Republicans Still Believe That Democrats Are Responsible For Election Fraud

 

Photo: Morning Consult

Despite state and Federal Judges from across the United States ruling that election fraud cases have no merit, the Republicans in Congress still blame Democrats.  Yes, in front of Judges, lawyers were asked to provide evidence of election fraud and came up empty.  Despite the truth in front of Judges in courtrooms across America, the Republican party members continue to believe that voter/election fraud has occurred.  Amazing.

In the video below, Republican Jim Jordan is shown peddling theories that have been disproven over and over again in various courts of law across the United States.

I am amazed that any member of Congress can step up to a microphone and say that there is proven election fraud.  Especially, after their lawyers were asked in front of a Judge and answered "no Your Honor" to the question: "Do you have any evidence of voter fraud with you today?"  How stupid do these lawmakers think we are?  Goodness.  

Thank goodness for Senator Gerry Connolly of Virginia for speaking up and refuting Senator Jim Jordan's outrageous claims regarding voter fraud/election fraud.  I am aghast that these politicians can stand up and claim what their lawyers cannot in front of a Judge.  Facts are different in a court of law.

This absurdity needs to be drawn to a close.  Facts are facts.  Misguided truths spewed out by politicians who would like former President Trump to remain in office need to be extinguished.  Free speech is not intended to cover dangerous (and deadly) acts such as those that occurred on January 6th of this year at the United States Capitol.  Time will tell.

Bill Gates: 5 Areas of Need to Combat Climate Change

 

Photo: Ireland Climate Change

Climate Change has moved up in status (and importance) over the last presidential election.  President Biden has moved a green new deal up in status by proposing a massive infrastructure investment plan.  Which involves updating the grid and technology developments that promote the transition toward renewable energy.  This directly moves away from fossil fuels while steering the country toward a new direction - renewable energy.

This news is nothing new.  Although, how to get there is.  Who has ideas that can actually get us there?  The person I am referring to does his homework.  His foundation spends large amounts of money with reasonable high rates of return on investments.  That person is Bill Gates.  Bill Gates has the understanding and knowledge about such matters.  He has been a main fixture of knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, MSNBC news anchor Joe Scarborough interviewed Bill Gates about his new book titled "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need."  Specifically, what are 5 steps we need to accomplish to move us toward combating climate change:

There is no doubt that the process of converting the grid along with the national infrastructure toward a renewable energy sector will require great effort.  Although big industries such as Shell announcing the reduction of fossil fuel production, large future goals look more attainable.  Additionally, large investment firms such as the BlackRock group divesting from fossil fuels toward renewable sectors promote renewable, more probable transition. 

Bill Gates has been interviewed not only by MSNBC but by Yahoo News.  Watch and consider the amount of effort needed.  Ask yourself, what can I do to promote renewable energy?  Stay tuned!

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Regulations are protections for Americans?

 

Photo: Financial Times

Wall Street loves deregulation.  Why?  Deregulations equate to more money in the corporate pocket which gets handed over to shareholders.  And shareholders love money.  I know because I like when the investments in my portfolio go up in value.  Although, if that increase in value was tied to the downfall of a person, then I would exit my position immediately.  Not all shareholders care.  Most are greedy.  Which leaves the consumer at risk.

Look no further than Texas.  The State of Texas is known popularly by the statement "Don't Mess With Texas."  Well, Texans are suffering to a large extent because of the deregulation.  In an interview with MSNBC news anchor Stephanie Rhule, news anchor Mika Brzezinski looks deeper into the damaging aspects of deregulation:

I first found out about the soaring energy prices from a New York Times article which can be found here.  My jaw dropped when I read that a customer's electricity bill can increase from $70 to $16,000 in a single month.  What is wrong with these companies?  People are dying.  One wonders why corporations can stand by and gouge customers to the point of death?  Stay tuned as more is revealed regarding this tragedy.

Royal Dutch Shell will Reduce Oil Production by 1 to 2% to Focus on Renewable Energy?

 

Photo:  Shell

One of the largest Oil corporations has announced a peak in oil production for 2019.  That means, from here on out, more renewable energy and less oil.  Does that mean oil is completely going away?  No.  The oil will be around for decades.  The role (domination) will be reduced with each passing year.  To what extent will Shell reduce its production per year?  

