The end of a political career

The current impeachment trial of now-former President Donald J. Trump, based on his alleged incitement of the rioters that took place on Jan. 6, is intended by Democrats as the end of Trump’s political career. The intent, of course, is to keep him from seeking federal office ever again.

Whether that happens or not and if he’s acquitted of that charge, which at this point appears likely, his political career is over anyway. Because — make no mistake about this — God Himself took him down. And that happened not because of the Capitol riot that his supporters took part in.

What really doomed Trump was that stunt during which he held up that Bible in front of an Episcopal church, which took place June 1 of last year. God ran out of patience with him because, like a lot of the so-called religious right, he intended to use it to promote his own authority rather than submit himself to the only real Authority that mattered.

And the dominoes began falling as a result.

While forces on the political left, including but not limited to voter-registration drives, were already marshaled against the Trump campaign, it turned out that the business community was growing tired of the political instability that he had always fostered, even though it agreed with most of his actual policies. After Jan. 6 its lobbying groups announced that it would no longer donate to Republican candidates that supported the insurrection.

But before that, some evangelical groups and individuals decided to throw their support behind then-candidate Joe Biden, bucking the trend of Trump-supporting Christians. Then you have his failure to lead on COVID-19, costing hundreds of thousands of lives. And did you notice at the Republican National Convention just how few Republicans were willing to put in a good word for him, a requirement to speak?

The result was the kind of broad-based organizing coalition that would have been required to beat Trump at the ballot box — and, of course, did.

By the time he tried to strongarm GOP-dominated legislatures and secretaries of states in swing states into changing election results amid baseless accusations of voter fraud, it was clear that he was finished.

It wasn’t simply the voters who had spoken at that point, you see. Ultimately, God had as well, in the process putting to shame those so-called prophets who tried to convince people that Trump was a shoo-in and then doubled down after Nov. 7. The riot failed to change the result because, really, Trump and his supporters were fighting against God, Who refuses to be mocked.

And while Trump still has his base, which is as strong as ever, he’s already finished as an electoral force because he’s alienated virtually everyone else — including the people at the hands of the mechanisms required to get people elected in the first place. And let’s not forget his other legal issues — charges of financial fraud in New York state and election tampering in Georgia, either of which could put him away for a while.

In that context, the impeachment might prove anticlimactic because even if Trump gets off he may end up going from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. He tried, and was still trying, to play God, and the True and Living God doesn’t appreciate anyone trying to knock Him off His rightful throne.