GUILFORD — Now that the second Trump impeachment trial has ended in acquittal, it is clear that the Republican party has put the final nail in the coffin of democracy.
The Democrats share a lot of the blame, but it is the Republicans who have made it clear that the pursuit of truth is no longer a guiding principle of the American form of government and that justice is an ideal that is not attainable.
Politics has always been a dirty business, and most people have been willing to accept a high level of bullshit, lying, and corruption over the decades and centuries. But we are now at a point where it has become clear that this country has not dealt with what is wrong with the way government works for far too long.
The political process is beyond repair.
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When a president is allowed to break the law at will and openly trash the Constitution, then it is impossible for our form of government to have any credibility in the eyes of fair-minded people in this country and around the world.
Instead of holding truth and justice in high esteem, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are motivated by political calculations aimed at preserving their power among people who they believe will continue to vote for them.
What that means is that the Trump machine is alive and well. Republicans are afraid that if they do not make a public effort at supporting the former president's seditious acts throughout the impeachment process they will lose the support of the would-be dictator and of those who make up his base.
Instead of acting in a manner that might help to preserve what is left of our democracy, Republicans have decided to hide behind their continuing lies and empty rhetoric, hoping that the fools who voted for Trump will continue to believe every lie that is thrown at them.
They look at the figure of 74 million votes for Trump and think that they can get away with anything.
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Any politician who voted to acquit Trump should be stripped of citizenship and be forced to live in Guatemala, the Philippines, or Russia, where their form of politics will be accepted. These misguided power-hungry beasts are not only corrupting what is left of our democracy, but they are also endangering the lives of those of us who might stand in the way of future insurrectionists.
Those immoral Republicans are saying they want to see the insurrectionists prosecuted but that they are not holding Trump responsible for the five deaths that he caused.
It is how they operate. Say some of the right things even though you don't mean them so that you can show some effort at doing what others might consider the right thing.
Short of a major revolution, the only recourse that those of us who still hold out hope for a more-just America is to make our wishes known at the ballot box. But people keep electing the same immoral and unethical fools and very little changes.
It is especially difficult to see any hope when so many millions of people still believe the lies that Trump and his people have perpetuated.
With the Senate having acquitted Trump a second time, it is clearer that lies and criminal activity form the foundation of American democracy.