Suspended Judgement

     Fulton County, Georgia is dropping the sweeping election interference case against Donald Trump and a number of co-defendants, stemming largely from the then-President's phone call to state officials, asking them to "find" sufficient votes to ensure his victory on the 2020 Presidential election.

     Now it will never be resolved.  And look, there are all kinds of problems with the case, especially now: there's no way a sitting President can be hauled into court; they can be impeached by Congress, and I presume they're still liable for traffic tickets, but anything in between is Constitutionally off the table.  And the case wasn't well handled by prosecutor Fani Willis in several different ways.

     But having the charges dropped, especially over side issues and Constitutional preemption, is nowhere near equivalent to being found innocent (or for that matter, found guilty) in a trial.  Assume everyone involved was as pure and guileless as the driven snow and it was all a matter of misinterpretation of highly figurative speech along with an earnest diligence to ensure no vote went uncounted and it still leaves a loophole that a subsequent unscrupulous President facing an uncertain election could drive an armored column through.

     This is the kind of swerve that brings down empires.

     In my opinion -- and this will make some readers boiling mad, if they're still bothering to read, though if they are, they're clearly not coming to the forest for the hunting -- there's one chance left: if the Democrats win control of both houses of Congress in 2026, they can impeach President Trump, haul evidence and eyewitness testimony into the light, and come to a decision, one way or another.  That would bring the mess and ambiguity to an end.  Oh, we'd still argue about it; there will be hard feelings no matter the outcome.  But it'd be done and not hanging out there, a festering sore of a brass ring for the next would-be autocrat to take a grab at.

     The American Experiment is teetering in the balance.  The formation of our constitutional republic, a remarkable democratic step, marked a change that swept through Western civilization and beyond, ending royal rule even in places where the Crown remained as a ceremonial head of state.  Whatever comes after the end of rule by the ongoing guidance and consent of the governed is unlikely to be an improvement for the common man.