We're coming to the end of the effectiveness of the US Constitution.

[Eyeball_Kid]

While the House has locked in an impeachment vote that will be final within this month, the Senate will assure that Checks and Balances and separation of powers is dead. These two principles are the backbone of Constitutional governance. McConnell, the entire GOP, and Trumpy are hammering the final nails in the Constitutional coffin. McConnell will NOT permit a fair trial, as he publicly announced that he will coordinate everything in the trial with Trumpy.

We know that McConnell, the GOP leadership, and the Trumpy Administration are now taking orders from Putin, and are setting up Trumpy as Dictator (and NOT King). After the acquittal, Trumpy will be free to cheat on the 2020 election in any way he wishes, with no resistance from the Legislative Branch, and no objections from a notoriously slow and Trumpy-partial Judicial Branch.

We have to come to terms with all of this. We are seeing the US government, with some resistance from Democrats and independents (but not enough), convert to a system in which the President decides everything. That's the veritable definition of Dictator. We see (with the southern border cruelty to refugee victims) that it's Trumpy who decides who will suffer and die, and who will not. We see that there is no longer a Rule of Law for the leadership.

There is such a narrow path out of this that it's barely worth mentioning. A 2020 election is optional to a dictator who has all the means available to cheat on the election, with NO consequences. We know that Putin is telling the GOP what to do and how to do it. We must conclude that Russia has invaded the US government, and the US government has effectively surrendered.

If we have doubts about these trend lines and facts, we're certainly welcome to them. But we have to watch the coming events, and we'll see all of the above occurences unfold before our eyes. We'll all be in a state of disbelief. But it's coming, folks.

Believe me. I hope I'm wrong. But we're skating on ice that's getting impossibly thin.

[GusBob]

1. Yep One good thing about Trump

He has shown and effectively used the holes in the Constitution

The tragedy is: the founders put up measures to block this very thing, foreign intervention in our democracy. They were very concerned about an authoritarian monarchy.

The Constitution has failed us in this case.

Trump is now beholden to the GOP, and they are all Putins lil' subjects. The GOP, knowing his dirty little secrets can blackmail him from within, and Putin can continue to pull the strings from without

[mylightningtoo]

2. The Compass Always Points to Putin. It's a shame journalists...

and investigative reporters can't crack the Putin connection definitively. Reports based on "senior officials," "anonymous" sources, and pee tapes will never cut it in this environment.

The Supreme Court is the final check. I am most concerned about how it handles the subpoena cases. If the SC rules for Trump and against Congress and the State of NY in these cases, the SC will essentially crown Trump king.

[Nitram]

3. I share your concern, but it's too early to totally give up on it.

[UTUSN]

4. Lots of 18th Century stuff needs whittling off. But things aren't changed until they collapse.

[0rganism]

5. and collapse they will

we're headed into a whole new era of widespread human cruelty and suffering, no mistaking it now

[abqtommy]

6. The Constitution is still effective; it's the small minded unethical and immoral people in and

out of government that are the ineffective ones. These folks corrupt their oaths and all that they touch.
It will be a lot of work to uphold the Constitution but it'll be worth it.

[brush]

7. Changes are needed. Congress needs enforcement power for its subpoenas,...

the Senate majority leader's power to block legislation from the House and also his/her ability to totally control confirmation of federal judges needs to be reigned in and a clause needs to be added that a president is not above the law and can be indicted needs to be added.

[Eyeball_Kid]

10. Those are positive thoughts.

And they are always within the realm of possibilities.

[Binkie The Clown]

8. In recent history, the average constitution lasts 17 years.

The longest lived ones can last 150 or more years, but a constitution over 200 years old is like a human over 100 years old; rare, and, realistically, not long for this earth.

See: The Lifespan of Written Constitutions from the University of Chicago Law School.

[Garrett78]

9. Here's the conundrum:

We have a tyranny of the minority political system that is now virtually impossible to reform for the very reasons why it so desperately needs to be reformed.