Proud "Never Trumper"

"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it."
Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Messrs. Henry L. Pierce, & others, April 6, 1859.

I was a nearly lifelong Republican until earlier this year. I was finally obliged by conscience to change my registration back to "No Party Preference," which is how I originally registered on my 18th birthday. I changed my registration to Republican while I was still 18.

I am also a proud "NEVER TRUMPER" despite the president's persistent bullying and vilifying. I was never so embarrassed to be a Republican as on the day that Donald J. Trump was nominated for the Presidency. For the first time ever, I voted Libertarian in the last presidential election because I could stomach neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton.

While I hate to agree with Ted Cruz about anything because I think he may be just as untrustworthy and self-serving as the President, Cruz was absolutely on target when, during an interview during his primary campaign, he said that Donald Trump was a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen" and "a serial philanderer." We know all these things from the President's own public words and deeds.

The Constitution of the United States of America has stood the test of 230 years, but it now faces what I believe is its greatest threat: a sufficient minority of the citizens of this great land who are willing to take the word of Donald Trump, a man who, by his own admission, never reads anything, on how the Constitution should be interpreted. Please read the document for yourselves, it is not long, nor is it difficult to understand. There is room for interpretation because our society is much different today than it was in 1788, when the document was drafted. However, the fundamental principle of division of powers, laid out so plainly in those few pages, was clearly put there by the framers so as to protect all citizens from both tyrants and from the tyranny of the majority. It is fundamental to our constitutional republican form of government that no citizen, not even the President, is above the law.

It is also clear to me from what I have seen of the evidence and from the President's own statements that he has seriously abused his power in order to further his own political and, ultimately, his financial interests, which are tightly tied to foreign governments. He has further not only disregarded, but has actively attacked, the constitutional and legal protections of those with interests contrary to his own, and even of those who have previously loyally served him when they have stood in good conscience to defend the republic against him. While he demands absolute loyalty of his subordinates, he gives absolutely zero loyalty in return. He has shown himself to be an illiterate bully and I believe that his impeachment is not only warranted, but that he should removed from office.

It scares me more than anything for the future of our country, that Republican leadership in the Senate is so willing to admit that they are not impartial, is so willing to abrogate the responsibility that the Constitution places upon them, and is so willing to ignore the Oaths that they swore beneath the sacred dome of the U.S. Capitol on the day that they took their seats in that august chamber.

The outcome of this process is absolutely clear and has been since its inception. There is no way that 67 senators will vote to convict. In fact, it is very likely that the trial in the Senate will be concluded much more quickly than Bill Clinton's was and with an equally partisan outcome, something close to a 50/50 split.

I thought at the time of the Clinton impeachment, that the President should be removed because the leadership of this great nation deserves a man or woman of character, a man or woman who places the best interests of the citizens of the United States of America ahead of his or her own best interests on every occasion, without even having to think about it. Bill Clinton was not that man. Donald J. Trump, to a much greater degree, IS NOT THAT MAN. Were I a United States Senator, based only on the President's own words, I would vote to convict, to remove him from office.

Unfortunately, I believe that Donald J. Trump will not be removed from the Office of the President of the United States of America. And because of that I fear for the future of the great experiment, the grand constitutional republic founded on the shores of this continent 230 years ago.

The bar has been lowered again, we are willing to accept not only ignorance of our constitution, but even directs attacks upon it by venal men for their own benefit at the expense of all the rest of us. This is a sad time.