Two decades ago, after being acquitted by the Senate of the charges of lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice the normally loquacious President Bill Clinton read a very short statement in the Rose Garden. Clinton was contrite, apologetic and introspective and he said he was humbled and very grateful for the prayers he had gotten from millions of Americans and called for the country to come together.
After President Donald Trump was acquitted of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress to aid his own re-election, he reacted in a polar opposite way of the chastened Clinton.
Let’s just say that the stable genius doesn’t do contrition, introspection or apologies. A triumphant, vindictive and petty Trump held court for over an hour in the East Room of the White House before his sycophants and enablers.
Trump did everything but issue an executive order that he would emasculate lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff and banish Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from Washington D.C. In his stream-of-consciousness rant Trump thanked his most servile supporters and lambasted his fiercest critics, foreshadowing that he will spend the rest of his term exacting revenge.
In the aftermath of the bitter impeachment fight Clinton called for the country to come together, while Trump’s East Room rant only served to further polarize and divide a fractured democracy.
Republican Senators saved Trump from the fate that the deserved: removal from office. It’s now up to the electorate to do the right thing and throw the vengeful racist out of office.
