When you boil Trump (& the consequent Trumpism) down to its essentials at root it is Lying.
Trump has made a life of being a liar.
It is "Trump Rule#1" expressed years ago "Trump is a liar. He does not simply tell lies, he IS a liar. Thus what he does is quintessentially a lie".

Now we are embroiled in an impeachment trial, the consequence of the ultimate Donald Trump lie.
That he won the election.

This is so fundamental a lie, that when pressed, as Trump has done, & married to a demagoguery, as he had utilized to enflame his believers, you get
what we got. A mob. Playing at an insurrection.

All because of a Lie. Propounded by a liar.

Here then is the first brick in the edifice that is the newly submerged & subjugated Republican Party:

Renounce the Founding Lie.

If they will not, then nothing else matters.
The impeachment trial itself is become a farce, not for the lack of an impenetrable prosecution case.
But by the dint and opportunity allowed the structure of the impeachment process, to avoid all and any facts by the simple tactic of embracing, and advancing, a lie.
The Republicans as a Party have subordinated themselves to a Lie.
The Republicans as a Party have accepted as their functional premise for governance and leadership a Liar.

Until these cornerstones of what unifies the Republicans, devoted to their party, and not the country,
there is no chance, nor opportunity for anything like healing, unity or moving on.

You cannot unite with a lie. Or a liar at this level.

Practically, the Senate should be made to declare a simple fact: Trump Lost The Election.
Assert this premise, and displace the current functional premise of all the resistance that energizes the Republican Party, and the work can begin.

Until then, all the facts in the world are categorically dismissed as irrelevant.

The reason this is possible to be done with
a straight face is because of these very different foundational ideas & principles the opposing sides are predicated upon.

To support & accept Trump & his defense you have to be willing to adopt the Lie as axiomatic premise.
Do that, and you can sit and read the paper while the
prosecution wears itself out amassing all the facts & details, presenting their case... None of it makes the slightest of difference to you, as a Senator... or as a Trumper... you have the lie to protect you from any intrusion of fact or consequence.
And lies of this magnitude and consequence can ripple through a society for a long time, doing immense damage. As we see.

But we have not come to the end of it yet.

If this lie, and this liar, is allowed to continue, unchecked, it will be tantamount to validating the
lie and the liar as a working truth.

This does not disturb those who profit from the lie.

It is said that the reason so many Republican Senators are afraid to vote as they would if the vote were private is because
a) they are afraid of the trumpian mob/backlash. A threat to
their lives.
This is not an idle fear, as has been demonstrated many times. Trump, and his brownshirts, are quite willing to use threats, and acts, of violence to intimidate. (this should be part of the larger impeachment of Trump, but like so much, has to be left off)
b) They want to retain the base for their own electoral needs.
c) They need to remain in good standing with the Party.
It is clear that any deviation from this partisan line comes w swift consequences. Far more swift than opposing the dissolution of the republic by Trump & his
orcs, they will instantly gather to sanction, silence, destroy anyone who dares to speak anything other than the Party line. Cheney, AZ GOP, Cassidy, Sasse, Romney all have faced bitter opposition by their party apperatus.
It is hard to stand up against that.

and etc.
For these reasons, and more, the votes the Republican Senators will take is not about the matter at hand.
The vote is not, in fact, about the doings of Trump and the consequent insurrection, trying to invalidate an election, and trying to retain power by
promulgating a Gobbels level "Big Lie".

They are voting for the lie.
They will instantiate the lie as the new founding fact of the Republican Party.
It is for this reason there is no ability to have a rational conversation or debate with Trumpian sotted believers, or rulers.
The discussion is not happening in the context of trying to work out ideas & compromises around complex issues that have multiple angles & considerations
The issues are being held in the larger context of a lie.
It makes discussion any given detail or issue difficult, because in the end one side is devoted to the Lie.
Anything, and that means Any-thing, that would even threaten to expose & undermine the Lie has to be
a priori, rejected.
It is simple Machiavellian principles of survival & power.

Break the back of the Lie. First.
Then the matrix of Lies that the chief Liar has inculcated in the system, and the Repubican's have sworn to defend.
Then you can get to the Liar himself.
And if that can happen,
we might be able to save the country.

It does not seem it will happen in this battle that is the Impeachment Trial.

But convicting Trump was never going to happen.
Not with these acolytes.

What is important about this trial, and the one before is
to establish the record of fact.

There will be a time where this lie, like all lies, will lose its power to coalesce a group of believers.
Even this one.

What has to be done now is establish the record, so that when the foggery is lifted, and the dark incentives to sustain
the lie diminish, there is a clear record of fact that can be cited and appealed to to find our way back.

We'll see.

Our history is not overly encouraging along these lines.
But maybe the time has come.

But first.
No more lying.
Or liars.

