Happy V Day could stand for Valentine’s Day or Victory. Today is Valentine’s Day 2021 and there is love everywhere. I have it in my heart for Melinda and Paul and my friends and family.
Did I tell you I celebrated my 88th Birthday last Saturday, the 6th of February? For several days my home was filled with bouquets of flowers and balloons and Birthday cards. In fact, I am still enjoying them. The one that says “I Love You” fits in perfectly today, Valentine’s Day. Melinda organized a Zoom Birthday celebration from two to three that afternoon with family and friends and it was a blast! We had a great time! And that evening we celebrated with my Birthday cake. (See photo) What a great opportunity it was to connect with friends and family all over the country. As I mentioned in my very first blog last year, zooming has brought a new dimension into our lives and I am grateful. There is no way that that many people would have appeared on my doorstep to celebrate my birthday. We all shared stories and would have shared cake but I couldn’t get it through my computer. What a great Birthday!!
And now to the V for Victory. We had a weeklong Senate trial for the impeachment of donald trump. (He will always be small print for me). The House Managers, led by the brilliant Congressman and Law Professor Jamie Raskin prepared and presented a coherent presentation of the time donald set the date for the mob to congregate to the actual day they listened to speeches to incite them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Once there, on January 6, 2021, they stormed the Capitol looking for members of Congress and the Vice President who were there to peacefully transfer power from one Administration to the new one by certifying the electoral college count. As it turned out, it became a bloody day. There was injury, death, ransacking of offices, total disrespect of the Capitol by this mob of insurgents who were named domestic terrorists. Finally, the National Guard was called in and quelled the disaster. But during this time, donald trump just watched with glee on television. That coupled with his denial that Joe Biden won the election fair and square was the reason for the impeachment procedure which the House had voted for previously.
As I said, the Senate trial went on for a week. The House Managers proved their case with witnesses shown on the numerous videos. The Defense team did not. The vote was called for. The final vote was 57 for indictment and 43 against the indictment for trump. That is why I call it a victory. But because two thirds of the Senate had to vote for indictment and the need for 67 votes to indict was not there, trump was declared not indicted. Many of the Republicans thought he was guilty but could not vote that way for fear for their political futures. They put party above county. They have been called “cowards”. And the biggest coward of them all is Mitch McConnell. He voted “no” but then gave a speech how he felt trump was indeed guilty but let him off because of a small legal technicality.
So I say it was a VICTORY. It certainly is in the eyes of the public.
