Holiday Road to Perdition

Is it the beginning of the end...or, to quote the last century's greatest imperialist mass murderer, is it the end of the beginning? Will there be more convictions among Mad Dog 20/20 Don and his merry band of grifters? Will Bill "Limbo Lower" Barr sell off whatever remains of his soul in his all-out defense of Don and his spawn? And will the Democrats decide that upholding the rule of law and other bedrock institutions is more important than winning the next election?

Whichever, whatever...I'm not exactly holding my breath.

First, a disclaimer. I have not read the Mueller Report. I have read some good analyses, in the Intercept among others, and the following appears to me to be pretty clear:

1. The Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate - key finding: collude or collusion is not a criminal legal term, so let's stop allowing Trump & co, use it - with the Russians. Rather, they were (a) all too happy to be the passive beneficiaries of Russian "dirt on Hilary," because they were either (b) too incompetent to figure out how to actively conspire or (c) more focused on consummating the Moscow Trump Tower deal. Either way, their acts of omission - not reporting Russian government overtures to them - were neither illegal nor ethical. More importantly, they were perfectly consistent with their utter disdain for the norms of our political system, which, I know, is setting the Barr low (pun intended; see previous Imp Wardrobe post).
2. I agree with those pundits (see Mehdi Hassan's piece on the Intercept) who describe the Mueller Report, especially its section on obstruction of justice, as a roadmap for impeaching Trump. And it goes without saying that if there were even so much as a fraction of the number of such incidents under a Democratic presidency, the GOP would be out on the street with their tiki torches and AR-15s. But I digress...
3. Why aren't the Democrats showing more interesting in pursuing said roadmap? Ostensibly, because with a GOP-controlled Senate, there's no way that Trump would be convicted, even if the House were to pass articles of impeachment. Rather than lay out the case for why that's an unprincipled, weasel-eared non-position position, I would encourage you instead to read (or reread) Yoni Applebaum's case for impeachment in the Atlantic. Spoiler alert: the Democrats are putting (potential) partisan political gains in front of any sense of responsibility for safeguarding our political institutions. Shocked? Right...me, too.

So, bottom line, it's hard to feel too much outrage at this point, at any of these knuckleheads. Haters gonna hate, and weasels gonna put on their weasel ears. Besides, it's been a long road to trudge, and it looks like we're likely to trudge a whole lot more before it's all over. Sorta like a road trip from hell, or to hell, while traipsing down the road of perdition. But since we're talking about President Trump, aka, our national buffoon, I prefer to call the "National Buffoon's Impeachment," aka, the "Holiday Road to Perdition," which is the title of this week's cartoon. 

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend - Chag Sameach and Happy Easter to others. And for all my peeps, celebrating the former, don't forget to drink some prune juice; otherwise, enjoy 8 days of Matzoh-induced gastro-intestinal filibuster.