More from Michael Beaton

Yes. This is the problem.

Irrational anger & outrage which is easily manipulated, as we see being done, into tribal affiliation. Predicated not on some devotion to core ideals & principles of the country, but something else.

Notice what ea side appeals how they express it.


One side largely is moved by wanting a system, a society, a government that is responsive to the situation and needs of the public. This has a number of aspects, from infrastructure, taking care of the environment, BLM, taking care of the 'least among us' &etc.

These folks...

These folks on "the other side"... Not sure what to call this other side. It is a collection of right wing people, some who are simply "members" by affiliation, by tradition, by location in the country...others by reasoned choice.
However they get there, a large % are like this.

Lets call this the Trumpian side, Trumper Cohort, since that is the current center around which these "73M" are organized.
Within this cohort, there are many who are simply "Republicans" by inertia. Their family has been so forever, and so they are too. In actual fact they

do not like what is being done in their name, wonder what happened to the party, but cannot imagine voting for a "Democrat", no more than the feud over Ford vs Chevy would resolve in welcoming in the other 'team'.
These don't really know or und what a "Democrat" is these days,
Such a clear example of the conflicts embedded deep into our systems. In this case voting system.
What is lost in this maelstrom of Trump(ism) and its nonsense, so well called out by @GabrielSterling, is the underlying fact that partisans are in control of what should be a


non partisan function.

As welcome is the pushback the office of the Sec State of GA is, it is only barely sufficient. And when coupled with the equally sever problem of voter suppression, including purging the rolls, shutting down voting locations, all aimed at minority

populations, making it unnecessarily difficult, sometimes impossible, for these citizens to register their vote...When the larger issue is taken into account it is clear that we, and GA, are still reeling from ancient social problems.

As good as @GabrielSterling has been re this extreme Trump lying and BS...it is only because Trump is so very far out of sync with reality and facts that he falls outside even the very generous boundaries of what voter suppression is officially sanctioned. That itself is amazing

So, appreciate that, thankfully, there actually is a line that some people, even in their partisan positions of power, will not cross.
And then recognize that in this tweet is embodied the substrate of the problem....

A non partisan function is being administered in a partisan

More from Trump

You’d think that if Pence could overturn the election like Trump claimed then Biden surely would’ve taken up that chance


Also this is such a small thing but one thing I noticed in that Trump campaign ad the defense just ran, there were no citations, unlike every clip that the impeachment managers showed

Michael Van Der Veen is giving us the full Fox News Primetime Defense.

PROCESS ARGUMENT.

DRINK.

Lol my guy this is the chance to rebut the evidence that they’ve presented against Trump.

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राम-रावण युद्ध समाप्त हो चुका था। जगत को त्रास देने वाला रावण अपने कुटुम्ब सहित नष्ट हो चुका था।श्रीराम का राज्याभिषेक हुआ और अयोध्या नरेश श्री राम के नेतृत्व में चारों दिशाओं में शन्ति थी।
अंगद को विदा करते समय राम रो पड़े थे ।हनुमान को विदा करने की शक्ति तो राम में थी ही नहीं ।


माता सीता भी हनुमान को पुत्रवत मानती थी। अत: हनुमान अयोध्या में ही रह गए ।राम दिनभर दरबार में, शासन व्यवस्था में व्यस्त रहते थे। संध्या को जब शासकीय कार्यों में छूट मिलती तो गुरु और माताओं का कुशल-मंगल पूछ अपने कक्ष में जाते थे। परंतु हनुमान जी हमेशा उनके पीछे-पीछे ही रहते थे ।


उनकी उपस्थिति में ही सारा परिवार बहुत देर तक जी भर बातें करता ।फिर भरत को ध्यान आया कि भैया-भाभी को भी एकांत मिलना चाहिए ।उर्मिला को देख भी उनके मन में हूक उठती थी कि इस पतिव्रता को भी अपने पति का सानिध्य चाहिए ।

एक दिन भरत ने हनुमान जी से कहा,"हे पवनपुत्र! सीता भाभी को राम भैया के साथ एकांत में रहने का भी अधिकार प्राप्त है ।क्या आपको उनके माथे पर सिन्दूर नहीं दिखता?इसलिए संध्या पश्चात आप राम भैया को कृप्या अकेला छोड़ दिया करें "।
ये सुनकर हनुमान आश्चर्यचकित रह गए और सीता माता के पास गए ।


माता से हनुमान ने पूछा,"माता आप अपने माथे पर सिन्दूर क्यों लगाती हैं।" यह सुनकर सीता माता बोलीं,"स्त्री अपने माथे पर सिन्दूर लगाती है तो उसके पति की आयु में वृद्धि होती है और वह स्वस्थ रहते हैं "। फिर हनुमान जी प्रभु राम के पास गए ।