If inciting insurrection directed at the seat of power in Washington D.C., with the intention of disrupting Congress, planning violence directed at its members, and overturning election results– and where lives were lost– is not an impeachable offense, then what is?

The Senate will soon get a single Article of Impeachment that passed in the House with a modicum of bipartisan support, unlike the one from only a year ago… But once again it is likely to die there.

Why bother holding onto this provision? If Trump survives this, surely everyone in Congress and probably on earth will assume, going forward, that there are no consequences to be suffered for such blatant anarchy. And impeachment by the House amounts to a mere slap on the wrist, viewed as little more than a partisan gripe and waste of everyone’s time.

Fox News, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy and the rest can argue till the cows come home that pursuing this article will poke holes in Joe Biden’s appeal to unity, but unity has nothing to do with this entirely warranted pursuit of justice and consequences.

Not only should the Senate vote to convict. In addition, they should ban Donald Trump from ever again being able to run for federal office.

And on a different but related note, can there be any doubt that there would be next to zero Republican “concern” about election fraud if Trump had won the election?

I watched more of the Inauguration ceremonies than I ever had on any previous occasion. More than once I was moved to gesture at the TV with two thumbs up and arms raised in the air. I was moved to tears when it became clear that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden had survived the numerous attempts to delegitimize their victory, and that Donald Trump no longer occupied the White House.

It really did feel like a nightmare had finally ended. A page had been turned, an oppressive weight had been removed.

There was and remains something off about Trump, something aberrant, something inherently troubling and menacing. It will always puzzle me that so many were feeling something akin to joy and euphoria when Trump took office four years ago. I will always wonder how that could have been. What were they celebrating? What were they hoping he would do during his four years that seemed like forty?

Turns out he wanted to tear the country apart. For no reason other than his own enrichment and lust for power. Good riddance, indeed.

Donald Trump probably thought, at some point, that he could handle the job of POTUS. Piece of cake.

But it is an impossible job for someone prepared only to perpetuate the lies we keep telling ourselves, someone so willing to say only what others tell him to say, or what he thinks people want to hear. Impossible for someone with no backbone, no moral compass, no appreciation of history and sacrifice, no moorings in reality. Trump was doomed from the outset by his own motives, even before his silly entrance on that damned escalator. His supporters were misled, fed false hope and a line of bullshit that sounded like promises, or threats.

Joe Biden is there now, and it feels good. He’s no spring chicken, though, and I hope he has the stamina to tackle what lies ahead. There are multiple “first things.” Let’s start with stamping out this god-awful virus.

About 6 hours left in Trump’s presidency, even though he really has never been a President. Especially recently, since the election. How can we forget the daily schedule summaries of late: “The President will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

You can almost hear Kaley McEnany as she delivers this to a press corps awaiting its daily dose of condescension and snark.

One thing about Donald is that he certainly rewards loyalty. He’s treated the office like he apparently has run his businesses. Lately Trump is passing out pardons willy nilly, like candy. It’s been like the earthquake in Acts 16 that busts open the prison and presents an opportunity to escape, except Trump just gives the word and people like Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and now Steve Bannon fly out. Just like that. A veritable Who’s Who of rogues and fringe lunatics, Trump’s kind of people once again loosed upon society, able to act and speak and once again spread their cancerous brand of politics. They probably figured all along that their “vindication” would come.

About 30 hours to go in Trump’s presidency. Sounds like he’s skipping town around 8am tomorrow, to what deservedly should be a modicum of underwhelming fanfare. He doesn’t want to be around for the festivities. First time in 150 years. He probably can’t stomach it. Fine. Don’t let the door hit you.

Only thing is, what’s up with the last-minute changes in NSA personnel? And why on earth does the My Pillow guy get a mention here? As Rachel M. wondered last night, what does Trump think is going to happen? Why the last-minute shake-up? To what end?

D.C. is looking like an armed camp, maybe like Baghdad looked, or other far-away places we’ve only heard about or seen on the news. Twenty-five thousand National Guard troops have been vetted by the FBI, on concerns over an inside job.

On one hand, maybe we’re overreacting to Trump’s attempts at overturning the election. It’s been nothing but failure so far. On the other hand, January 6 happened. It was surreal, but it happened. So we’re not out of the woods yet, I guess.

And there are those who still defend Trump. No consequences necessary. Right, Lindsey? You lily-livered, two-faced waffle factory.

American football is legalized mayhem, a license to hurt people. An outlet for pent-up aggression. Played in modern day Roman Colosseums. And let’s go there… it should be called something other than “football.”

So many appear to love to play it. Is it just boys being boys, the testosterone flowing, the thrill of competition, the need to survive and emerge as the top dog ruling the day? Strategy, gladiatorial inferences, battles in the trenches, trash talk and bragging rights and dramatic intro music… the whole presentation is way over the top.

Still, I enjoy watching a good contest and admit to not being able to turn away from seeing someone deliver and take a good clean hit. Not a leading-with-the-helmet hit– those perpetrators should be banned from the game and fined a billion dollars.

Anyway, what does this say about us? Is it just who we are? Do we have a naturally occurring lust for violence? As long as the subject is being raised, why is boxing such an attraction? Why hasn’t it gone the way of dog or cock fighting? I know some consider it an art form, but that seems like a stretch to me. Helluva way to make a living. And don’t get me started on MMA.

