This recent opinion piece predicts that Trump will resign for a deal that shields him and his criminal empire (a.k.a. his family) from prosecution.
Not good enough!
In previous comments I had stated that the Democrats in congress should not waste their time trying to impeach Trump but should rather focus on a bold new agenda of progressive issues to set the stage for the 2020 elections. Better to make the conversation about election reform, health care and education for all, a real living wage, etc, then about Trump. I still think they should take this strategy, but at the same time they need to do everything they can to make sure Trump ends up in jail.
I am now of the opinion that any scenario that does not involve Trump going to prison will leave this country severely compromised. It must be made very clear to future charlatans that our government cannot be hijacked. Yes Trump fooled some of the people, but he did not fool all of the people.
This means that we cannot tolerate Pence taking office and issuing a pardon as Ford did for Nixon. Nixon may have been a crook, but all he did was play dirty politics and try to cover it up. Trump's crimes are on a exponentially higher level. Even if it cannot be proved that he colluded with the Russians his actions should be considered treasonous. By placing the absolute worst people in the highest positions of government he has proven that his goal is to completely destroy the power and effectiveness of government and replace it with corporate entities. Not only has he used the office for personal profit but he has systematically been making sure that taxpayer money will be siphoned off to the richest corporations long after he is gone (unless all of his actions can be undone.) Pulling out of the international climate change agreement itself should be considered a treasonous act as it could easily be a death sentence for millions of Americans.
Rather than impeachment followed by a Pence pardon I would rather see Trump serve out his remaining two years while embroiled in lawsuits and kept in check by congress. With Republicans still in control of the Senate not much is going to happen legislatively anyhow. Better to set the stage for 2020 by shifting the conversation to real progressive issues, and making it crystal clear that the United States of America will not tolerate would be dictators and self serving con men.
