As former Nixon aide, John Dean aptly stated: “This is not Watergate. In Watergate, Congress actually cared laws were being broken.”
Make no mistake: This is no longer about Trump and what he has or hasn’t done. Although, what Trump and his lackeys are doing on Capitol Hill on a daily basis makes Frank Underwood look like a choir boy. This is now about those around him who seek to insulate and protect the Orange One from due process, and prevent The People from getting to the truth.
The GOP may be idiots, but they’re not stupid. They know exactly what they’re doing, which makes what they’re doing more of a deplorable offense than that of our hapless president. And, while the case could easily be made that the president is simply not of sound mind, the same can’t be said so easily for Burr, Coats, McCain (well, maybe not anymore), Ryan, McConnell, Nunes, King, Vice President Pence, AG Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, Adm. Rogers, and the rest of the jesters in the King’s Court.
To sit and watch in disbelief as senator after senator knowingly chooses to play partisan politics and shield and defend an individual at the highest level of the executive they know to be in clear violation of, at the very least, obstruction of justice, is a sad day, indeed. Especially when you consider the entire Watergate scandal was about a single charge of obstruction. This administration has already blown past that by a mile. In less than six months.
Wednesday’s testimony, or lack thereof, by Admiral Rogers and Sen. Coats dodging question after question and, most likely, lying under oath, was a disgrace. A master class in what not to do when you’re a servant of the public trust. Staying silent doesn’t mean you’re not lying. If you know something and refuse to share it with the committee, and the public, you are just as accountable.
These men, and men like them, have clearly shown that, in 2017, it’s perfectly acceptable, not to mention a job requirement, to abandon the oath they took to defend the Constitution, protect the will of law, and seek the truth, in favor of circling the wagons around an indefensible defendant. One that even eighth graders see right through. Yet, they still don’t care.
You have to wonder what it must take to make even a semi-rational individual stake their careers/credibility/futures on a man who’s literally out of control bonkers. After all, it’s not as if Trump’s only done one or two questionable things. So, to see the mushroom clouds of chaos and disorder erupting all around them, and to stand before us with straight faces on a daily basis and tell us nothing’s wrong, is simply mind-boggling. However, when the smoke clears, it will no doubt be that air of untouchable arrogance, or just plain stupidity, that leads to, not only the eventual downfall of each individual, but of their entire party.
That they knowingly choose to be on the wrong side of history when it’s staring them straight in the face is a slap in the face of everything our forefathers stood for and everything any free-thinking, common sense-possessing, equality-supporting American stands for.
Since Bush v. Gore and the infamous hanging chads, the reprehensible behavior and ugly politics of the GOP has been well documented, but attempting to diffuse, dismantle, disseminate, and play a key role as the main accomplices in what is already a laundry list of the most treasonous and treacherous offenses ever committed by an administration, takes that depravity to an entirely new level. Even Bush’s former ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, said he is appalled by his party’s actions surrounding this administration.
How is anyone expected to come away from these hearings with anything less than a feeling of complete and total failure of the system to protect us from those who seek to use the power and influence of their office for their own selfish gains? And what does that mean going forward? What does it mean when 99 percent of the population sees a former FBI director’s testimony as clear evidence of obstruction of justice, but the Chairman of the House Intel Committee claims otherwise?
Knowing the ones who make the laws are breaking the laws, and brazenly doing it on television for the world to see, doesn’t leave one with even a shred of respect for our nation’s institutions and governing bodies. If you don’t think it’s already taking a toll on our every day lives, you must be living in a bubble.
Laws are only words on paper. They only work when a society respects them. When that respect is eviscerated, it creates an atmosphere of anarchy - followed closely by a loss of respect for one another. And that is exactly what our enemies are counting on.