The only thing President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment did for me, was ignite my history, since he now shares the Big Kahuna of congressional admonishments with two other men: Andrew Johnson, 
our 17th President by default, and William Jefferson Clinton, 
number 42, by blow job…forgive my urbanese but what do you call it exactly, a big boo-boo?
I’ll say.
Andrew Johnson’s (no relation to Lyndon though they had succession through assassination in common), firing his Secretary of War without consulting Congress, deserves more understanding considering the state he was in.
He was Lincoln’s Vice-President for ten minutes when Abe got the big bang, making him his successor. Lincoln had replaced Hannibal Hamlin as V.P. hoping a southern sympathizer to the union cause, would help get him reelected, which looked unlikely for a time.
Now here’s where Johnson went slightly off the rails. He found out he was on John Wilkes Booth’s hit list, but George Atzerodt, who was given the job of axing Andy, got cold feet, making it as far as the door of Johnson’s rooming house before running away.
He believed everyone after that was a co-conspirator of Booth’s, including Edwin Stanton, Abe’s formidable Secretary of War. Many believe, including Bill O’Reilly, in his book, Killing Lincoln (2011), that he was a party to the assassination.
Hence…YOU’RE FIRED EDDIE.
So, in the end, the Senate voted to acquit Johnson by a margin of 35 guilty to 19 not guilty – one vote shy of the two-thirds needed to convict, which I suspect will happen to Mr. Trump.
As for Mr. Bill who was charged with High Crimes and Misdemeanors, that sounds like a Milton Bradley game (Perjury and Obstruction of Justice) for making oral history in the Oval with an intern, was also let go like a naughty school boy.
All 45 Democrats in the Senate voted “not guilty” on both charges, as did five Republicans; they were joined by five additional Republicans in voting “not guilty” on the perjury charge.
It’s kind of like standing in the corner with gum on your nose…by recess, it’s all pretty much forgotten, unless of course your cohort got slandered, like Monica, who the Clintons did everything short of putting a hit out on her to get her to swing from her shower rod.
Johnson had a field day executing four prisoners including Atzerodt and Mary Suratt, who owned the boarding house Booth and his men frequented, including Mary’s son, John, who, unlike his colleagues, managed to escape, not returning even knowing he’d help his mother’s cause, making her the very first woman executed in our country, and the last, by hanging
Just imagine, all this occurred without one Tweet.
If I had one wish it would have been to save Mary from the gallows since imprisonment would have sufficed, and that our present CAPITOL nonsense would cease.
What happened to…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?
Have you seen it anywhere? 
SB
Susannah, as usual your title is so clever. I love your history lessons. Were Mary and her son guilty? If Ed Stanton was a party to Abe’s assassination then he should have been more than fired.
Concidering that we all pretty much know how this impeachment mess is going to turn out, it seems like a lot of wasted time and money.
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It was never proven Stanton was guilty, and Mary probably knew of the plot to kill Abe and never came forward. Her son was more involved and finally returned to be granted clemency. I still think jail would have been enough. Maybe it’s a woman thing, but the picture of her up on the scaffold always makes me cry.
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I appreciate the history lesson delivered with your wit. Truth be told, you know I’m a sucker for your wit. Today, we are government by the people for the party. Former Senator Jeff Flake had a great question for Republicans: How would you react if Barack Obama did the exact same thing? Of course, I have to add: Democrats, how would you react if Barack Obama did the exact same thing? Keep smiling!
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I think we should keep Mr. Obama out of this. He’s a gentleman after all. At least I’ve always thought so. Trump is a thug in comparison. Merry Xmas Frank!!!
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A gentleman yes – but also the blame for everything. Trump impeachment? Obama’s fault. Trump election? Obama’s fault. The Oklahoma dust bowl? Obama’s fault. Brutus stabbing Caesar? Obama’s fault.
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I can’t find my shoes, Obama’s fault. Peggy Noonan’s oped piece in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal is numbing. Her predictions. If you can, Google it.
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Now you have the right idea. I will look for Noonan’s column. I may not always agree with her, but (in general) she makes sense to me.
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It’s just an interesting take on it. I’m not the fan of hers I once was, but I like how she writes so, I still read her on Saturdays.
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Honestly, what the hell does impeachment mean in the end? A slap on the wrist and the world keeps turning and nothing changes?
