Down the Trump Rabbit Hole 17 December 2019

Tomorrow Donald Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives, an act of political integrity by the Democratic majority only made possible by the 2018 election results.  As you know, a president has been impeached twice before in US history (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, with Nixon certainly being a third if he had not resigned).  Clinton was impeached twenty-one years ago (19 December 1998) for behavior and obfuscation/obstruction that now seem benign, trivial . . . behavior and obfuscation/obstruction Trump eclipses over and over every single day.  The failure of so many public officials and such a large minority of the voting public to align with the obvious logic – If the lesser (i.e., Clinton), then the greater (i.e., Trump) – is in my judgment the most deeply troubling and profoundly dangerous revelation of the last four years.  With the Senate so likely to acquit Trump, I am reminded that the covert circle of resistors embedded in the Abwehr finally attempted to remove Hitler from power so late and after so many disappointments – 22 July 1944 – basically for their self-respect and for documentation that an underground resistance did exist in Nazi Germany.  It has been encouraging to see a few Representatives in the last couple of days – all Democrats so far, no Republicans so far – announce their decision to vote for impeachment and, thereby, to risk their being reelected in order stand for governmental integrity and for basic decency.  Will there be others similarly courageous tomorrow? and in the Senate next month?  We had many dinner conversations as a family re the way of being traced back to Jesus and compressed into ‘the Beatitudes’.  The point of our conversations was not religion (the ‘Jesus’ I see portrayed in the Synoptic Gospels would not be ‘Christian’ today except perhaps as a liberal Quaker).  The point of our conversations was the set of core values by which we framed/discussed the day’s experiences and decisions.  We no longer gather each night at ‘the table round’.  But I take heart in the thought that we still measure ourselves by those core ‘Beatitudes’ values (my translation below):

“If you take the narrow and precarious path – you will know poverty first hand, you will be mournfully touched by the human condition, you will be gentle, you will be driven by a passion for justice, you will be forgiving, you will be single-minded, you will be peacemakers, you will be like salt or a city built on a hill or a torch for light in your communities.  Many will laugh at you, ridicule you, even abuse you just as previous generations did those who stood up for mercy and justice.  But you will be consumed by a vision of how to be together, the standards for which are not satisfied when the secrets of the heart contradict observable behavior.  So love every person you encounter.  Who you are with the most difficult person to love is who you really are and reveals whether you are indeed on the narrow and precarious path that leads to authentic living.”