies when it suits his purpose, but his assault on the truth, particularly in this letter, is essential to his mode of governing. Killing truth is not merely a means to an end for Trump; it is a vital end in itself. . . .
The letter is Trump's governing philosophy distilled. He is a wannabe autocrat, who has made his goal clear: to remake America as he has remade the Republican Party -- turning a once-proud, strong party into a gaggle of sycophantic lickspittles. His rage for Speaker Pelosi is boundless because she stands up to him. His letter is a window not into a troubled psyche, but something much worse.
And whether Trump is removed from office or not, his impeachment matters profoundly, says constitutional law professor Frank O. Bowman. Excerpt:
Whatever the short-term consequences, this impeachment is the right thing to do.
It is right, first, because the truth matters. The United States is an inheritor of the Enlightenment conviction that the world is comprehensible, reality is discoverable and social arrangements should be built on clear-eyed assessments of fact. American democracy depends on a special elaboration of the Enlightenment ideal, which insists that truth is not the private property of priesthoods or aristocracies, but is the public province of every citizen, the necessary predicate to informed communal choice.
Our president is a liar. He sits at the center of a web of falsehood, constantly spinning grotesque new entanglements, constantly abetted by his hired sycophants and, more consequentially, by a dark element of the media which finds in Trump the perfect champion of its own impulse to transform the press from arbiter of truth to purveyor of profitable propaganda. Trump’s dishonesty is so integral to his personality and to all his works that to support him requires that one become a liar oneself, or at least to become willfully indifferent to mendacity.
The House impeachment process was essential to the cause of recovering truth as a public value. Without it, Trump’s misconduct in relation to Ukraine would have remained a mere scandalous rumor, blithely denied by Trump and generally ignored by the public. More fundamentally, the hearings in the House Intelligence Committee recaptured, for a blessed moment at least, the world we are in danger of losing: a world in which it is natural for honest public servants to serve their country impartially and speak the truth when they witness a betrayal of its values. This impeachment calls us to renew our mutual obligation of public candor. . . .
Finally, the value of any public act cannot necessarily be measured in its immediate success of failure. By voting to impeach Donald Trump, Democrats express their faith in, to adapt a phrase from Charles de Gaulle, a certain idea of America. An America that is commonly truthful, unusually generous, customarily trustworthy, instinctively democratic, committed to human freedoms and individual rights, self-protective without being selfish, always imperfect but perennially challenging itself to do better. An America that, to borrow a favorite image from a man Republicans used to revere, at least aspired to be the world’s shining city on a hill.
It is not hyperbole to suggest that our republic is in peril. In impeaching Trump for his betrayal of American values, we reassert to each other our commitment to a resurgent democracy. And we speak not just to each other but to a watching world. We demonstrate that, although for the moment America is in the grip of madness, there remains a sturdy contingent of Americans willing to fight for the hopeful America upon which so many of the world's highest aspirations depend.
House Democratic leaders announced the articles of impeachment today. The House Judiciary Committee will likely make a formal vote to send the charges to the full House on Thursday, for debate next week. The Senate trial will take place in January.
What I Say: It's a good day for democracy and the Constitution; but there are two roadblocks ahead.
1. The "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the spotlight here are too vague - too cerebral, if you will - for Bubba and Baby out in the hinterlands to grasp. Trump worshipers will say, "It was just a phone call, only a few words. So what? Politicians are always spouting off, give him a break." I'm afraid that nothing short of, to use the vulgar phrase, being caught witha live boy or a dead girl would topple Trump from his golden pedestal in the glistening eyes of his devotees. Unless most constituents are truly outraged over these things, Congress will not be either, collectively speaking.
2. Trump would be removed from office if two-thirds of the Senate voted to convict him. But the Republicans control the Senate, 53-47, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they will vote to a man against impeachment. Because if Trump goes down, so will they, even though they know perfectly well he is guilty as sin. (Just imagine how these Republicans would be hooting and hollering if a Democratic president had done the same things.)
Of course, it's not over till it's over, and the possible - though highly improbable - defection of twenty Republican senators could change the outcome. But the Constitution must be defended anyway, no matter how the votes fall.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
.
We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
Insert valid picture ID with date of birth now, or click here.
My Story
click photograph to read
Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