According to an article in The New York Times, Shell will reduce its oil production from 1 to 2% per year.  Yes, a large oil company is reducing its oil production.  Will oil disappear soon?  No.  Big oil will be around for decades to come.  We have a large dependence on fossil fuels to run society.  That is not to say that renewable energy will not be gaining prominence as time moves forward.

In an earlier post on this blog site, This shift was discussed.  Shell stated that investments in renewable energy would be an aim looking forward to investors/shareholders.  Why?  As other large corporations have realized that the world is headed toward a greener revolution.  That is not because of Senator Alexandria  Ocasio-Cortez.  She is often blamed or credited for the transition, depending on which side of the partisan aisle you identify with.

Society is changing.  No matter what each person believes.  Investment funds have continuously started looking to shift their investments toward renewable energy investments.  Read the article cited.  Further, read more about the shift toward renewable energy in the mainstream news.  This is really happening.

I do not need to sound like a broken record.  Just look around at the type of investments that cities, States, and at the Federal level.  Where is the money flowing?  Who is being funded?  What type of projects is being funded?  Investigate.  Investigate.  

More reading will reveal the transition.  The transition has been occurring for decades.  Now, the time has come to fuel the transition with a large amount of momentum.  The shift/time is exciting.  Stay tuned.

Related Blog Posts:

Parameters: Shells Oil Corporation Invests In Renewable Energy Infrastructure

Thoughts: Trump Administration Realizes Renewable Energy Is Here To Stay?


Do You Need Clean Air To Breathe? An Introduction To Environmental Justice


Environmental Entrepreneurs Weigh In On Repealing The Clean Power Plan


EPA Blatantly Suppresses Scientific Results Regarding Climate Change?


EPA Director Finally Realizes Reality Of Trying To Roll-Back Obama Era Clean Air Act Regulation


How Can The Paris Climate Agreement Be "More Favorable To The U.S."???


Paris Climate Agreement Is A Start Toward The Renewable Energy Future

Chemical Safety Board's Future Uncertain as Hurricane Season Approaches

Coal Magnate Murray Shames Fossil Fuel Industry For Being "Forward Thinkers" For Energy

Texas Weather Tests Republicans Who Value Industry Over Consumers Safety?

Texas Weather Tests Republicans Who Value Industry Over Consumers Safety?

 

Photo: KHOU

Texas residents have found themselves in a weather bind without electricity.  After a few days without electricity, still, around 1.2 million customers are without electricity while 20 people have died.  Why did this happen?  News stations across the nation report that Texas likes to be isolated from an energy standpoint.  "Don't mess with Texas."  We won't.  

Texas state legislators have come to realize the issue facing the weather.  Legislators in Texas decided early on (decades ago) to be isolated from the remainder of the States of the United States of America.  Included in that thinking was to give big businesses (oil, gas, and electric along with chemicals, etc.) huge tax savings to attract industry.  And attract they did over the past few decades.

I have a couple of family members who are considering moving to Texas.  Or at least, they had been up until maybe this weekend.  Texas legislators have deregulated the business environment in the state to the point of service disruptions during extreme weather events.  Take the Hurricane seasons over the past 4 years.  Each Hurricane season destroys Texas.  Chemical industries in big Metropolitan cities such as Houston leak-like faucets turned wide open.  Spewing dangerous chemicals on the communities around them.  

During these extreme weather events, natural gas freezes which cause the power plants to shut down.  Why does natural gas not freeze in other states?  Because regulators put restrictions (i.e. safety regulations) to ensure that gas lines are buried underneath the ground to avoid leaking.  On top of the depth, the material is regulated too.  These steps are the difference between dying citizens and a continuous power supply fueled by natural gas.  Pretty simple folks. 

In the video below, which is an interview by MSNBC correspondent  Katy Tur interviews a Texas Judge about the deregulations which have caused irreparable damage to regions of the state:

Wow!  In California, we have strong regulators.  Environmentalist groups push them beyond belief.  Which causes certain residents to have resentments toward these groups and regulators.  During these times, I wonder what thoughts pass through their heads about the lack of power in Texas.  Are they concerned?  Have they connected the dots between regulatory safety nets and environmental regulation?  Maybe not.  This is where education by the community could help fill a deep void of resentment.  Stay tuned.

