11 June—Full disclosure: For his lifetime of criminality that has hitherto gone unpunished, Donald Trump should be indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to life without parole in some ghastly oubliette where the sun don’t shine and cellphones don’t work.

But Thursday night’s subtly scripted semi-reality congressional TV show had nothing to do with bringing der Drecksack Führer to justice. In the first place, it couldn’t. That would be up to the Department of Justice, as well as the legal eagles of the various venues where Trump perpetrated his colossal iconic cons.

In the second place, it wasn’t intended to. Not at all. Despite what the pols behind the professionally staged dog and pony show may claim, the real—and only—purpose of the hearing purported to be about the 6 January 2021 Capitol invasion was to brainwash voters. Isn’t that what politicians do?

Certainly, it’s painful to observe that Donald Trump has been and still is able to mesmerize so many benighted Republicans in and out of office. The whole world knows he’s even more of a con man and out-and-out crook than most politicians, as well as just about everything else that normal people consider reprehensible and unacceptable in people other than Trump.

But Democrats in and out of Congress have been doing a god-awful job wiping the floor with Trump from the time he threw his hat in the ring seven years ago, despite his being the perfect mop. That speaks volumes about the Democrats’ legendary and inescapable ineptitude and impotence.

Thus, it’s expected that, through no fault of their own, Republicans will reclaim both houses of Congress this fall. That, of course, would be to Trump’s advantage, since his gutless but guileful congressional sycophants are certain to come to their messiah’s rescue. Needless to say, the Democrats can’t allow that to happen.

So the Democrats have finally got to pull their fingers out and make up for all the time they’ve wasted. They need at least to actually convict Trump of whatever crimes they can muster without delay in a way that can’t be reversed or annulled by the Republicans when they regain control.

Rushing prosecutions is never a good idea. But, given everything about Trump and his cons, shouldn’t Attorney General Merrick Garland’s DOJ whiz kids have been able to stick some substantive criminality on Trump by now? Considering the Democrats’ history of dillydallying, however, (as well as their ineptitude and impotence, of course) that’s never going to happen.

On the other hand, on Election Day, the voters will have to decide between punishing Donald Trump or punishing America. That’s the dilemma the congressional show trial is intended to create for the swing-voting part of the electorate. Is it more important to allow the Democrats to keep a majority at least in the House of Representatives so that Donald Trump will finally get his just desserts? Or is it more important to get rid of the Democrats before they can do more damage than they’ve already done to the economy and everything else?

The DDOJ (Democrat Department of Justice) is there as long as a Democrat is in the White House and Democrats occupy at least 50 seats in the Senate. Don’t expect an RDOJ (guess what the R stands for) to finish what the DDOJ couldn’t—about anything, let alone prosecuting a former RPOTUS, even if he should fall from grace.

On the third hand, it’s obvious that I really want to see Donald Trump punished for his evil, unrepentant life. But, all things considered, I’m not convinced that he can or should be held directly responsible for what happened on 6 January 2021. Even Congressman Bennie Thompson, the manager of the show trial, said that Trump simply “did not act responsibly.”

Truth be told, Trump never acted responsibly during his whole time in the White House. Or probably ever. But is that in itself a crime? The rioters (or insurrectionists, if you prefer) whose interviews were played at the hearing claimed that although Trump hadn’t specifically told them to resort to violence and mayhem to keep him in office, they inferred as much; they felt (since they’re obviously incapable of rational thought) they simply had to do it because their Führer had possibly suggested as much. But he didn’t actually tell them to do it.

Donald Trump is a narcissistic, paranoid sociopath. Thus, after the election, it’s not unlikely he really believed he had won or would have won had there not been massive voter fraud. So if ever he were to come to trial for instigating the 6 January riot, he could with some justification plead temporary insanity.

In the good old days that meant Trump would be confined to a ghastly oubliette where the sun don’t shine and cellphones don’t work . . .