"The Circus Is Coming to Town"

Mr. Trump tweeted yesterday:  “The circus is coming to town.  The corrupt, compromised, coward & congenital liar Adam Schiff Show on Capital Hill, brought to you by his raging psychotic Democrats & the top allies in the Media Mob.  Everything you’re going to see in the next two weeks is rigged….”

Forty-six years ago on November 17, 1973, Richard Nixon at a televised press conference in Orlando, Florida said, “And I want to say this to the television audience.  I made my mistakes.  But in all my years of public life, I have never profited—never profited from public service.  I’ve earned every cent.  And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice…because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.  Well, I’m not a crook.  I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”

Twenty-one years ago, January 26, 1998,  the 42nd US president, Bill Clinton, said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” and then went on to say, “I never told anybody to lie, not a single time.  Never.  These allegations are false and I need to go back to work for the American people.”

Yes, Mr. Trump, “The circus is coming to town…” AGAIN.  Most of the time, the public relishes the coming of a circus to town, but not this kind of circus.  We could do without it.  We could have done without the previous circuses.  But the circus today, as with the previous ones, is happening because there appears to be “something going on” that requires scrutiny, in spite of all the protestations, the bashing of others, and the cries of innocence from the Oval Office.  

The People’s House is doing its job, one of its exclusive tasks, mandated by the US Constitution, which is to initiate impeachment proceedings when evidence deems such as necessary.  No matter how the hearings go, no matter what the outcome, the People’s House is doing its job, just as it did back in the Watergate days and in the impeachment proceedings of William Jefferson Clinton.  Call it a “circus” if you like, but it is an essential part of the  “oversight” responsibility of Congress and of a government for, by, and of the people.  To suggest that the People’s House and the People’s representatives are corrupt, cowardly, compromised, psychotic and congenital liars shows a contempt for the very Constitution, both houses of congress, both parties, and the president have pledged to support and defend.  That very attitude, publicly proclaimed would seem to me to be “the obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.”