Hi, I'm Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That's Life, I Swear

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been glued to my tv watching the Jan. 6th committee meetings. Viewing the timeline of happenings stitched together methodically, showing events leading up to and after the Jan 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol, left me with one thought that makes me sick to my stomach. After hearing what's been presented thus far, we sit here and listen to the experts say, is there enough here to prosecute Mr. Trump. Is there enough!? Even if there is, should we indict Mr. Trump?

Let's jump into this.

Let me to cut to the chase, and sorry, but it has to be said. What has been presented, and even more so after hearing Cassidy Hutchinson's recent testimony on Mr. Trump's antics on Jan. 6th, he unequivocally demonstrates that he is not only unfit to be the President of the United States, but he's unfit as a human being. 

I just had to get that off my chest. The prosecution of Mr. Trump is not only legitimate but a must for the sake of our country and American democracy. To not do anything would be leaving a playbook for the next knucklehead type Trump, on how to upend our country and get away with it.

This country must wake up at how close we came to losing our democracy and country. And for what!? Because of a little six-year-old stuck in a seventy-six-year-old, who didn't get his sucker because he lost the Presidency. As the Rolling Stones said, Donald, you don't always get what you want.

What has been reflected in the hearings displayed an individual who thought he was an emperor, telling the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and The U.S. Constitution as if they were candidates on the Apprentice, hey, you're all fired!

It was chilling to hear the pressure that Trump and his team, brought against at least 31 state and local officials in states he lost, like Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. In true Don Vito Corleone godfather style, Trump and/or his chumps, twisted the arm of everyone from top personnel at the U.S. Department of Justice to lower-level election workers.

Please take a moment to let that picture sink in if you will. This is something you would think you only see in movies, but no, this actually happened!

Before the committee took a two-week break, to return on or about July 12th, there was one more meeting where a former White House aide for the Trump White House, a Miss Cassidy Hutchinson, presented testimony that was, shall I say, a bombshell. 

Her testimony provided insight on what took place on Jan 6th, but also put Mr. Trump's psyche into sharp perspective. What she shared shouldn't have been a surprise to many, but it was shocking nevertheless.

Miss Hutchinson shared some of Trump's bizarre behavior during his term as the President. For example, incidents of Trump throwing dishes against the wall in the White House, if he received news that was unpleasing to him. Another incident where she heard Trump say, during the Jan 6th gathering at the Ellipse, that he didn't care if the crowd were armed. As he put it, 'they weren't here to harm him'. Which begs the question, then who was the armed crowd going to harm? 

Miss Hutchinson, in closing, shared when Trump thought he would be taken to the Capitol with his armed crowd, only to told by the Secret Servce told it was too dangerous and they had to go directly back to the White House. When Trump heard this, he reached for the car wheel, and when told to let go of the wheel, he turned around with his free hand and lunched at the Secret Service agent’s throat. 

With regards to the car incident, that testimony is now in dispute, and the secret service agents in the car with Trump, want to clear the record. Both agents did confirm, that Trump was very angry he couldn't have his way.

After the last six Jan 6th committee meetings, one would think and hope, that the Attorney General of the United State, Merrick Garland, has a pretty good list of evidence to indict Trump.  A blind person can see what Trump almost got away with. We were within hours of our country being tossed upside down because of him. 

If not but for a few individuals, Trump may have indeed placed a crown on his feeble head on Jan. 6th and tell American democracy, I’m done with you.

We’re months away from candidates announcing their intention to run for President in 2024. Knowing that Trump is still out there, free as a bird, should scare us. If you think he won’t run again, even if the odds are stacked against it, you’re kidding yourselves. 

This clown will run out of spite and what worries me is if he pulls it off and wins! What worries me even more is if he loses. Should he lose are we instore for another assault on the U.S. Capitol, only this time a lot uglier.

And here is where we hit a bump in the road with these proceedings. A line has been drawn in the sand where some question, even after insurmountable evidence has been brought to light against Trump, that if prosecuted and convicted, would this country support or tolerate, seeing a former President in cuffs with an orange jumpsuit, even though it would match Trump’s face; be placed behind bars?

The risk of not doing anything at all to punish Trump is beyond rational thinking. 

