By now most Americans know that our 45th President, Donald Trump, is undergoing an impeachment trial. President Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to dig up damaging information on one of his main Democratic challengers for the presidency in 2020, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter. There is substantial evidence that corroborates the accusations against Trump, but I suspect several lawmakers who will play a pivotal role in deciding the fate of his presidency will not be authentic and won’t take this seriously. Some of them have conveniently turned a blind eye to these accusations because it benefits their own political interests. In other words, their team is winning and they want it to stay that way. A prominent member of Fox News, Shepard Smith, left a lucrative 15 million dollar a year job stating “Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will survive”. Fox News has been a pseudo, public relations firm for Donald Trump and Smith had had enough of sugarcoating the truth.
Now I realize I reside in the Houston, Texas area and these thoughts are blasphemous here, but I’m not Mike Fiers, the whistleblower of the Astros cheating scandal, so I think I’ll be okay. Though from a truly objective viewpoint it is really hard to look at their World Series championship in 2017 and not feel a little awkward about the recently discovered cheating scandal. I am an avid Carolina Panthers fan and I felt upset about “Spygate” involving the New England Patriots. They won back to back Super Bowls against the Panthers and Rams at the buzzer by Adam Vinatieri field goals. If those games were a blowout, it would have been easier to accept because that team was just that much better, but they weren’t. One team broke the rules and won the game by the slimmest of margins. Who knows how the outcomes may have changed? People in the media have repeatedly criticized Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, a multiple time Cy Young winner for not being able to bring home a championship to LA. He is what they call in sports, when a big time regular season performer doesn’t get it done in the playoffs, a “choker”. His Dodger team went toe to toe with the Astros losing a tight series 4-3. Without the illegal technological advantage utilized by the Astros, the may Dodgers very well have won that World Series. The same is true for the World Series the following year against the Boston Red Sox, who’s manger Alex Cora was an assistant on the Astros and was said to be the orchestrator of the elaborate scheme used to help their hitters. This could have changed the narrative about Kershaw and the current iteration of the Dodgers immensely. I get it though, the people here in Houston suffered enough in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast and left the area in chaos. The Astros became like a sunshiny day after days of torrential rain. They boosted the morale for many people who had to regroup and pickup the pieces and start their lives all over again. With that being the case most Astros fans have become dismissive about this scandal and chalk it up to senseless minutia. It is also true that the players still had to execute in order to win, but that still doesn’t justify a plausible reason to deceive fans and opposing players that the playing field was equal when it wasn’t. You or I could get the same advantages at bat and be left swinging at air, that proves it does take some skill to execute but it still should take away some of the pride and satisfaction in knowing that the hadn’t earned the top prize honorably. Unfortunately, there are now seeds of doubt. There’s the saying “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying”. Is that what you tell your kids? That’s not God’s best though. It sets a poor example. Baseball is a sport that many parents introduce to young, impressionable kids. What we allow we also teach. Is this what we want to teach the youth of America? I pray to God, not.
Which brings me back to this impeachment trial of President Trump. Imagine us Americans, all as one team, one entity. Unfortunately, we only see that side of America during times of anguish and torment. We are made up of men and women from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, etc., but in the political arena it’s primarily Democrats (aka The Left, aka liberals, aka the blue side), versus the Republicans (aka the Right, aka conservatives, aka the red side). Despite our inherent differences we all want essentially the same things in life, the methodology or approach to get there is the only difference. Maybe I’m not being totally objective here but I have a problem supporting a person like Donald Trump who belittles any one not like him. A person who claims he fights for all Americans, but instead fights for only the states he needs to win to be elected. He caters to his base. He is slow to call out White Nationalist hate groups, and called NFL football players SOBs. He is misogynistic, egotistic, and acts as though he is above the rules and laws that all Americans are subjected too. Thus far he has been bulletproof because his constituents continue to allow him to operate in such an unruly manner. He is a political vigilante. Never mind the fact he doesn’t have the decorum befitting a President, but its frustrating when politicians and Trump supporters try to pretend that he is genuinely sincere in fulfilling his role as President of the United States. His supporters are right though, we the American taxpayer are wasting millions with this impeachment trial. Why? Because Trump allies benefit from being associated with him. Ted Cruz was insulted by Trump during the Republican Primary in 2016. Trump called him “lying Ted” and also teased him about his wife’s looks, but that didn’t stop Ole’ Ted from reaching out to get an endorsement from Trump in 2018 while taking on challenger Beto O’Rourke for his senate seat. I guess some people lose their dignity when it comes to winning a race or a contest. That’s a feeble minded attitude. It’s also laughable to see a senator like Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy care more about a football game than how careless and irresponsible this president behaves in regards to our National Security, https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/01/saints-blown-call-senator-cassidy-super-bowl-shutdown . The Bible states in James 4:17, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Consciously knowing something is wrong and not addressing it, is wrong. Would Obama be afforded the same excuses if he committed these acts Trump is accused of by a majority Republican Senate? I highly doubt it. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-rip-obama-praise-trump_n_5d19bd3ae4b082e5536bcfb3.
We must insist on getting real accountability when dealing with our political leaders. They are our decision makers and we are at their mercy to make the right decisions for us as citizens. Just like the Astros, bending the rules to benefit you, your political party, or your team at the expense of human decency and integrity is akin to being morally destitute. Is this something to take pride in? Ask yourself, why have so many employees filtered in and out of the Trump Administration? Good organizations are stable, they have great employee retention rates, their employees want to work for them. This is the antithesis of the Trump Administration. People leave and tell how dysfunctional Trump and his White House Administration really is, but just like a cult leader he can do no wrong. It is almost like he is idolized like the Golden Calf. The way I see it, Trump will survive this time around. Will he survive in November?
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