Jenna Ryan Feels Betrayed By The President Of The United States?

 

Photo: Guardians of Democracy

Jenna Ryan, the real estate broker from Texas, who helped storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021 was arrested and charged.  That was covered earlier in this blog post.  The result was my commentary that a person's freedom to speech ends at the destruction of the U.S. Capitol.  When the inhabitants of the Capitol building were under threat, freedom of speech was thrown to the wayside.  

Threatening a U.S. Senator is a crime.  What about a physical threat?  Why is the current environment of debate surrounding the riot at the U.S. Capitol so easily questioned?  Clearly, President Trump engaged in charging the crowd up and releasing them to kill 5 people at the U.S. Capitol.

Now, Jenna Ryan is claiming that she was betrayed by the President of the United States.  She states that she was only following the president's orders to move to the U.S. Capitol.  Well, claim all you want.  The fact of the matter is that the defendants are now claiming all sorts of pleas given that each now faces jail time.  

In a recent Washington Post article, the suggestion of different motives for rioting was presented.  Among them, the financial problems of the accused seem to run clearly through their history.  Here is an excerpt worth reading and considering when forming an opinion on the subject:

The group’s bankruptcy rate — 18 percent — was nearly twice as high as that of the American public, The Post found. A quarter of them had been sued for money owed to a creditor. And 1 in 5 of them faced losing their home at one point, according to court filings.

The financial problems are revealing because they offer potential clues for understanding why so many Trump supporters — many with professional careers and few with violent criminal histories — were willing to participate in an attack egged on by the president’s rhetoric painting him and his supporters as undeserving victims.

While no single factor explains why someone decided to join in, experts say, Donald Trump and his brand of grievance politics tapped into something that resonated with the hundreds of people who descended on the Capitol in a historic burst of violence.

“I think what you’re finding is more than just economic insecurity but a deep-seated feeling of precarity about their personal situation,” said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a political science professor who helps run the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University, reacting to The Post’s findings. “And that precarity — combined with a sense of betrayal or anger that someone is taking something away — mobilized a lot of people that day.”

The above reasons could be a large motivating factor.  Although, on any given basis, there exists a portion of Americans who in desperate (and financial) situations.  That doesn't excuse them from taking the lives of 5 Americans.  Nor does the above excuses give them a pass on the ability to threaten the lives of the Chambers of Congress.  

Each participant at the U.S. Capitol that day needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent.  That includes the former President of the United States who was responsible for the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol - Donald J. Trump.  

Unfortunately, the weak Republican Senators gave President Trump an acquittal this weekend from serving again in the office.  Hopefully, our criminal justice system is not as weak and cowardly as the Republican Senate has shown to be.  Hold President Trump accountable for the 5 dead American citizens.

 

What a Year for Students at Home?

 

Photo: EdSource

Students around the United States (and possibly the World) are suffering from the stay-at-home orders resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. There are a variety of consequences, from requiring students to not return to school.  Young students may not have child care during the day.  Does a  parent go to work or stay at home with the child?  Does either parent have a choice?  What other factors are at play?

Here is an excerpt from 'Politico Nightly' yesterday highlighting some difficulties with returning to school and the consequences of having students stay at home:

Nearly a year after school districts have shut down around the country the downsides of remote learning are also becoming clear: An entire generation of students is experiencing what amounts to a lost year. Students are struggling with anxiety, depression and isolation. They are falling behind in coursework. They are missing out on important social services like meals and counseling and the watchful eye of teachers trained to spot abuse or neglect.

Study after study, most recently one from the CDC, has shown that the classroom isn’t a major cause of Covid spread. That is, as long as mitigating measures like mask wearing, ventilation, hand-washing and social distancing are in place. Communities with reopened schools don’t have higher rates of Covid than those with shuttered schools. Usually Covid cases seen in schools are the result of gatherings, sporting events and other group activities outside of the classroom.

