How will history judge the Mr. Donald John Trump strain; the president (in name only) and all of those congressmen (again, in name only) who blindly followed him out of loyalty and enabled him no matter how nefarious his dealings and dalliances were?  History will likely judge them harshly.  The sad fact is that all of these men and women who allow Mr. Trump to control them in this way are acutely aware of this but their personal ambition and thirst for power relentlessly drives them into stupor.  And Mr. Trump is always ready, willing and able to take advantage of the situation.  He strokes them and flatters them constantly…until they fall out of favor with him; then, he throws them under the bus and moves on to the next overly ambitious, power-hungry potential sucker.

There are a lot of urgent things going on right now that demand the attention of our elected officials that are going wanting as a direct result of Mr. Trump and his antics.  Some of these things, arguably, have an existential impact on our democracy.  And Mr. Trump is the key quantifier that is fueling this arguably existential problem.  About a third of all Americans still support Mr. Trump.  Many of those in this group believe that he is doing a good job and would likely vote for him again; and that’s okay.  Accepting and guaranteeing their right to do this without being threatened or made to feel afraid because of it is who we are as Americans.  No American should infringe upon their right to feel this way about Mr. Trump and to vote for him again, but what we need from those in this group and from those on all sides is for them to be willing and able to hold reasonable discourse on all of the issues, especially on those where we disagree.  Our elected officials should be leading in this arena but it is obvious that they are not.

A perfect example of the kind of people and the kind of attitude that will be needed by our elected officials was exhibited by a guest, Paula Duncan, who appeared on MSNBC’s ‘The Last Word’ hosted by Lawrence O’Donnell in early March this year.  This woman was and remains a staunch Donald Trump supporter who served on the jury in Virginia that rendered the verdict on Paul Manafort.  She said that going into the trial she had hoped that Paul Manafort would not be guilty but after reviewing the evidence she determined that he was guilty and voted accordingly.  I totally disagree with Ms. Duncan on what she said about Mr. Trump being a good president and that he is doing a good job.  And based on the rest of her comments that I read in an NBC News article dated August 23, 2018 entitled ‘Manafort juror Paula Duncan: Manafort is guilty, but Mueller probe is a witch hunt’, I am just as baffled and frustrated with her as she said that she was with the lone holdout juror who kept them from finding Manafort guilty on all counts rather than just 8 of the 18.

However, just as she accepted the holdout juror’s decision and accepted her right to make that decision, I have done the same thing where Ms. Duncan is concerned.  Notwithstanding the fact that we are completely on opposite ends of the spectrum in our opinions regarding Mr. Trump and how effective he is in his job, my point is that Ms. Duncan is the kind of person that one can talk to and more than likely reach common ground.  And if the evidence and proof regarding the alleged nefarious acts that Mr. Trump has committed is sufficient, as strong as her support for him is, she is extremely likely to hold him to account.  I feel certain that she would want the politicians that she elected to represent her to do the same thing.  And I say right now, as strongly as I feel that Mr. Trump is guilty of all of those things that he is accused of, if the evidence and proof reveals that he is innocent, then I want the politicians that I helped to elect to accept that evidence and proof, find Mr. Trump innocent and clear his name.

Having said that, at this point and under the existing circumstances, it is reasonable to assume that the American people want the damage that Mr. Trump is doing to America to be stopped, within the law, as quickly as possible.  And once the problem is corrected, it is also reasonable to assume that they want our country to immediately begin to clean up all of the damage that has been done and work to reestablish America as the respected leader of the free world.  To effectively reestablish that respect we must begin at home by respecting one another, all of our rights – including those inalienable rights, and this great union and democracy called America.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line