Donald Trump: Loser

By JOHN YOUNG

He won an election — with 3 million fewer votes than his opponent. nnHe got a tax cut that made filthy-rich people feel filthier so.

He got those two Supreme Court justices, one squeaking by with a Senate GOP margin sliced to a hairpin by voters revolted by his oafishness.

Since all that winning, though, Donald Trump has been one big loser.

He lost the House. He lost governors’ races. He lost in his bid to dynamite the Affordable Care Act legislatively (though still helping to harpoon it in court).

Now he’s an impeached loser. Enablers in the Senate cannot remove that stain.

When Mitch and the Marionettes finalized their genuflection to corruption and to Trump, he trumpeted his vindication. Acquitted! Affirmed — the case against him was a sham, a hoax.

Americans will know the only sham was the Senate trial.

Acquitted? Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said the offenses in question were impeachable, but to remove Donald Trump from office would harm the nation.

Acquitted? Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander essentially acknowledged that Trump did exactly what he said he didn’t do, but – heh – it wasn’t that bad.

Acquitted? Pleading Trump’s case, attorney Alan Dershowitz delivered what should forever be known as the “duh”-fense against impeachment: If the president did all that’s alleged (wink, wink) he did it in what’s in the nation’s interest.

Professor Dershowitz, you need to get a few better studio photos out to publishing houses ASAP — the pics with more hair — because the history books are making note of you.

So, what was it about the evidence, Republicans? A sham? A hoax? Or all true, but no big deal? If no big deal, why fight any presentation thereof?

In the span of a month, the story went from “completely innocent,” to “flimsy evidence,” to, “You won’t get me alive, coppers.”

What else could Republicans claim after what we already know and what we continue to find out almost daily?

The shakedown of Ukraine for political purposes wasn’t just one phone call. It was a dogged, concerted effort over several months in which every key figure in the administration was involved.

It wasn’t about “corruption in the Ukraine.” It was about knee-capping Joe Biden.

And, yes – a thousand times yes, just ask John Bolton – there was a quid pro quo.

One of the most stunning revelations of the House hearings: The release of aid to Ukraine wasn’t contingent on an actual investigation into the Bidens but on Ukraine’s president making an on-air statement that one would ensue. A sham statement about a sham investigation would do.

I wonder how many devotees of Fox News know that.

It looked like Trump was going to get this until Politico reported the freeze on aid and members of Congress asked for answers.

“The truth will get out,” said House impeachment manager Adam Schiff, who needs no retakes for his place in history.

The Senate trial wasn’t about the truth. It was no trial at all.

As Schiff said, “the result was baked into the process.”

“What is a trial except for the quest for the truth?” Schiff asked.

Republicans, led by this president, have proceeded since the beginning of Trump’s term as if Americans don’t care about truth at all. The “acquittal” of Trump with no witnesses, no documents, is the ultimate manifestation of that.

No matter what he says about his total, absolute and unconditional vindication, Trump is the loser here. “Impeached” is not something you scrub from your resume.

Impeached, with pluralities of Americans consistently supporting your removal from office.

It’s one thing to have a disapproval rating in the mid-50s throughout most of his term. It’s another to have nearly that many Americans unwilling to wait for the next election to have him removed.

Yes, Trump got off in a precooked trial, but the story of his corruption is not done being told.

Investigators continue to probe allegations of tax, insurance and bank fraud.

So, too, with that hush-money matter and separate allegations of sexual assault.

The prospect of all of us getting to see Trump’s tax returns remains active.

Let’s see how many other juries he can cook.

John Young is a longtime Texas newspaperman who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Email jyoungcolumn@gmail.com. See johnyoungcolumn.com.

From The Progressive Populist, March 1, 2020

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