The level of Covid in schools mirrors community spread, which is dramatically falling in much of the country but could surge again because of new variants. And new research shows that teachers in open schools have higher Covid rates, although it’s unclear whether they are getting Covid from the classroom or if the higher numbers were the result of more testing.

What is your view on the matter?  Leave a comment in the section below.  These considerations are important to remember when forming an opinion on the subject.  The COVID-19 pandemic is not a 'binary' situation.  More often is the pandemic a complex and dynamic situation with many variables at play.  Lawmakers and their scientific counterparts have a difficult job to perform to keep the nation safe.

 Some of the safety and welfare of the citizens of the nation falls on each of us.  Public shaming is critical.  And not in a wrong way.  No one needs to be mean.  No one knows what his/her fellow human is going through at the moment.  But a simple nudge to wear a mask or take safety measures seriously can go along way.

Similarly, if you or anyone else is experiencing depression or heightened anxiety due to the pandemic, please seek help.  There are resources available - both in-person and by telephone.  No one needs to go through this difficult time alone.  Keep an eye out for your fellow human to make sure that they are doing fine.  Stay safe.  Stay healthy.  Stay tuned.

 

Ralph Nader: "Democrats Disarm Themselves Before Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial"

 

Photo: WQOW

What drives me to read about politics from activists like Ralph Nader is that the commentary goes both ways.  Which is to say, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are safe under his watch.  And that is good for America.  America needs the Michael Moore's and Ralph Nader's to step up and say what needs to be said.  With that in mind, as the second impeachment trial beginning yesterday, Ralph Nader takes the opportunity to show that Democrats need to unleash the beast - of evidence:

Democrats Disarm Themselves Before Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial

Donald Trump, has with luck, eluded the consequences of being a failed gambling czar with no respect for the law. But his luck has reached a new level with Congressional Democrats refraining from holding him accountable for breaking the law and violating the Constitution as regularly as the rising and setting of the sun for four years. (See: December 18, 2019, Congressional Record, H-12197).

Now the Democrats are moving forward into an impeachment trial, using only a fraction of the voluminous incriminating evidence against a president who incited insurrection against Congress and the Constitution. Trump directly incited an armed mob, bent on mayhem, against both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate who were gathered to count state-certified electoral votes under the Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act. The Joint Session of Congress heard the vile mob chant the chilling phrase “Hang Mike Pence,” the Vice President who had fallen from Trump’s favor by refusing to compromise his constitutional duty to count rather than to second-guess the state-certified votes.

The Democrats know if the Senate neglects to convict Trump (requiring a two-thirds majority), and prohibit him from running for the White House ever again (requiring only a simple majority) they will be unleashing a vengeful monster, loaded with cash for a 2024 presidential run. Republicans should fear that prospect to avoid the risk of internecine warfare.

So, wouldn’t you think with the election over the impeachment managers would go full throttle before the national television audience and conduct a trial for historical accountability, the rule of law, and protection of posterity?

Instead, Democrats are signaling failure by prejudging how Republicans will vote before seeing what should be gripping trial evidence and the rising outrage of the American people. Trump’s polls are steadily falling already.

Prejudgment leads to another Democratic mistake – settling for a short trial. Even Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)  have said they want a truncated impeachment trial so the Senate can focus on the Covid-19 driven stimulus bill. This legislation is already moving quickly. Besides, the Senate can drop its routine of working three days a week and start working five days a week or more just as do most Americans.

There are other self-inflicted constraints. Democrats should have subpoenaed Trump and Pence immediately after the House impeached Trump on January 13, 2021. Trump has spurned an invitation to testify voluntarily under oath by lead House manager Jamie Raskin (D-MD). House and Senate Democrats should know the hazards of declining to issue a trial subpoena to Mr. Trump because special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was compromised by his failure to do so. Why follow a losing playbook?

The courts have no jurisdiction over impeachment questions the Supreme Court said in Nixon v. United States, 506 U.S.224 (1993). The Senate runs its impeachment trial as it chooses, including holding Mr. Trump’s lawyers in contempt if they attempt to disrupt the proceedings or continue to argue issues they have lost, like the absence of jurisdiction over a former president. As a no-show in a civil, not criminal proceeding, Mr. Trump’s defiance of a subpoena would justify an adverse inference of guilt by the Senate.

