The aftermath of the impeachment trial

After the impeachment of President Clinton ended in February 1999 with an acquittal, he appeared before the cameras to make an act of contrition: “I want to say again to the American People how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events, and the great burden these have imposed on the Congress and on the American People.” He finished by calling for a period of reconciliation and renewal in the country.

This is in stark contrast to the remarks President Trump has made in the wake of his acquittal by the Senate. “I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people.”

At the National Prayer Breakfast, he took a hard swipe at House Speaker Pelosi, “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump stated. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you’ when they know that that’s not so. So many people have been hurt, and we can’t let that go on. And I’ll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House.”

At a White House presser later that day, the President spared none of his political rivals, scorching Speaker Pelosi, Adan Schiff, and Jerry Nadler, James Comey and Mitt Romney.

This is not the contrite act of a beaten man and brings to mind that metaphoric quote by Emerson, “When you strike at a King, you must kill him.”

Trump exits the acquittal by the Senate more popular than when he went in. If the Democrats were hoping that impeachment would knock a few points off his support to help them in 2020, that didn’t happen. What may happen is a repeat of what occurred following the Clinton impeachment. In an off-year election where the opposition party historically gains seats, the Republicans lost five in the House and failed to gain any in the Senate. That signaled the displeasure of the American public with the Clinton impeachment. Democrats may discover that their impeachment gambit will cost them seats in the November elections.

Don’t Take On A Battleship With A Squirtgun

The President seems to now have the initiative in his battle with the Democrats. The Mueller report failed to find any evidence that anyone in his campaign knowingly colluded with any Russian agents. The DOJ and FBI are reeling from lawsuits by those they implicated unlawfully and the DOJ is now investigating the investigators for criminal acts. The President was acquitted by a Senate that could not bring itself to find him guilty by a simple majority, let alone the 67 votes needed to remove him from office.

The Senate has opened an investigation into the actions of Vice President Biden and the Speaker of the House is facing censure for the speech tearing incident at the State of the Union.

The response from Democrats in the House so far is to state that they will continue to hold hearings and look for new charges to impeach the President with. I could write a whole other piece about taking a failed plan and trying to make it work the second time with the same people who failed the first time…

If there is anything that can be said with 100 percent certainty about President Trump, it’s that nobody gets any free shots at him. Every insult and slight is responded to in kind and magnified by his Twitter following of nearly 68 million people. A certain admiration flows to the media personalities and critics who, with a few thousand followers, are willing to do what amounts to taking on a battleship with a squirt gun on social media.

So what might Trump do in the retaliation that is sure to come? If you’ve followed the promises being made by Democratic candidates for their party nomination, it’s mostly a bidding war to see who can take the promised entitlements the highest. Estimates of the total combined entitlements being promised are about $100 trillion dollars. That’s a “1” with 12 zeroes behind it.

The Left for decades has relied on voters’ support by trying to buy it with tax dollars that someone else will have to pay. Free college, free healthcare, free houses, free daycare, free drugs, even free income. Trump could attack entitlement spending in a budget battle aimed at deficit reduction, which is an unkept promise from his 2016 campaign, to cut spending and the deficit.

He could abolish the Progressive income tax by going to a single flat tax for everyone and abolishing the IRS, an agency as popular in people’s minds as a funeral home.

He could put the screws to Democrats on illegal immigration, indeed he has already begun this effort. The President recently endorsed a bill that would allow the victims of crime committed by illegal aliens to sue sanctuary cities for damages. At what may be the start of it, DHS responded to New York’s “Green Light Law” by freezing new enrolments for New York residents in Global Entry and other fast pass entry programs into the U.S.

Judges, Judges, Judges

Expect that Trump will accelerate his appointment of Judges to the Federal bench, which may be where his most lasting legacy will be felt. If reelected (and there are historical reasons that make that very likely) he will probably appoint a third Supreme Court Justice, giving the Originalists on the Court a 5 to 2 advantage in future cases. About half of the 870 total positions for judges on the federal bench are eligible for “Senior Status” meaning they can retire by the end of 2020. President Trump in his second term would be in the position to fill those positions if he retains the Senate. I would submit that people, who think that Senate Republicans acquitted Trump because they are in a cult, are being very short-sighted. Republicans are probably looking ahead at these judicial appointments instead. A Republican Senate and a Republican president in the White House could replace almost 65 percent of all federal judges with conservatives by the end of 2020.

And a final word about the Left’s hyperbole about a Trump acquittal turning America into Nazi Germany: I don’t think Trump is really an “Emperor”, “Dictator”, “Tyrant” or “Literally Hitler.” I offer this simply stated proof: If he were, you wouldn’t be allowed to call him a tyrant or dictator without being shot. That’s just the way those things work.