Markk wrote: The bottom line in the Trump impeachment, to me, really boils do to whether or not the corruption is the Ukraine did or did not deserve an investigation.
I'm not sure if you've been asked before, but if Trump was so concerned about corruption in the Ukraine, why did he hire Paul Manafort? Manafort was an agent for the very corruption Trump pretends to be against.
And again, if there should be an investigation, shouldn't our own Justice Department be involved? If this is the business of the United States, why go through the President's personal lawyer, who is not a Government employee, and does not have security clearance?
This is not an attack against conservatism. As a liberal, the Presidency of Donald Trump has given me an appreciation of the old guard Republicans. I may have disagreed with the Bush, McCain and Romney, but all possessed patriotism, decency and honesty, and a genuine concern about the future of this country. None of them were amoral, transactional narcissists. Conservatism is a fashion label for Donald Trump. It is transactional, just like his evangelical support. Some conservatives, to their credit, have denounced the administration and call a spade a spade. But how many members of the GOP who gave negative assessments about candidate Trump now totally disavow those statements? People like Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham, who disparaged the President's character before the election now kiss his ring. It is truly disappointing to watch people sell their souls for a Senate seat.
The battle with Donald Trump is not about ideology. It's about character. Donald Trump's narcissism blinds him to anything outside his personal self-aggrandizement. He has repeatedly violated his oath of office and the Constitution in the pursuit of that narcissistic need to make himself the center of the universe. Donald Trump came at a time in American history when the lines of communication were re-wired. Like a lot of movement leaders, he has great intuition about the collective unconscious, and has used that ability to re-define the norm as the tweet instead of the press conference. A tweet is a monologue. A press conference is a dialogue. It brings the statements made in monologue up for questioning. We need that it a functioning democracy. Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, should we accept this as the new norm? Is this a good thing in a functioning democracy?
Trump sees the standards of Democracy as hindering the promulgation of his brand. Trumpism is not conservatism. For a parallel in American history, consider the Know-Nothings, a the far right nativist faction of the 1850's, which actually started as a secret society.

I find great irony in the fact that Know Nothings referred to themselves as "Native Americans". History belongs to the victors.
Trump has said he is more Presidential than anyone except Abraham Lincoln. He should consider Trump's words about the Know-Nothings.
I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of Negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except Negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
From the czar to Putin, from the 'Know-Nothings' to 'Team Trump' the song remains the same.