Must the Music Be Faced?

On January 20th, as the nation watches a new president -- the 46th -- take the oath of office, there will be questions about his predecessor echoing behind the solemn ceremony. Afterward, like it or not, the echos won't stop. As much as many Americans might want to move on and just stop thinking about Trump, there is unfinished business to be addressed. 

We may not know when, yet, but the impeachment scenario is going to play out. However, before Trump's trial in the Senate starts we the people need to get our heads right by considering a few important questions: 

1. Is it really OK to impeach an ex-president and conduct a trial in the Senate? Is it in keeping with the Constitution and with the applicable precedents? What about the founders' intentions? 

2. With so much to do, right away, is there a compelling reason for Democrats to take the time to continue to dredge through Trump's swamp of "alternative facts? 

3. Since Democrats are in control of the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, when Trump faces the music during his upcoming trial, why worry all that much about what a bunch of recalcitrant Republican senators do to try to cover their own, ah, exposure? 

For some answers I'll let a bona fide expert weigh in now. In Washington Monthly Frank O. Bowman III writes: 

"The key to the Founders’ fear of the demagogue was not merely that he might secure high office, but that the means by which he would attain it – appeal to the mob – would allow him to corrupt or overthrow the Republic in order to transform himself into a dictator. The source of the demagogue’s power does not expire if he is expelled from office; so long as he retains the loyalty of the mob, he may return to power ... Trump was the man against whom the founding generation armed the constitution with the disqualification clause. They would surely think anyone quite mad for suggesting that a president who actively sought the overthrow of democracy could not be disqualified from trying again because the failed plot reached its crescendo too close to the expiration of his term."

Click here to read the rest of Bowman's excellent piece.

Borrowing from Rep. (R-Wy) Liz Cheney's apt words Jan. 6th terror attack at the Capitol, I have to ask:

Who summoned this mob? Who assembled the mob? Who lit the flame of this attack? 

The Democrats and willing Republicans must make absolutely sure the remaining would-be dictators and their facilitators within the GOP ranks see where the line is drawn ... and that a price will be paid for crossing it.

Bottom line: The founders knew this day would come and they gave us the tool to fix the problem, so do we have what it takes to do the right thing?