Nathan got it right: it’s all about power. Right and wrong are so yesterday.

First, I think we here tag-team each other in this blog. Just when I was getting comfortable not writing. There wasn’t much I wanted to explore, or nothing that didn’t leave me looking for the whiskey. But then Nathan writes and I feel obliged to chime in.

Asshole. I was just getting comfy, too.

Anyway, yes, he’s right. This isn’t about what happened. We all know the big facts: Trump tried to shake down a foreign government for his personal advantage, then covered it up. And that wasn’t just acting outside our interests; Trump was working against American goals and benefiting Russia, our chief global opponent. Trump perfectly satisfied the dictionary definition of corruption: using official powers for personal gain.

For all that I complain, most Congresspeople aren’t idiots. (I reserve judgment for Louie Gohmert.) Nobody in the Senate is undecided about what Trump’s crimes. Every Republican already knows about every major claim. Nobody in either party believes that Trump was deeply concerned about Ukrainian corruption. We all know a shakedown when we see it written down on the page. And we all know Trump was scrambling to cover it up. This is a guy who violates the Presidential Records Act almost every day. Every professional politician knows who Trump is.

So let’s not pretend that there’s a mythical person on the cusp who’s just waiting for a few more arguments before they can make their decision.

It’s all about power: will the Republicans seize power? First, could the GOP critically break democratic protections? Sure. They’ve been moving that way for decades. They’re closer than you think. Just a few more votes and they won’t have to pretend anymore.

The big question is whether the American people will let the GOP succeed in making Trump into a dictator. It’s not like they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. The Senate Republicans aren’t looking for what’s right; they’re trying to gauge whether we’ll really make a fuss when they rig the trial. They’re only looking at polls now. It’s up to us. Will American’s lay down and let them?

Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that one. Many Americans seem indifferent to democratic principles.

There’s the first group of thugs and white supremacists wrapped in toxic masculinity. You know that vision of a diverse nation guided by common rights and governed by checks and balances? Feh! Only girly men spout that kind of noise. There’s always been a dedicated subset of Americans who lust for a strongman. They want a despot to smite their enemies (and anyone they find scary). They bellow that real, solid, manly American patriots always want a personal dictator to lift them up. That’s why they stockpile so many AR-15s. How else you gonna rise up to take what’s yours? Trump is their true avatar.

And there’s a second group of Americans who checked out. They only hear yelling and the Both-siderism nonsense. Noise, noise, and everyone is corrupt. They shut down and close the drapes in dispair. And that’s not an accident. That, too, is a successful Republican goal.

So we’re at a cusp. Do we live up to our liberal democratic ideals? I don’t know, but don’t pretend it won’t matter. The last time Trump wasn’t convicted was when the Mueller Report came out. That report listed the ways Trump and his administration had obstructed justice, and it showed how Trump’s campaign welcomed foreign interference, but it didn’t find him guilty of criminal conspiracy. Yoo-hoo! Close enough! And three days later, Trump decided to strong-arm the Ukrainian President-elect.

If we don’t push him back, Trump will accelerate his power grab. We know that because it’s what he’s done before. This is all about power. For now, we have the power. Try not to give away our democratic American heritage. It really matters.