opinion

Opinion: Is Trump the head of the mafia? Yes, it's called the Republican Party

Last Thursday’s White House gathering in which the head of the republic disgraced himself while celebrating his recent acquittal by the Senate looked more like a scene from a movie about the mafia and its modus operandi than an event at which none other than the president of the United States spoke.

That’s how movie scenes of mafia gatherings look. Everything revolves around the interests of an individual whose obedient servants receive accolades as they breathe sighs of relief for having avoided his wrath that could have hit them hard, had they lagged in their service to him.

More: Trump's impeachment acquittal leads to 24 hours of praise, criticism for Mitch McConnell

In his so-called speech, a cheap stunt, Trump ridiculed, insulted and pilloried Democrats who impeached and prosecuted him, while showering praise on those who completed his “drug deal” — his congressional minions who undoubtedly confirmed his hypnotic hold over them by acquitting him.

They knew he was guilty but they also knew that they had no choice but to go along with their master. They forgot the oath they had taken to be impartial jurors. An oath matters to those who have a soul and a conscience. It means nothing to unprincipled, power-hungry and cowardly pols.

Conspicuous by his absence from the gathering was Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican. He had voted to convict Trump, so the “Godfather” was angry at him. That should be a badge of honor for Romney. History will remember him as a man of principles and courage.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, also deservedly known as "Moscow Mitch," served his boss to the hilt, having said from the outset that he was not an impartial juror and would fully coordinate his trial strategy with the White House. But he did take the above-mentioned oath. So he publicly lied as he took the oath.

McConnell: Thanks to the Senate, Trump's reelection will be decided at the ballot box

Sen. Lindsey Graham did the same, having announced his loyalty to Trump earlier. He’s now trying to mitigate his behavior. He says he would proceed on the so-called Hunter Biden matter with caution so as to avoid becoming the Republican Christopher Steele. (Steel authored a 2016 intelligence report about Trump that Republicans condemned, claiming it was based on fake sources from the former Soviet Union.)

Graham's comments indicate he knew the Biden diversion that his fellow Republicans created to protect Trump from the constitutionally mandated dynamics was a lie. Otherwise, Graham wouldn’t have compared it with a dossier he considers a lie. But his ilk repeatedly told the lie about the Bidens. Perhaps, the command Moscow Mitch received from Trump directed Republican senators to do that?

Graham’s sudden morality attack is a part of the trick Republican legislators and their supporters are using to create a narrative for preemptively muting the avalanche of criticism they expect from the people in general and opposing candidates in particular.

You may like: President Trump's acquittal hardens resolve of Kentuckians on both sides of the aisle

The trick revolves around repeating the claim that because the Senate acquitted Trump, Democrats were wrong in impeaching him. The reality, however, is that a constitutional process must always take its course. And the Democrats did their constitutional duty. The fact that they were unable to obtain a conviction from a Republican-controlled Senate does not make them wrong and the Republicans right.

News reports indicate more information on Trump’s unconstitutional conduct is on the way. By Nov. 3, many voters would thus have concluded that Trump tried to recruit a foreign government to help him win the forthcoming election and that the Biden story and the claim that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 elections were lies started by Russia and propagated by Trump and his congressional subordinates. It will then become increasingly difficult for the Trump cult to maintain the narrative of lies it has so far relied upon.

Democrats would be in a good position. Had they not impeached Trump and then cogently and honestly tried to have him convicted, an electorate armed with the above-mentioned conclusion would have criticized them for not fulfilling their constitutional duty of trying to check Trump.

Yarmuth: Americans must hold Trump accountable in November for the cancer in our democracy

Graham’s Steele analogy that he just drummed up to hide Trump’s and congressional Republicans' earlier transgressions will prove to be ineffective, as the electorate rewards Democrats for having demonstrated the courage to do the right thing at the right time. Romney will benefit from this corrective tide of history too, as he should.

Moscow Mitch says, “We have done our duty.” Yes, they have — but to a thuggish president, not the republic. The Constitution calls for the removal of such a president, not his protection. Trump’s soulless subordinates in Congress say their actions have protected future presidents from impeachment. The question is why should a future president be protected if he/she seeks foreign support in rigging an election?

The voters pick a president every four years. It is the legislators’ job to remove a president if he violates the Constitution during that four-year period. Those who say that the senators could not remove Trump because it is the voters’ job to do it need to learn the first lesson on the Constitution. On Nov. 3, “we the people” will teach them this lesson and rescue our republic from the clutches of the mafiosi.

Siddique Malik writes on sociopolitical affairs.