There is also no sign the Democrats are seeking other witnesses such as Garrett Miller who has said he and others were operating at the direction and approval of President Trump. The liar-in-chief had just told his supporters at the notorious rally on the Mall, “We’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you,” before Trump the betrayer retreated to the White House to witness on television the violence he provoked and incited.

Families of victims deserve to be heard. And members of the Senate and the public should hear of the detailed thuggery by Trump in Georgia and at the Justice Department. The prosecution must go deep, starting with the testimony of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and then acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.

The Democrats are not subpoenaing Mike Pence to testify about Mr. Trump’s bullying him to reject state-certified electoral votes in violation of the Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act in key states that would deny Joe Biden’s electoral vote majority. Pence’s refusal angered Trump who then resorted to an insurrection against the Capitol to accomplish by force and violence what he was unable to accomplish by bullying.

Given their penchant for a short trial, the Democrats seem unlikely to highlight Trump’s pattern and practice throughout his presidency of flouting the Constitution and duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, including protections for all Americans. Trump’s former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has declared that obstruction of justice was “a way of life” at the White House.

The House impeachment managers are under the direction of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As in the first impeachment of Trump, she believes the American people have a short attention span and proceeds to prejudge the vote by Republicans in the Senate. Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy – assuring failure by holding back the full hand the Democrats possess – an Ace of Spades – under the Constitution?

Do the Democrats want to convict or just impeach a president who brazenly asserted “Then I have article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” He produced four years as proof of such lawbreaking. Will Trump overcome the Democrats on this last clear chance for our Constitution to prevail and for the assault on Congress, its legislators, staff, and other employees to be answered with justice?

Do you know how weak and spineless the National Democrats are? They almost blew the Presidential election to the worst, most delusional, lawbreaking, incompetent president in U.S. history. Less than 100,000 votes in four swing states saved the country from a second despotic Trump term. The Democrats also lost House and Senate seats to the most crazed, cruel, anti-people, corporate-indentured, militaristic, and monetized Republican Party in history.

If the Democrats do not go full throttle in this trial – this last clear chance to exercise the Constitution against Tyrant Trump – they will be remembered as profiles of infamy. If the Party of Jefferson and FDR fails to meet this fundamental challenge, history will show them as betraying the people’s trust, abdicating their constitutional duties, and setting an awful precedent ready for use by any future president to annihilate the Constitution.

The amount of irreparable harm that President Trump has done to the nation over the last 4 years warrants the full use of evidence to convict him in the Senate.  This would bar him from being able to run for office again.  Which is what the nation needs to have done.  Especially during this time of healing.  No more Trump's in office.

 

Super Bowl Ads Are Costly But Viewed By Lots of Eyeballs

 

Photo: CBS Sports

Yesterday the Super Bowl aired on many networks with huge amounts of eyeballs.   Advertisers see a huge opportunity to have an enormous amount of viewers around the world see their product.  And the cost meets that demand.  The most important game of football in America during the year certainly brings a large cost to advertise.  How much?

Today's blog post is simple.  Just a few numbers to think about.  Why?  To see where consumers find products, advertisers have to be clever.  Although, events like the Super Bowl are given - large numbers of viewers.  See for yourself.

According to a Google search, the cost of a 30-second advertisement costs $5.5 million.  Yes, that is 5.5 million dollars for a 30-second advertisement.  How many viewers see that advertisement?  Again, according to a Google search, the estimated number of viewers was around 99.9 million.  That is a lot of eyeballs on a given commercial. 

Of course, if the advertisement is not funny or eye catching, then the $5.5 million would have been spent somewhere else.  The bar for comedy is high.  Superbowl ads are historically the best ads for the entire year.  These numbers will give you an idea of where to start estimating future costs of ads for Super Bowls to come.  Stay tuned!

