from Bryan Bates
Failure to Follow the Constitution Leads to Ethical Bankruptcy
Besides going broke due to self-imposed legal fees, the “Instigator in Chief of Election Denial” has brought about ethical bankruptcy within the political party it was intended to serve. As taxpayers, we each pay for the investigations and trials at both Federal and State level. An unanswered question (per my reading) has been “Where did our system breakdown that enabled a coup on our democracy?”.
The easy answer is “blame Trump and his minions”, but it goes deeper. To be fair, V-P Pence followed the Constitution, verified the election results and is not culpable. The House of Representatives impeached Trump twice sending the “trial” to the Senate when, after Jan 6 Capitol riot, it was clear that Trump violated our nation’s Constitution. While seven GOP Senators voted to impeach Trump, then Majority Leader McConnell knowingly violated the Constitution’s 14 th Amendment by refusing to call Senators to find Trump “guilty”.
If McConnell had done his job rather than follow (he didn’t lead) his political party, Trump would have been barred from running for office. It’s possible that some current hyper-partisan MAGA-rhetoric and physical threats to individuals could have been avoided. While Trump’s four criminal indictments have legal “standing”, some ethical and financial anxiety and expense of Trump’s charade could have been defused.
McConnell’s failure to protect the Constitution makes him as culpable as Trump’s cronies. Unfortunately, the “Klan” mentality driving the MAGA faction is based on fear that the white, male, pseudo-Christian (as the Christ I learn of wouldn’t join MAGA) is losing power when in reality, it’s losing respect for the rights guaranteed to all humans.
Bryan Bates
Flagstaff, AZ.