I’ve been mulling a few things over and it’s time to get them so they’ll stop ricocheting around inside my skull.

1. President Trump is almost certain to be impeached, but will almost certainly be acquitted in the Senate.
   • President Johnson (Andy, not Lindy) freely admitted that he did what he was accused of, but even a Senate dominated by the Radical Republicans didn’t convict him.  Seriously, they hated his southern butt and still decided that the case was too chickenshit to convict.
   • Nixon was going to be impeached and probably was going to be convicted.  There was bi-partisan agreement that he had poked the pooch and needed to be ejected from the Oval Office at high velocity.  Only the judicious use of a deal with Gerry Ford involving the 25th Amendment and the power of the pardon saved him from that shame.
   • In Clinton’s case, he probably did what he was accused of, but there wasn’t a senatorial consensus that he deserved to be removed.  I’d insert a tasteless joke about bribes consisting of boxes of Cuban cigars here, but… ew.
   • In Trump’s case, the certainty that what he is accused of is a crime or not is pretty muddy, much less whether he did it or not.  Even if it is, it’s a pretty weak high crime or misdemeanor.  Trust me, if the Democrats could hang something easier to understand on him, they would.  I don’t see any way for enough Republicans to peel off in order to convict.
2. The fact that Trump’s approval ratings have gone up while he is being impeached do not surprise me in the least.
   • We have been bombarded by almost weekly new “This time for sure!  Presto!” accusations of treason, discrimination, bigotry, and worse for over three years.  We’re numb to it unless presented with video evidence of President Trump admitting to doing something heinous.  Even then, I’d want forensic evidence and witnesses, because I’ve been in technology long enough to not trust video completely.
   • The Democrats are going to have to come up with something a lot more concrete, and to be honest, sensational, than “He may or may not have demanded an investigation that may or may not have been justified during a phone call and may or may not have threatened to withhold aid if he didn’t get it.” to get the American populace off the couch and into the streets.
   • At the same time, the economy is doing pretty well, and people worry more about their savings account than Congress settling accounts.
3. This is all going to come back to bite us in the ass.
   • If the Trump presidency has taught the Republicans anything, it’s that being a gentleman statesman in a political knife fight means you’re the only one bleeding.
   • Someday, there will be another Democrat in the White House. Maybe it’ll be next year, maybe in four years, but it will happen.  It’s likely that they will have a Congress that’s run, at least 50% of it, by Republicans.  May God have mercy on that President’s soul if they open their eggs on the wrong end.
   •   The junior Republican Senators and Congressmen are watching what’s going on in the halls of Congress and learning the new rules.  You can bet the farm that they will keep playing by them when there’s a D in the Oval Office.
   • The big loser there will be the rest of us.  Political stability, even one as vicious as ours can get, is a bedrock of our success.  People invest in the United States because we don’t throw our leaders out on a whim and we don’t throw our former leaders off the Tarpeian Rock.  We can concentrate on innovating and making money because we don’t concentrate on political vengeance at the highest level and grudge killings at the street level.
4. The Democrat field for 2020 creeps on at its petty pace
   • The current frontrunner is a guy who lost to Michael Dukakis in 1988, Barack Obama in 2008, and forfeited to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
   • Kamala Harris has dropped out because Democrat donors and primary voters are too bigoted to support a black woman, or something.
   • I’m not paying much attention to the free stuff and Orange-man-bad rhetoric these rejects from a Teletubbies reunion tour are currently spouting.  This is just an extreme example of how Democrat primaries have gone since at least 1932.
   • I will say that if the D’s want to have any chance at victory, they need to have a clear winner before their primary season is half over.  Sanders and Clinton stretched things out way too long for Her Imperial Majesty, Hillary the -1st, to tack back to the center in time for most of the electorate to forget all of the nasty things she’d said about them in the primary.
5. Finally, it’s time for all of us to start getting interested.
   • If you’re a Democrat, you need to start figuring out who you’re going to vote for. There’s no shame in it. Just wash your hands afterward.  On second thought, you’re going to need a Karen Silkwood level shower to get that icky feeling off.
   • If you’re a Republican, it’s time to decide whether you are ready to stand with President Trump or not. If not, it’s time to start looking for someone to vote for next fall.
   • If you’re a Libertarian, it’s time to finally decide whether or not the United States was justified in invading Canada during the War of 1812.  You’ve debated long enough.
   • If you’re an independent like me, it’s time to invest in twelve-month popcorn futures.