Thread by @mhbx

When you boil Trump (& the consequent Trumpism) down to its essentials at root it is Lying.
Trump has made a life of being a liar.
It is "Trump Rule#1" expressed years ago "Trump is a liar. He does not simply tell lies, he IS a liar. Thus what he does is quintessentially a lie".

Now we are embroiled in an impeachment trial, the consequence of the ultimate Donald Trump lie.
That he won the election.

This is so fundamental a lie, that when pressed, as Trump has done, & married to a demagoguery, as he had utilized to enflame his believers, you get

what we got. A mob. Playing at an insurrection.

All because of a Lie. Propounded by a liar.

Here then is the first brick in the edifice that is the newly submerged & subjugated Republican Party:

Renounce the Founding Lie.

If they will not, then nothing else matters.

The impeachment trial itself is become a farce, not for the lack of an impenetrable prosecution case.
But by the dint and opportunity allowed the structure of the impeachment process, to avoid all and any facts by the simple tactic of embracing, and advancing, a lie.

The Republicans as a Party have subordinated themselves to a Lie.
The Republicans as a Party have accepted as their functional premise for governance and leadership a Liar.

Until these cornerstones of what unifies the Republicans, devoted to their party, and not the country,

there is no chance, nor opportunity for anything like healing, unity or moving on.

You cannot unite with a lie. Or a liar at this level.

Practically, the Senate should be made to declare a simple fact: Trump Lost The Election.

Assert this premise, and displace the current functional premise of all the resistance that energizes the Republican Party, and the work can begin.

Until then, all the facts in the world are categorically dismissed as irrelevant.

The reason this is possible to be done with

a straight face is because of these very different foundational ideas & principles the opposing sides are predicated upon.

To support & accept Trump & his defense you have to be willing to adopt the Lie as axiomatic premise.
Do that, and you can sit and read the paper while the

prosecution wears itself out amassing all the facts & details, presenting their case... None of it makes the slightest of difference to you, as a Senator... or as a Trumper... you have the lie to protect you from any intrusion of fact or consequence.

And lies of this magnitude and consequence can ripple through a society for a long time, doing immense damage. As we see.

But we have not come to the end of it yet.

If this lie, and this liar, is allowed to continue, unchecked, it will be tantamount to validating the

lie and the liar as a working truth.

This does not disturb those who profit from the lie.

It is said that the reason so many Republican Senators are afraid to vote as they would if the vote were private is because
a) they are afraid of the trumpian mob/backlash. A threat to

their lives.
This is not an idle fear, as has been demonstrated many times. Trump, and his brownshirts, are quite willing to use threats, and acts, of violence to intimidate. (this should be part of the larger impeachment of Trump, but like so much, has to be left off)

b) They want to retain the base for their own electoral needs.
c) They need to remain in good standing with the Party.
It is clear that any deviation from this partisan line comes w swift consequences. Far more swift than opposing the dissolution of the republic by Trump & his

orcs, they will instantly gather to sanction, silence, destroy anyone who dares to speak anything other than the Party line. Cheney, AZ GOP, Cassidy, Sasse, Romney all have faced bitter opposition by their party apperatus.
It is hard to stand up against that.

and etc.

For these reasons, and more, the votes the Republican Senators will take is not about the matter at hand.
The vote is not, in fact, about the doings of Trump and the consequent insurrection, trying to invalidate an election, and trying to retain power by

promulgating a Gobbels level "Big Lie".

They are voting for the lie.
They will instantiate the lie as the new founding fact of the Republican Party.

It is for this reason there is no ability to have a rational conversation or debate with Trumpian sotted believers, or rulers.
The discussion is not happening in the context of trying to work out ideas & compromises around complex issues that have multiple angles & considerations

The issues are being held in the larger context of a lie.
It makes discussion any given detail or issue difficult, because in the end one side is devoted to the Lie.
Anything, and that means Any-thing, that would even threaten to expose & undermine the Lie has to be

a priori, rejected.
It is simple Machiavellian principles of survival & power.

Break the back of the Lie. First.
Then the matrix of Lies that the chief Liar has inculcated in the system, and the Repubican's have sworn to defend.
Then you can get to the Liar himself.

And if that can happen,
we might be able to save the country.

It does not seem it will happen in this battle that is the Impeachment Trial.

But convicting Trump was never going to happen.
Not with these acolytes.

What is important about this trial, and the one before is

to establish the record of fact.

There will be a time where this lie, like all lies, will lose its power to coalesce a group of believers.
Even this one.

What has to be done now is establish the record, so that when the foggery is lifted, and the dark incentives to sustain

the lie diminish, there is a clear record of fact that can be cited and appealed to to find our way back.

We'll see.

Our history is not overly encouraging along these lines.
But maybe the time has come.

But first.
No more lying.
Or liars.