Phony Democracy

“You take somebody who cries their eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they’re mean bastards at heart.”Holden Caulfield in “Catcher in the Rye”.

It’s a good thing Holden Caulfield, literature’s most famous hater of phoniness, was not watching the Impeachment trial over the past two weeks.  His head would have exploded.  Mine almost did.

Although the Republicans grabbed the brass ring for their overwhelming artifice, they were not alone. The Democrats chipped in. The Senators did their share.

The Republican’s sham was too obvious to require explanation. Simply put, they lied their asses off. They argued facts that weren’t there.  They argued legal principles that are laughable. And they did it all so un-necessarily. They knew they were going to win anyway. As any debater knows well, when you are winning, sit down and shut up.  The Republicans pretended to do this by not taking up their entire allowed time.  Big deal. What they did say in their allotted hours was not only factually and legally incorrect, it was destructive to our core values as a country. So, they have succeeded in establishing a precedent that could very well undermine the foundations of our system of government – and, to win, they didn’t even have to. 

The Republican were not only pre-ordained to win, they had what could reasonably have been the winning argument without doing any of the shit they did.  While I fervently disagree, it can rationally be said that even if Trump did everything the Democrats charged him with, he shouldn’t be removed for it. But, they had to go further. That was their most hideous phoniness. Spurred on by the Man Who Would Be King, they clothed their goal of King-making in the garb of an Impeachment defense.

I want Trump removed not only from office, but from this solar system, but I have trouble saying that if Obama had done exactly what Trump did regarding Ukraine, I would have wanted Obama removed.  I probably wouldn’t have. Obama, though, would never have done that.  And that gets us into the phoniness of the Democrat’s argument.

As I have written before, the Democrats impeached Trump because they hate him.  Yes, the Ukraine incident was terrible, but the Impeachment drive was not triggered by Ukraine alone. Ukraine was an excuse.  A good excuse, mind you, but still an excuse. The Democrats denied this. Legally, the way they structured it, maybe they had to. But, had they expanded the Articles to include some of Trump’s other indignities – just some of the many – their removal argument would have been enhanced and, importantly, would have been more of an accurate picture of what they were really doing.

The Senators, well, their phoniness glows like a mountain of radium during ordinary times.  Over the past two weeks, they outdid themselves. Taking an oath to be impartial? Thousands have been imprisoned on perjury charges for a lot less.

There was one saving grace through all of this – Holden Caulfield didn’t have to watch it.