If you don't believe in the democratic process, and the ability of the American voters to keep from voting for tyrants, then why do you care? You can't believe in democracy, free speech and free expression, some of the time. It's an all or nothing situation.
This is beyond naive, and into frankly stupid territory. Democracy, like civil rights, are not 'all or nothing', unless every single person agrees with every single other person.
At some point, differnt opinions limit rights in various ways. This is so basic I have to wonder if you really meant what you wrote.
Its not a question of being naive. It's about asking your political opponents to get behind your leader when you win. For that to happen you need to get behind their leader when they win.
I think to continue to impeach Trump after he's out of office is petty respectless of his supporters. If you want them to respect you, you will need to respect them.
It's not petty. It's absolutely necessary to hold power accountable. It's not about Trump personally, although it's true that many of us would love to see him driven into a dirt hole like Saddam Hussein. It's about the highest god damn office in our land, which when abused, at best, shakes our faith in our institutions and the people entrusted to lead and and protect them. At worst, a corrupt President could destroy our country.
By not holding Trump accountable to the fullest extent, including banning him from public office forever and stripping him of all perks of presidential retirement, tells the world that the United States office of the Presidency is something we take seriously and will not tolerate abusing it and putting our democracy at risk.
If Trump is not held accountable to the fullest extent, we're just telling the world - including our enemies, the American people, and others who might aspire to be the next Trump that
we do not hold power accountable and whoever can get the office can abuse it as they please with little or no consequences.
That is far, far more important, crucial even, than giving two shits about pettiness or about the opinions of people who cannot or will not hold their authority figures accountable, and who seem to be even less willing to do so the more abusive that authority figure is.
Ford did a huge disservice to our country by pardoning Nixon. Nixon the man and whatever humiliation he suffered after resigning is irrelevant to whether or not we tolerate corruption and abuse of power. I can't think of anything weaker from the standpoint of the world stage than letting a vapid, narcissistic, ignorant con man do as he pleases to your country from your highest office of power and then just let him retire quietly because right wing authoritarian morons don't want to hurt their master's feelings.
To think it's about being petty or not, quite frankly, is a deeply immature and shortsighted view. Thank goodness you have no influence here.
I'd also like to add that I would be just as adamant and vocal in the case of a foreign actor harming Donald Trump while he was President. That, too, would have nothing to do with the man personally, although, again, most of us would be thinking, "Good riddance." But we'd go to war if necessary because that's our highest fucking office and allowing a foreign agent to harm the person in it, no matter how much of a corrupt walking turd he may be, would be allowing no less than an act of war on our country. It's not about showing weakness; it's about not actually being weak and vulnerable to future aspiring corrupt powers who just saw Trump abuse the office for four years with no real consequences.