We worry about the country’s reaction if we conclude the Jan. 6th Committee proceedings with nothing done either way. We’re walking on egg shells trying not to disrupt country, and yet we have Trump laughing thinking he can’t be touched.

He didn’t care when he encouraged his followers to storm the U.S. Capitol. As evidence shows, Trump wanted to march with the crowd. I‘m not a lawyer, but that looks like ‘intent’ to me.   

At Trump’s rally’s these days, he continues with the same rhetoric about the witch hunt and how he wants to save our country. The only thing he cares about and always will, is himself and his inflated ego, and nothing more. 

On the flip side of this coin is the public seeing perhaps, for the first time in U.S. history, a former President facing real jail time. The result of this could lead to a Democratic presidency facing a similar fate, if only as a means for the Republicans to get their pound of flesh. 

These types of scenarios could start planting seeds of discontent with the American public and a slow deterioration of the American foundation we have today. Our political system could end up becoming a free for all, which is a scenario no one wants to see unfold.

It’s as if we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Or is it? 

The pile of ‘what if’ scenarios grow. I think about what Yogi Berra once say, "When you come to a fork in the road.... take it."

Suffice to say, if we do nothing at all to Trump, at least throw the country a bone by prosecuting individuals such as John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani. These were two key players who drummed up phony claims of fraud one after another and fabricated unsound legal theories to say the election was rigged; thus the results of the 2020 election should be overturned.  

But, back to Mr. Trump. 

We’re entering new territory, but here we are. What’s so disturbing is that what’s facing this country is not a movie, its real. If we are to set an example, a justified example, then Trump needs to be the example. He needs to be that example to future want to be kings or dictators, who think that if they can’t get elected, they feel privileged to do it the hard way, and take it by an insurrection against the United States.

To do nothing would be caving into anarchy and telling those who choose to steal the vote, that it’s ok, these things will happen, and we must do this again soon. Yes, to do nothing will send a terrible message for the future.

Ok, so no jail time, but at least take away his government pension, his Secret Service protection, anything that tells him, he’s nothing away from what he did, without some form of punishment.

Besides Miss Hutchinson shocking revelations, please take into account what Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia, who testified about pressure from the Trump team. He described a direct phone call from the then sitting President spurring him to “find” 11,780 votes to flip Georgia from Mr. Biden to Mr. Trump. 

One has to wonder what would’ve happened had Mr. Raffensperger sided with Trump. 

To put a finer point in what has been presented thus far in these hearings, is when after hearing one example after another, of people telling Mr. Trump that he lost the election, there was no evidence of fraud found anywhere, after approximately sixty courts threw out all of the conspiracy arguments; Trump still wouldn’t relent.  

How could one not be stunned to hear Trump say to his team, “Just say the election was corrupt” and “leave the rest to me” and the Republican congressmen. The President even talked about having the federal government seize voting machines, perhaps in an attempt to rerun the election.

I mean you just can’t make this stuff up! Trump knew he lost but took advantage of his team's weakness and fear of him to stop the madness from moving forward with his big lie.

What can we learn from this? What’s the take away?

The clock is ticking and with every minute going by that we don’t hear from the Attorney General of the United States, that Mr. Trump needs to face the music of prosecution, the more embolden Trump will become. 

Ironically, as I write this episode transcript, I read in the New York Times, that Trump ‘is’ considering announcing an early bid to enter the 2024 Presidential election. If he does, his announcement will only serve to draw attention away from what is being revealed during the Jan. 6th Committee. 

When he may make that announcement, remains to be determined. So typical of Trump, playing the marketing theatrics to build up emotion with his base. Guessing when he does announce his grand plan, he’ll do it via his social media app, Truth Social.

While celebrating the recent Fourth of July with friends during a BBQ, drinking beers and eating hog dogs, I thought about the state of our democracy at this moment in time. 

Watching the fireworks go off in the sky, I couldn’t help but think of what Representative Adam Schiff, a member of the committee, shared in his closing comments and that was, the country “barely” survived Mr. Trump’s attempt at election subversion, which could have worked despite the legal and factual weaknesses in the fraud claims. 

Please let those worlds swirl in your head and then think about the possibility of Trump running again for the presidency. Should he win or lose, we’re in for one hell of a ride.

Well, there you go. That’s life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website that you can find on either Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned, and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening. 

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