First, I must give credit to historian Jon Meacham for the title of this day’s blog.
It was his answer on an MSNBC show where he was asked where the country is “at” following the GOP acquittal of President Donald J. Trump.
It also seems like a great title for the last year of my life.
I have endured the deaths of a sister and a friend of 46-years standing; a feeling of not knowing my place within my immediate family structure; a deep depressive cycle and a recent surgery.
It feels very much like the storm has been raging, and, like the Disciples in the boat, I have clung to the boat’s timber instead of my Lord’s presence.
So the hearings, trial and the acquittal of Trump added a layer of oppression on top of everything else; the outcome seemed to be a given, but there was always a faint hope that GOP Senators would see how dangerous what Trump did was and vote conscience over party.
Only one among them did; for this Mitt Romney has cemented his place in the history books beyond a footnote.
I watched the majority of the proceedings of Trump’s impeachment. I viewed 11 days of hearings with 17 witnesses. I watched opening and closing arguments from both sides in the impeachment trial. I watched the roll call votes of the Senate regarding the introduction of witnesses like John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney, as well as documents Trump would tweet brazenly that Democrats didn’t have, because they were in White House possession in defiance of Congressionally issued subpoenas.
I watched the Senate cast votes of guilty or not guilty to both Articles of Impeachment.
I listened as Chief Justice Roberts announced Trump’s acquittal because a 2/3 vote of the Senate could not be had, was never going to be had, was gleefully, defiantly announced in advance would not be had by people like Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senator Ted Cruz ( R-TX).
I had heard McConnell talk of coordinating with Trump on impeachment strategy.
I read about Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) defiance of the Chief Justice in going on the Senate floor to read a question the Justice deemed inappropriate because it named the whistleblower of Trump’s Ukraine quid pro quo scheme.
And I wondered what would become of my country.
I did not watch the State of the Union address, because I knew it would be filled with the usual Trump grandiosity and deliberately false information designed to mislead. All the post SOTU analysis I heard and read confirmed the wisdom of watching a movie rather than another episode of The Trump Show.
Now that impeachment is over, I am starting to feel renewed. Now there is a clarity for what comes next:
Do all that I can to help turn out the Democratic vote.
The storm is still raging, but I know whose hand to grasp as I attempt to be a disciple for democracy.
A Senior Moment 