This is how the Trump Administration ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
Take heart friends. It may feel like we are right back where we started, but you can"t walk through the same river twice. The needle has moved, infintessmally perhaps, but movement all the same. 57 senators voted to convict. Those who voted to acquit cloaked themselves in the fig leaf of a technicality. There was no full-throated defense of the man, his supporters are scrambling to distance themselves. Their Big Lie is crumbling under the weight of its own absurdity. They are superfluous now, their power spent on this circus clown and his horror show. Show's over folks.
We must never forget this moment and we must be ever vigilant to prevent it from happening again, but it is time to move on. Quit feeding this troll. The most powerful punishment we can inflict on him and his minions is to withdraw our gaze. Don't grant him the attention he craves. Let him strut and fret in obscurity, haunting the halls of Mar a Lago like the Ghost of Insurrection Past. Leave him to the prosecutors and bankers and tax agents. We have more important work ahead.
We have a chance to do something truly transformative this year. We can make substantive change if we have the courage and the will, but this is our one shot. If Democratic lawmakers balk like they usually do, voters will turn away in disgust. This is my generation's FDR moment and we won't get another one. Let's focus our attention on things that matter: racial and social justice, economic reform, environmental protection, comprehensive health care for all. Let's make this moment count.
And so ends 4 years of chaos. Good riddance. In the words of the brilliant Julie Dubiner, fuck off Nazis. Crawl back into the dustbin of history where you belong. We have bigger fish to fry.
