Staying positive is certainly an uphill fight these days. Our House Democrats have presented a

[Atticus]

clear "slam dunk" case for the impeachment of Donald Trump and yet, his acquittal by the complicit Republican majority in the Senate is a foregone conclusion.

Mitch McConnell had openly admitted that he'll be handling the impeachment trial the way he and Trump agree it should be handled. So much for that oath he'll take to be "impartial" and consider the evidence.

William Barr has dropped all pretense of being Attorney General of the United States and has settled into his role as "Trump's Roy Cohn". Actually, he is worse than Cohn as I don't recall Cohn ever cloaking his hypocrisy and immorality in religiosity.

And, over the past several days, we have all been treated to the snarls and squeals and snottiness of the likes of Collins and Gohmert and Jordan and Gaetz and---the list is too long and I'm sure you know most of them.

In view of all the above, the temptation to throw up your hands in disgust and walk away from the fray is ever-present. I have given in to this temptation several times myself, but my surrender has never lasted more than 24 hours. I just can't shake my abiding belief that there are more good people than bad and that love, tolerance and honesty will prevail over hate, bigotry and mendacity.

And, of course,there is that ringing quote of Dr. King: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

We must "endeavor to persevere."

[TwilightZone]

1. His acquittal was always a foregone conclusion.

We didn't pursue impeachment because we thought it would be successful at removal. We pursued impeachment to further expose Trump's deplorable behavior to the masses, hoping to convince enough of them to dump him in 2020.

Getting rid of Trump is, and always was, about November 2020. None of the other options being tossed about (25th amendment, etc.) were ever terribly realistic.

I know it's difficult, but try not to be frustrated with something that was never going to happen. The goal, as it always was, is to get more of us to the polls than the other guys.

[ooky]

2. To me, all that mattered were the actual witnesses.

They nailed him for what he did and left zero doubt he needs to go. I didn't need to hear one more thing from anybody after that.

[Hoyt]

3. Sadly, the most recent polls appear to indicate less than 50% of voters favor impeachment.

Not much can be done with that unless people wake up. If 65% or so favored removal, it would happen.