What IF: No Collusion

The Omnivore was asked if he would be okay if, in the final analysis, Mueller finds no evidence of "collusion" with the Russians--just illegal felony campaign payoffs to mistresses? Would The Omnivore be okay with impeachment and removal--just for that?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: If The Omnivore were somehow "in charge" of the proceedings The Omnivore's preference would be as follows:

1. Trump is indicted for felony campaign law violations
2. Trump loses in 2020
3. Trump goes to prison for  a few years for said campaign-finance violations

How Come?

Why is this the case? Well, we certainly do not want politicians of all stripes paying off witnesses to cover up things they have done. For the Trumpaloos the idea that Trump is a bad person is baked in (they believe he is somehow "not bad" despite doing all kinds of things they would not want done to them). For everyone else, though, if Obama pays off his partners in taking advantage of people we would want to know.

Same with Trump pursuing deals with the Russians during and up to the general election--it's not illegal--but The Omnivore believes we can all agree it's the sort of thing we should know about a candidate.

So--those laws are there for a reason--Trump violated them--he can do the time. 

That Said, Though

Removing a sitting president is playing bumper-cars with our nation. To be sure: Trump is doing a ton of damage right now but we don't want to needlessly enhance that. Remember that acts of party succession are the specific thing that America does better than almost anyone else historically. We are able to move from a Republican to a Democratic administration without wrecking the country.

That is endangered if we remove him.

So The Omnivore would prefer the system to play out.

Of Course If There IS Collusion . . . .

Rightly said, this is actually conspiracy and it looks like it's pretty clear the Trump team came, at least, right up the line if not over it. If there IS evidence they crossed the line then we have to remove Trump and his crew from office. We have no choice--violence be damned.

And The Omnivore thinks this is still quite possible--even probable--given what we've seen from Mueller recently. 

So this may all be moot, ultimately.

The Other Side Of The Coin

The real question is: "What do we do if there is evidence that Trump / Trump's people worked with Russia [ on something ]"--but the GOP Senate declines to remove him? What then? Well, that's pretty likely, really. Unless there is tape of Trump colluding (and there likely is not--and, even then . . .) the investigation will be spun as a purely partisan witch hunt.

This is, of course, projection--the Republicans in power know they are purely partisan and their constituents believe all kinds of false things--so they assume the same must be true on the other side. If Trump did collude there is no choice but to impeach him--it is something the House has to do (that the GOP House would not do it was integral to their stunning defeat in the midterms).

But what do we do then?

The Omnivore doesn't have a good answer for that. There isn't one--it's a constitutional crisis and there is no good solution for it.