Yesterday was the Michael Cohen hearing. I was glued to it. It was compelling both in what Michael Cohen said and in the Republican reaction to him as a witness.

What I heard was Michael Cohen confirming that Donald Trump committed crimes to become President, has continued to commit crimes while in office, continuing a lifetime of criminal activities. What Republicans did came down to the sign the literally put up during the hearing that stated “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”. The Republican who berated Michael Cohen for having a box that included checks from Donald Trump that proved he was paying off Michael Cohen, through an illegal means, for a campaign violation to get himself elected. He pushed and pushed asking why Cohen hadn’t turned over the items that were in a box because they had been returned that way from the FBI. The absolute refusal to hear and acknowledge just that little bit of truth was too much. There was much attacking of Cohen and little defense of Trump because what is there to defend. No one contends Trump, his family, his company, anyone around him is innocent in all of this.

More comes in, day in and day out. And every day the media, the pundits, even many of the Democrats take items on at a time and they move on. So used to the abnormal that they take each item individually, in seemingly endless discussions. This item is bad but individually it doesn’t lead to whatever crime it is. That item is bad, but.. and on and on and on. After that you will hear how this will be used politically for whoever and whatever purpose. And always, but he can’t be indicted so this is a purely political process which won’t go anywhere for anything and it’s really bad that the Democrats would be playing politics with it. (Special side note – nobody seems to care that the Republicans are playing politics or about anything bad they do). Like Trump it seems like every thing the Republicans do is meant to be is corrupt and it’s up to the Democrats to be the peacekeepers, the lawmakers, the better angels.

While impeachment is mentioned everywhere except by the Democrats, as a party, as something that the Democrats are pushing for and they shouldn’t be. That is where it all falls apart. All the reasons why the Democrats shouldn’t pursue impeachment. It’s a bad idea. The Republicans tried that political process with Bill Clinton and they failed and it hurt them so much they won the Presidency in 2000 – oh wait, that was a positive for Republicans. But anyway, the Republicans used impeachment for pure political theater and so no one can ever impeach a President again. That would be upending an election – despite impeachment being there for that purpose. Or that the Republicans just won’t vote for impeachment so why try. In fact, every crime that happens, what’s the purpose really. Why try to enforce a law because people will just break it or because you can’t indict a President for violating the constitution, or the law, or pure horrendous incompetence and lying and…

We have to put it all aside because Trump has a base and that base also votes for the rest of the Republicans who are the ones who say Liar, liar, pants on fire, who brag about how they rig the vote so they can win, limit the voters to the ones who vote for them only. The ones who say that those others are taking over “our culture” as if America has one culture, we are strong because we are many. The base that is now essentially a cult, listen to Cohen, learn about narcissists, how compelling they can be. That base which is not the majority of this country, which supports the minority President, they cannot be upset but the majority can be ignored and must be the ones who reach out. The ultimate butotherism. As long as they are with Trump the country is trapped because the Republicans are trapped and anything the Democrats try will be see ultimately as “politics” rather than survival of this nation. As long as the media starts from Republican Trump talking points rather than facts. As long as they move on and deal with each item as the first rather than a piece in the pattern. As long as they are examining the bark of the tree and not realizing there is a forest. We are stuck.

It’s time to flip the script to starting with facts, actually talk to Democrats, go to states that are ignored by Trump. Follow the trail of weather caused disasters and follow those stories. Quit debating what Mueller will come out with, what will happen if he is fired, if his report isn’t turned over, the debates are endless and useless after the first time they were explored.

Enough is enough

It isn’t just politics. It’s the fate, the character and the soul of this country. Impeachment was included for a purpose and should have been used as soon as Trump violated the emoluments clause blatantly. He didn’t go to Congress to request they allow him to accept the emoluments, which a Republican Congress probably would have given him. He just ignored it and said here was what he would do and he could do whatever he wanted so accept it because he could shoot someone on fifth avenue and not go to jail. We’ve endured two years of descent into a morass of what we could echo Trump on and call it the bottom of the swamp. His cabinet is a hot mess. He gave a party planner a job in HUD serving under a neurosurgeon whose only pertinent experience was living in a house.

It’s not politics. It’s following our constitution. Trump picked Cohen so we’re stuck with him as a witness but the majority of the country did not choose Trump. He was installed through voter suppression, Russia, who knows what other countries helped (Saudi Arabia comes to mind), and even Comey and the FBI treating Hillary and Trump differently.

It’s not just politics. Neither is health care, or infrastructure, or the minimum wage. They are real life. It’s time for the media and the pundits and the Republican Party to get out of the way and let the people who want to actually run the government and help the people get to work.

Politics is Republicans complaining that Michael Cohen is a liar and there is no way this should be the first hearing of this committee, even though there have been multiple significant substantive committee meetings on drug prices, on voting. Those didn’t matter because the Republican’s don’t care about that. The committee broke to vote on a measure for gun safety, mandatory background checks. Proving that butotherism is politics in and of itself. The Democrats are there to get things done and the Republicans are there to be the playground bully.

Time to put politics aside and let the serious people get to work.