I guess if you need an outlet for pent-up rage, have a chip on your shoulder and an insatiable need to prove yourself, along with wanting to put food on the table, there’s a line of work for you. And if you can emerge with all your faculties when you retire, if you don’t have a career-ending injury or brain damage or you die, you can probably live a pretty nice life afterwards.

Actual football is another story. I guess there are lingering effects from too many headers, but… the beautiful game, indeed.

One has to figure that much of the talk in far-right chat rooms is just that– talk. It won’t go any further. Still, it’s likely that somewhere, in some fashion, someone will find a way to act on the threats between now and Wednesday. And someone will get hurt, or die. And in no small part because…?

We all know the answer. Because of Donald Trump and his penchant for incendiary language. Say it, Republicans. Admit it. Don’t bury your heads anymore. Own it. Chart a different course. Stop riding the coattails of a pretender and habitual liar. Stop swallowing the swill and embracing whatever he keeps telling you! Stop defending him.

God help us.

Win, win, win. Always winning. What a simple, stupid mantra. That was it for you? That’s all you’ve ever wanted out of life? Just… win? You sad, sad man.

It’s too late now. It’s too late in the game. And that’s what this has been, right? A game? It’s too late for you to change course, to give your image a facelift. You are who you apparently have always been– a pretender, a calculating, ignorant, insensitive cheap shot artist, a carnival barker, an egomaniac, a dictator-in-training, a spoiled lost boy who never suffered a consequence in his entire life. Until now.

You’ve treated bedrock principles like so much else in your life– as rules that don’t apply to you, for some reason. But you finally met your match, you imbecilic waste of space and breathable air.

You will leave office believing that you were the greatest President in American history, just one delusion among so many. But the reality is that you weren’t even close. The tragedy is that you’ve got half the country believing this, too. Half the country believing in you when you couldn’t care less about them, or muster any behavior worthy of such reverence.

You’ll probably get the send-off you so badly want, but not because people respect you or feel you deserve it. It’ll be more out of respect for the office you’ve sullied and rendered unrecognizable in the time you’ve held it.

It may sound like “Hail to the Chief” one last time, but really it’ll be “good riddance, asshole.”

So this is the day the shit is supposed to start hitting the fan in state capitols from coast to coast. Watch out, Harrisburg. Keep your eyes open, Atlanta. Lansing, are you ready for this?

Maybe chaos will instead sound more like a quiet summer evening. Nothing but crickets. Though it’s possible things could get dicey. It all depends on Trump disciples remaining convinced and committed. Do they really have a cause worth dying for? There probably is enough desperation and blind rage out there to warrant a “yes” to that question.

Maybe not desperation. Maybe just a yearning to kick somebody’s—anybody’s—ass. Just for something to do. Just to have a story to tell. Something that makes them feel alive.  

You gotta be proud, Donald. This is your legacy.

A person of some prominence and respect in ecclesial circles was recently opining on the events of the past week or so, referring to the political polarization and the “soul-searching many are doing about the failure of America’s promise…”

This person goes on to describe an awareness of “the distance between our national myths and the realities they disguise.” There was further commentary which spoke to a certain pessimism regarding our capacity as a nation to deal with change, and that “we are just not that good at grasping a clearer reality if it challenges our prejudices, or acting on a higher moral and ethical level, if it involves personal sacrifice.”

This sums up my feelings regarding the behavior and language of many during the pandemic and the recent election cycle. Certain behaviors have angered and mystified me, in light of what one might think would be circumstances calling for a collective concern for our well-being, where unity of purpose would be a powerful tool in addressing the viral assault on our health.

What has unfolded instead is a disheartening selfishness and refusal to accept reality. What seems practical and beneficial to the community is indeed questioned and doubted and cast as the dubious efforts of a “lamestream” media and the “radical left” to undermine the policies of an administration who many were led to believe had the best interests of the nation in mind…

The “failure of America’s promise” has never been so painfully visible. “One nation, under God” has become at least two nations with a plurality of understandings and misunderstandings of God, hand in hand with selective, self-serving, and often tortured interpretations of scripture.

Many are convinced of an autocrat’s legitimacy, and they are apparently more than ready to heed his calls for revolt. Despite overwhelming evidence that there was next to no election fraud, despite widespread evidence that the coronavirus is as lethal as ever, many have chosen to stigmatize reason and logic, and to vilify people who heed the science. They’ve responded to the perverse and empty rhetoric of a tyrant and other political opportunists who love nothing more than to stoke hatred and ignorance and small-minded provincialism.

I suppose there is reason for pessimism, but I have a feeling that we are going to survive all of this– the pandemic, the political upheaval. Everything. If we have been paying attention, we have been learning things as we go– about the fragility of this grand experiment we call American democracy, about the comforting predictability of science properly done, and about an unquenchable desire among enough of us to right wrongs and make life better for the people of Earth.

Sounds pollyannaish, I know. But I prefer pollyanna to Darth Vader and all the sons of bitches who have never and will never learn that their lust for power is by its very nature simply ambition run amok. A sign of weakness and dysfunction.