PENnED

Some of Donald Trump’s supporters have expressed their delight that Trump was acquitted and that he is “not guilty” as charged. As someone braggingly puts it on a Facebook post, “I told you guys (sic) Trump is innocent.”

Apparently, they do not understand that Trump was acquitted not because he was not guilty but simply because the number of votes to convict Trump did not meet the minimum requirement.
Despite that, however, the number of guilty votes (57) was more than the number of acquittal votes (43). And those that voted to acquit Trump did not do so because he was not guilty but because they do not believe the Senate had jurisdiction (despite the fact that the Senate agreed, in a bipartisan way, that it was constitutional and thus proceeded with the trial) to impeach Trump who is no longer president (thanks but no thanks to Mitch McConnel for delaying the impeachment trial).

To prove the point, after the trial and Trump’s acquittal, ‘tuso’ (cunning) Minority Leader Mitch McConnel said, “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen,” McConnell said. “He didn’t get away with anything. Yet… We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one,” he also said. Other senators who voted to acquit Trump also expressed something similar.

What the acquittal means, among others, is that Trump remains a threat to American democracy. After his acquittal, he declared that the MAGA movement “has just begun.” While others take that as a weak political threat, the fact that “almost 75 million” voted for Trump (a number he continually boasts about, even though Joe Biden got 6 million more votes than he did) is more of a promise than a threat. Why? Because when an opportunity presents itself, that number of people is more than enough to start another insurrection!

Should he run for president again, Trump could win, especially if the situation will change for the worse, or he could paint a false situation and his cult following believe his words like they are divinely inspired utterances. But even if Trump does not win, worse things could happen–he could incite a bigger mob and succeed! Unless of course, before that could happen, he is tried in criminal courts for his crimes, found guilty, and put in prison for life, and thus such grim possibility is removed.

Remember Adolf Hitler? He lost the election, nonetheless, he became Germany’s Führer. Even if one believes that ‘such a thing could not happen in the United States,’ Americans should not let their guard down–opportunists like Donald Trump would do anything to accomplish their personal ambition.
And what is Trump’s ambition? What he said in praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Communist Party made his tenure indefinite gives us a clear picture of Trump’s political vision: “He’s now president for life, president for life. And he’s great… And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday….”

Donald Trump, after the failed insurrection and his acquittal today, might just give “president for life” another shot.