Wising Up

THE MOST OBVIOUS BENEFIT of the televised hearings is that millions of Americans will learn something about what has been going on. It is difficult to imagine this elucidation to chance Trump's following; by now, you'd think, anyone on board with Trump got on board long ago. The facts are damaging to the president, which is why the hearings are occurring in the first place. Simple hatred of Trump alone is not enough to motivate such an elaborate situation, including many high ranking officials from within the Trump administration, people of high character and impeccable backgrounds, including decades of service and purple hearts, providing the damaging information. The people who hat Trump didn't start out hating him. They paid attention to his behavior, his words and actions, and their hatred grew, reluctantly. I started out as a Trump supporter, when he began his campaign, but I turned on him when he called Ted Cruz a liar, dozens of times. For me, that was over the top. The rest has been even more atrocious, including this Ukrainian blackmail scheme, which is intolerable. Nobody is calling it "blackmail", even the Democrat Trump haters are calling it "bribery" or "coercion", but blackmail is what it is, and laying it out on television cannot but help hurt the president. The project involved many high ranking people, took a lot of effort and time, weeks, and includes a great deal more than one phone call, which itself was far from perfect. The best scenario might be to impeach him, try him, and fail to remove him, and then let the election next year decide. By then, enough people will have enough facts. In particular, the patriotic conservative evangelical Christian community will have to eventually abandon Trump, not only because of his distinctly un-Christian personal behavior, but because of his traitorous behavior as well. Conservative Christians will have to accept the fact that progressive political policies are far more Christian, and there is no war against Christianity, merely a determined movement to keep church and state separate, as they were intended by the founders. Particularly relevant are the defenses of Trump being offered by his assistants and supporters, all of which might sound good on the surface, but fall flat and fail, badly. The accusation by Trump and many of his cult members that this is nothing but a witch hunt", is even more dishonest and ridiculous than it was when used to attack the Mueller report. Republicans with courage and integrity, like Jeff Flake, Mitt Romney, and Colin Powell, are coming clean about Trump. Everyone else will be forced, one way or another, to do likewise.