The House Divided: By Whom? Lincoln knew what endangered America: civil uprising. Enter Russia.

The Republican Party made its name by claiming to so hate communism that Ronald Reagan became the icon of his generation when he declared, “Tear this wall down” in Berlin. Well, the wall fell, as did the Soviet Union’s control over satellite states. With that Russia became a second rate power.

Enter Putin. Max Boot, whose family escaped the grips of communism, recently penned an excellent article spelling out, in great detail, the Putin led attack on United States, and his slow steady march into Ukraine. If you’ve missed this, I recommend reading his Washington Post essay dated December 4^th titled, “The Republicans have become the party of Russia. This makes me sick.”

The point I wish to make is that Putin has now compromised American government at its highest levels, from the President, to the Senate, and to the minority members of the House of Representatives. As of this writing, it is unclear whether the Supreme Court has also faced this incursion (the decision on appearing when subpoenas are ordered and the withholding of tax returns and presidential communications [i.e. the actual transcript of Trump’s phone call asking for ‘a favor’] will tell the American people where the Court stands on the version of an attempt at an imperial presidency.

Let’s be honest. Every United States investigative agency has confirmed it was the Russians that hacked into and interfered with the 2016 election. Those same agencies confirm that it is still going on right now. They confirm that the Ukraine not only had nothing to do with the elections, but, in fact, that is part of the Russian strategy—to convince some naïve politicians that “It wasn’t us…it was this weak democratically elected Ukrainian government is to blame!” It is a farce when you think about it.

And that is exactly my point. Far too many are not thinking about it—or even paying attention. Let’s test my theory: are people aware that even the loyal Republican Lindsey Graham admitted as much on December 3rd?  Graham said he is "’1,000% confident’ that Russia, not Ukraine, meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, breaking from President Donald Trump and others in his party who have pushed the discredited conspiracy theory.” CNN reported the widely spread headline from his mouth—not ‘fake news.’

My guess is that people don’t know, don’t care, and are too busy shopping for the holidays to realize what is being stolen from them as they click away on Amazon Prime. What is under attack? The vote of the people, by the people, for the people. That’s what.

Let’s connect the dots…again for those not paying attention. Mr. Trump in Helsinki in July 2016: "President Putin says it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be." However, the BBC reported that same day: “US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorized campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media.”

The impeachment of this president is not about his character flaws, his bankrupt businesses, his lawsuits, the woman whom he has assaulted—no; it is about one simple thing. He and his administration have allowed foreign interference in United States elections, and the fact that the minority of House Republicans are ignoring this and calling the investigation a “witchhunt’ and a “scam” is exactly what Mr. Putin would dream of—the great ‘Beacon of Freedom’ has been flickering.

I cannot imagine what Ronald Reagan would say now.

And what of the US Senate? Senator McConnell will have a trial and the results are pre-ordained. There is little chance that 67 senators will vote to impeach a Mr. Trump, who on live television, exclaims that China should investigate the Bidens. Fortunately, USA Today reported on 10/8/19, “China has reportedly rejected President Donald Trump's request to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, with officials saying the country doesn't want to get involved in U.S. domestic politics.” Isn’t that quaint. They will steal our patients, but they draw the line on our elections.

As for Russia, Mr. Trump before he became president, rallied his fans challenging “Russia, if you’re listening….” He hoped Putin would find Hilary’s emails [note: they didn’t.]

Oh, but the Professor Jonathan Turley, who testified before the House Committee as the lone opinion that there is just not enough evidence yet to impeach Mr. Trump. Turley felt that until witnesses, who Trump has banned from testifying [Pompeo, Bolton, Mulvaney] come before the House, then there is just not enough “first hand” evidence of guilt.*

Enter the Supreme Court. It could take over a year for this to be decided—if the Court ever compels them to testify due to “executive privilege” [which did not happen in Watergate]. Naturally, by then, another election would assaulted by foreign intervention.

And that is exactly the strategy of a “House Divided.” I pray that it never comes to that.

Post-script: This is the very same Professor Turley who thought there was enough evidence to impeach President Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky perjury. [Clinton was censured, not removed from office. A fitting result for a President who had improperly, immorally conducted himself, but did not break his oath of office.]