Electric Vehicles are Coming in a Decade by GM

 

Photo: General Kinematics

A transition began a few years ago from fossil fuels to renewable energy.  At first, the idea was very unpopular.  Even today, when I get together with my family I hear at the dinner table "Mike, they are taking away all of our gas vehicles..." -- which is not true.  If all gasoline combustion vehicles were taken away at the moment, the world would be in a great disaster.  Why?  Because the infrastructure is not present to accommodate such a new way of life.

Yes.  A new way of life.  A new way of thinking.  Popular opinion will sway anyone's opinion toward combustion-based vehicles.  Although, sales of hybrid vehicles are starting to make ground.  People (i.e., consumers) are starting to inquire more into the purchase/upkeep of electric vehicles.  And this prospect/realization is heading in a positive direction.

Recently, the New York Times reported that with the announcement of General Motors moving toward all-electric vehicles by 2035 comes other factors by the automotive industries.  The author brings up great points to consider in thinking about the widespread use of electric vehicles in the future.

One simple example pointed out in the article is that the center of gravity will have to change with the onset of electric vehicles.  With a battery-powered vehicle in play, the center of gravity is lowered.  This invokes the idea of lagging, slowing, sluggish.  Meaning, when a consumer steps on the accelerator (gas pedal), the car takes off accelerating forward.  There is a major difference in acceleration between the two types of vehicles.

Another parameter to consider is the tire on an electric vehicle.  As pointed out in the article, the noise generated by a tire must be greatly reduced on an electric vehicle.  Compared to a combustion vehicle, the noise difference is large.  The problem needs to be solved.

Last but not least, the repair station is going to go through a major transformation.  No more hearing from the mechanic "start the engine, let's listen to see what is going on with this vehicle...".  Instead, the mechanic will say "let's connect a cable and read the codes".  Interpreting the 'codes' on today's vehicles which are controlled by a computer processor (i.e., a chip) is the new challenge for the vehicle repair workforce.  

Society will change inevitably with the roll-out of electric vehicles.  Although, the change will be for the better.  More opportunity to employ a workforce to help promote and execute the transformation.  From infrastructure development to actual maintenance upkeep is going to require a large number of workers.  Stay tuned!

Ralph Nader: What Is Going On Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain?

 

Photo: Washington Post

The Congressional chambers have been out of sync for a while now.  Senator Mitch McConnell has been carrying out past President Trump's dirty business over the last 4 years.  As the majority leader (now not anymore), over the past 4 years, Mitch McConnell has served as a roadblock to any reasonable and positive legislation passing through the Senate.  Since the elections last year, Mitch McConnell has seen the writing on the wall.

He is no longer the majority leader in the Senate.  Although, by a thin margin, Democrats hold both chambers of Congress now, what are the Republicans to do?  Ralph Nader has written about the inner workings of Senator Mitch McConnell's brain in a recent newsletter:

The Struggle Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain

Since 2015, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has ruled the Senate with an iron hand, describing himself as “the Guardian of Gridlock.” He was Senator “NO,” except for confirming over 200 mostly corporatist federal judges.

Now comes a new challenge for Mitch McConnell as he leads 49 other Republican Senators, twenty of whom are up for re-election in 2022. Earlier this month, McConnell broke with Trump publicly in a Senate speech holding the wannabe American Fuhrer responsible for the January 6th storming of the Congress. On that day, Trump had just spoken to a crowd on the Mall and incited his followers to rush the Capitol and “stop the steal.” In the aftermath of this insurrection, the Kentucky Senator said he was keeping an open mind about his vote during the coming impeachment trial of Trump.

Predictably, McConnell received a flood of criticism from the Trump supporters for daring to distance himself from the dangerous, unstable, Liar-in-Chief.  Senate insurrectionists Senators Cruz and Hawley stood firm with Trump, even after the Trumpsters’ violent riot in their hallowed workplace.

Then came Senator Rand Paul, a crypto-libertarian opportunist and Trump toady (a scheming shadow of his father, ex-Rep. Ron Paul) to propose a vote on whether a president who is impeached while in office could be tried after his term was up. In a January 21, 2021 letter, an overwhelming number of liberal and conservative constitutional law experts said, “In sum, the Constitution’s text and structure, history, and precedent make clear that Congress’s impeachment power permits it to impeach, try, convict, and disqualify former officers, including former presidents.” (The full text of the letter is available online at Medium.Com) Not to do so, as Republican constitutional law specialist Bruce Fein said, “would fail to a set a precedent to deter future presidents from committing all kinds of impeachable offenses during the last days of their presidency and would undermine the  additional sanction, by majority Senate vote, of banning Presidents who have committed ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ from ever running for federal office again.”

