Impeachment: A Badge of Hope or Shame?

 Article by Terry Paulson in "Townhall":

To the Left, irrespective of what happens in the Senate impeachment trial, they celebrate that President Trump will always have an asterisk of shame next to his name in the history books.

But their “badge of shame” is becoming to the other half of voters a “badge of hope.” Two citizens watching the coverage could give diametrically opposed assessments—“He’s obviously guilty!” and “This travesty ensures his victory!”

To Republicans, the Democrats’ impeachment effort is seen as a desperate act of politicians who know that their candidates cannot defeat Trump in the November election. It’s also an attempt to keep the media focused on impeachment instead of the deep state and FBI attempts to derail the Trump administration from the very beginning. But whatever the reasons, turning back their feeble impeachment-lite efforts to remove him is not something to be ashamed of.

To Trump’s supporters he’s an outsider, a street fighter, a businessman, an unashamed patriot, a nationalist, a hard-nosed negotiator, a take-no-prisoner leader, and a fighter for treasured conservative values and priorities. This can-do president has accomplished things no Republican president has done in decades.

In November, it will be the Democrats’ “abuse of power” in the impeachment process that will be the focus of countless Trump campaign ads. Those ads will be paid for by funds received from irate supporters enraged by the House Impeachment “inquiry” and House vote. Supporters see renewed hope for victory.

But the left’s failure to sustain his impeachment will not stop the Democrats’ attacks. To them, the Republican failure to vote for impeachment and the Senate’s refusal to convict will just be indications of how dysfunctional and irrational their “cult like” support of Trump truly is.

Bernie Sanders at a candidate rally in Maryland pretty much summed up the leftist view of this president. Donald Trump is the "most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history." Actor Robert DeNiro likes to call him an idiot, a low-life, a fascist, a man who has “debased and sullied the presidency.”

Different history books will be written on this president. But it is the victors who have a much greater likelihood of having their history books stand the test of time. If America continues its drift to socialism, Representatives Schiff and Nadler will play a key role in taking down socialism’s archenemy, Donald Trump.

If America continues to reaffirm and embrace our free-enterprise, capitalistic system, President Trump will go down as the president who put a stake through the heart of socialism and big government deep state bureaucrats. Schiff and Nadler will be but antagonist footnotes.

Is he America’s savior or destroyer? One of the best presidents or one of the worst? Do you believe Fox News or CNN’s perspective? It obviously depends upon who you ask, but more and more average Americans are turned off by the Democrats’ tactics.

Fortunately, the battles in Washington seem to be more interesting to those suffering from Potomac Fever and to media mavens who feed off of the daily political turmoil. Most citizens didn’t watch the House investigation coverage. Even less care about the current process coverage. Voters just like the economy and what it brings.

Extreme partisan views seem to be limited to the TV talk show exchanges and social media posts by only the most committed supporters from either side. It will be the independents in the Fall who will vote for the candidate who they feel best ensures their family’s future. With the improved economy and low unemployment, it is Trump’s election to lose.

If Trump wins, it will not mean civil war. The left will pull out their hair and shout “the sky is falling,” but most Americans are not as divided as pundits would have you believe.

In her book, Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now, Peggy Noonan writes: “What we need most right now, at this moment, is a kind of patriotic grace - a grace that takes the long view, apprehends the moment we're in, comes up with ways of dealing with it, and eschews the politically cheap and manipulative. That admits affection and respect. That encourages them. That acknowledges that the small things that divide us are not worthy of the moment; that agrees that the things that can be done to ease the stresses we feel as a nation should be encouraged, while those that encourage our cohesion as a nation should be supported.”

I think that “patriotic grace” is there for the taking. We shop together, work together, serve together, worship together, and seem to have no trouble keeping politics in its right perspective. America should not need a war or a terrorist attack to bring us together. At the deepest level, we remain one republic, one people. As we launch into 2020, let’s dial down the attacks and remember how blessed we are to be Americans with opportunities others just dream of. Let’s help President Trump keep expanding those opportunities for more and more Americans.

https://townhall.com/columnists/terrypaulson/2019/12/30/impeachment-a-badge-of-hope-or-shame-n2558552