and we come full circle.

I get lots of article feeds from multiple perspectives. This is due to my early support of Bernie Sanders. Many of those who were working in that cause are now putting up articles about Clinton that are sometimes fomented by right-wing sources (Breitbart and Daily Caller come to mind). I also get plenty of anti-Trump articles from my Librul friends. Some are useless, but some are worth reading. In case you’re wondering, I’m probably pulling the lever for Jill Stein. I’m in a state (NY) where the GOP would have to have a historic night to flip for Trump. I’m encouraging people in reliably blue states to do the same, by the way–California flipping to Trump is virtually impossible. Remember that under our hopelessly archaic ELECTORAL COLLEGE system, the majority vote can still go to the loser–Gore WON the popular vote but lost in the electoral college thanks to the GOP chicanery in Florida. My vote for Jill Stein is about making sure the Greens have enough votes (5% of total) to be a permanent part of the ballot. But I digress.

But here’s the thing. Besides the fact that we’re choosing between two horrible candidates for the highest office in the country, we’re choosing between two candidates who are involved (or will certainly be involved) in litigation that would lead to possible Impeachment proceedings. The particulars (extra Trump item added 10/9):

• Hillary Clinton is in the cross-hairs of Trey Gowdy’s committee (the one that did such a bang-up job on Benghazi). Gowdy has made it clear he’s coming after Clinton regardless of whether she becomes POTUS. He already tipped his hand when he went after James Comey for not recommending criminal charges on the use of her private server. Gowdy got Comey to say under oath that several statements Clinton made to Comey indicated that she had not been truthful (i.e., had committed perjury) when testifying to Congress. Remember that Bill Clinton wasn’t impeached for having sex–he was tried for lying about it. The only reason he wasn’t removed from office is that the GOP couldn’t get members to agree that lying about sex was a ‘high crime and misdemeanor’. Clinton was still disbarred for several years. If Hillary Clinton wins the election, there’s no reason to think Gowdy will give her a pass on this. 
• This is not the only hurdle facing Clinton. There’s an active investigation on whether the Clinton Foundation was in fact used as a way to filter money from foreign governments in a ‘pay for play’ arrangement. This is why the private server matters–if Clinton was using private means to communicate with foreign governments as a means to evade FOIA, that would count as racketeering under RICO.

•  Donald Trump is facing a civil trial over his Trump University scam. He is facing a determined prosecution team, and the accusation that the University was planned from the beginning as a criminal enterprise would probably raise the specter of impeachment for him should a court rule for the plaintiffs. Since millions of dollars are involved, and the plaintiffs are the Trump faithful, it’s hard to see how a guilty verdict wouldn’t qualify under that pesky RICO act clause for a ‘high crime and misdemeanor’. If Trump WERE impeached, Mike Pence (a man to the right of the GOP’s primary candidates) would be POTUS. The GOP leadership (such as it is) would benefit because they’d be rid of Trump and have a guy in office who would never have passed an electoral challenge.
• Donald Trump (updated) is also facing a civil trial for raping a 13 year old girl many years ago. This hasn’t caught much press, but the case and others like it may have spurred NY State into changing its laws on rape and sexual assault allegations by eliminating the statute of limitations (which is why it’s being brought as a civil instead of a criminal trial). This case now has more energy thanks to Mr. Trump opening his pie-hole in front of a live mic about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it. And apparently, this is not a one-off–producers of The Apprentice are claiming they have tape of The Donald harassing women when the cameras were on. What happens if a jury finds for this young woman? 

In short, the two party duopoly has served up two really damaged people to run for the highest office in the land. I have been trying to think of a scenario where any of our NATO allies would have their major parties offer up this electoral merde. I have to think it wouldn’t happen because people would riot in the streets.

Where’s our anger?