McConnell, reverting to form, voted with Rand Paul and all but five courageous Republicans for the nonsense assertion that the Constitution prohibits a trial of an impeached president after departure from office. Since it would take seventeen Republicans to join with fifty Democrats to convict Trump, the media pundits quickly prejudged the outcome as an acquittal.

Inside McConnell’s brain, however, the path ahead is not preordained. McConnell still insists, as one of 100 Senate jurors, he is keeping an open mind as he weighs the evidence at the open televised trial starting on Tuesday, February 9th in the Senate. This might be true.  Allowing the Trumpian half of his brain to overpower his judgment and vote to acquit Dangerous Donald would spell disaster for the Republican Party (assuming the Democratic Party doesn’t go to sleep as it did after Obama’s win in 2008).

Here is what the “survival” part of McConnell’s mind may be thinking:

“My GOP is a minority Party. We’ve only won the popular vote for President once since 1988, having been saved by the Electoral College in 2000 and 2016. Our majorities in the House have been due to gerrymandering designed to produce safe Republican districts in key states. We can’t assume that the cowardly Democrats will continue to give us seats in the Senate that they should have won, apart from giving up contesting many seats altogether.”

“We should break completely with Trump and his uncontrollable, delusional, hardcore extremists dedicated to “civil war,” that the Department of Homeland Security has deemed the “leading domestic terrorist” threat. Conviction of Trump is the way forward. He wouldn’t be able to run again. We won’t be bullied, intimated, and lied about every day in order to push us toward these political militias and their crude, violent talk and actions by acquitting Trump.   We can’t be the “law and order” Party if we don’t accept that “no one is above the law.”

“Also, the media would demand answers for out-of-control Republican outlaws and their Trumpian grip on state Republican Party committees. We will be so relentlessly distracted daily by Trumpian chaos and Trump’s 2024 candidacy that we won’t be able to reset the traditional stable GOP and advance our conservative agenda. Trump is causing us to lose our campaign contributions from frightened corporate CEOs who cannot tolerate daily political disruptions and overtly divisive rancor that rankles the workplace.”

“Some of our own legislators already are being investigated by the FBI for their involvement with these extremist groups.” (See the New York Times article: Republican Ties to Extremist Group Are Under Scrutiny).

“Furthermore, letting Trump go triumphantly into the electoral arena would increase the risk of internally splitting the Party with Trump either saying “his way” or creating a new “Patriot Party”. For many reasons, that would end our electoral chances for a generation.  It will be worse than what FDR did to our Party.”

“I make these arguments to my Senate Republicans, having just been re-elected. The Senators up for election in 2022 are fearful of being primaried. They cannot stand the burst of hate mail they would receive.”

“To them, I would say: “relax, look at the huge margins most of you won by in 2016. You’re just too cozy and not used to a primary challenge, which should make you an even better campaigner. Besides, you’ll raise much more campaign money by standing tall against the tyrant who attacked America, who will turn on you at a tweet’s notice if you’re not 100% with him.”

“Given the super-safe seats – no one is going to beat Thune, Moran, Lankford, Kennedy, Crapo, Boozman, and Shelby in any primary. Besides, any ultra-extremist candidates who win primaries are sure to lose in the general election. That’s what happened in Delaware in 2000. The great majority of sane GOP voters know a suicide drive when they hear and see it.”

Such is the swirling mind of Mitch McConnell these days. With more incriminating evidence coming out about Trump’s attempted election coup, and the expected alarming under oath testimony at the Senate trial, the sheer political self-interest and regard for the GOP’s future should result in the Senate voting for conviction.

See: Wrecking America Wrecking America: How Trump’s Lawbreaking and Lies Betray All by Mark Green and Ralph Nader, for a detailed exposé of Donald Trump, Liar-in-Chief.