Trump’s second impeachment in the House has been accomplished. I can’t pretend I’m not happy. In fact, I believe justice has been done. What came to mind this morning as I listened to the House debate, was the song, “It’s Too Late,” by Carole King. As one of the lines goes, “One of us is changing, or maybe we’ve just stopped trying.” In the end, leaving is never easy. It just requires a firm decision by one of the partners to pull the proverbial plug.

Not long ago, a woman I know ended a bad marriage – one that had gone on for too long. After years of neglect and abuse, she met someone who loved and valued her, and offered her a chance at happiness. So, she got a divorce and remarried. For her ex, it was “too late, baby.” I liken her story to the situation many Conservative lawmakers are now confronting. If they have indeed come that far.

While the House of Representative had sufficient votes for this unprecedented move – impeaching a president for a second time – some representatives, and even more senators, are still living in an alternate reality. One shaped by a delusional president – and I think my readers will allow that assumption. Disregarding the embarrassing relationship of convenience Conservatives have maintained with Trump for the past four years, they now say that impeachment will further divide the nation. They insist that now is the time to come together and heal. (Que the violins.)

Enabling a dysfunctional partner, as any wife or husband of an alcoholic can tell you, only creates a toxic relationship. Yet the habit of ignoring the elephant in the room has warped the thinking of many Conservative lawmakers. They have set aside their own deeply held beliefs to jibe with Trump’s damaging rhetoric and deluded thinking. I’m especially  sad about the Evangelicals who’ve abandoned Christ’s teachings for Trump’s selfish demands. Still, reality continues to elude many of the president’s faithful, even after the abuse, the lies, the race-baiting, the self-centered behavior, ad infinitum. For many of Trump’s followers, coming out of denial – having that “come to Jesus meeting,” has yet to occur.

Why wasn’t there a call for unity earlier, when most of the country was convulsed by Trump’s claims of election fraud and his insane manipulations to overturn the vote? For that matter, where were they every time he sowed seeds of hate? Why didn’t his enablers call off their relationship then? Is it not ironic that today, a day of reckoning, they’re asking for all that to be overlooked, forgiven? Excuse me, but I did not hear repentance spilling from their lips. Only the wish to jump from A to Z – forgetting all that has happened in between. In the end, a paltry ten Republicans voted to impeach.

The Conservative argument about last summer’s BLM protests relies on “whataboutism,” and is very disappointing. Yes, there was violence, property damage, even death. But I will wager that no one participating in those demonstrations, however violent they may have been, was organizing to overthrow the United States government. Isn’t that what’s on the table right now? The accusation of inciting insurrection?

As with the young woman at the start of my post, these elected men and women could have spoken out long ago. They could have stopped being enablers and removed their heads from the sand. However, I applaud those who are doing so, even at this late date. But Republicans need to remember something: unity is not about glossing over the pain caused by Mr. Trump and his sycophants, and simply moving on. It’s about showing empathy for the pain and suffering he caused, and listening to the damage reports. It’s about saying, “I hear you, and I’m sorry.” It’s about owning prejudiced thinking and correcting it. In the end, unity means showing respect for diverse views and then finding common ground. With some people, unfortunately, finding unity is impossible. They refuse to learn and grow. Yet it only takes one person, one partner in a relationship, to find their voice, and say, “It’s too late baby, now, it’s too late.”  FFG