All I see, from above the line separating our countries is a lot of talk…
However, your history lesson is fascinating and I love when you do what you do so well…
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I do love it so. I remember going to Fords Theater practically reliving the night Booth shot Lincoln. I felt it down to my socks. He was actually laughing during the play, My American Cousin, when Booth pulled the trigger. I like thinking that he was blasted into the ether on a laugh. Has a Hicks feel to it. Thanks for reading it.
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Your inimitable wit and historical smarts is the reason I have always loved history . . when delivered up by people who know (and love) their stuff.
This latest impeachment pie could be a Don McLean song. Title it “Bye Bye Mr Impeachment Pie”. And to the latest and least Presidential of this trio, I wish nothing. Because he feeds on vitriol, so I ignore his attempts. And I’m hoping and praying that enough like minded peeps ignore him next November at the polls.
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Well I don’t know, his approval rating seems to be going up. His scandal seems to have just made his followers more passionate. It’s insane. Wish the Founders could think of a way to come back and set the record straight, since this is not what they had in mind.
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This is not what any reasonable, fair minded individual had in mind.
As a former Republican voter who went “rogue” before that chick from Alaska started putting it on t-shirts, I am a man without a party. As such, I like to think I parse and primp in order to get to the essence of a candidate- Republican, Democrat, Independent, Chartreuse Party . . . whatever.
Trump is a dystopian character come to life who brings to mind a quote from the great Michael Caine.
” . . some men just want to watch the world burn,”
Mind you, this quote comes from a movie based on a comic book character.
Apropos.
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His hubris has become legendary. There’s no remorse even over the situation the country has to witness. He doesn’t even see that. It’s what I find so mystifying. The chronic self-absorption. I really believe no matter what else happens, he’ll get reelected.
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Admittedly, I wasn’t unhappy when he began knocking off GOP challengers in the primaries. I thought he was learning the party a lesson, and that eventually, he would be vanquished. After which he would return to his castle. And then he won the nomination and I went, “Oh shit,”.
And then, well . . . yanno.
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Never say never. I still haven’t learned that we can never know the outcome of anything. Like the late, great writer Bill Goldman said: Nobody knows anything.
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You’re right. Just because the national concession speech is warming up in the bullpen, doesn’t mean the outcome has been decided just yet.
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JFK got elected because of the Mob in Chicago. We never knew that. There’s so much we don’t know is my point. The country, to her credit, thrives in her own way, even if she lands a little tarnished. We loathed George W. Bush, how he lied about those weapons that weren’t even there yet we survived him and I suspect we shall survive DLT too. Of course the damage he’s done is vast, but again, Liberty cleans up like the Lady she eternally is.
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Well said SB.
Here’s to our great Lady, who doesn’t depend on luck.
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Your Damon Runyon is showing. 🙂
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😉
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A COMPLIMENT.
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The ultimate one, I believe. 🙂
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He rocked.
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As do you.
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AWE..I’M PADDING MY PAW.
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Purrfect!
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You and Anne are so good at wordplay. I need to practice.
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Words are just so much fun.
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I know. Language. It’s intoxicating.
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You ain’t kidding.
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But isn’t that a great thing, to love it so much? To be aware of it? Most people take it for granted and wouldn’t know a good word if it hit them over the head.
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I always call it out when someone hits on a word that is worth being recognized.
It is a most fantastic thing, to be in love with words.
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I too am having an ongoing love affair with the vernacular. I just swoon as I read. Those Winston Graham books (Poldark Series) had me by my short hair. The patois of that time starting in 1776 when his hero, Ross Poldark is fighting against us for the British just made me weak in the knees. sigh
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It scratches your literary itch, that’s very coo.
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Yes…I guess it does.
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I’m suddenly at Saratoga with binoculars wearing a big hat. Or at Ascot as My Fair Lady. 🙂
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Well played SB, well played . . .
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🙂
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The line in the play that covered up the shot with laughter was” Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap!” When I saw the play at Ford’s when that line came up no one laughed. It was if it was sacred. You said it well, Susannah.”What happened to that country?” As a father, I was appalled when Clinton could not resist taking advantage of a star-struck young woman theoretically in his care. At that time, I thought the impeachment process was a waste and still do. Too bad horsewhipping is not in vogue. Happy Holidays to you.
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I love that you added that. These men, at least Clinton and DJT, should be horsewhipped. I have a little more empathy towards Johnson, but he too misused his power.
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Yes, he did.
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Johnson was the opposite of Abe, who was so forgiving. That always amazes me, how bighearted he was despite his many troubled circumstances. He still resonates though, the good of him.
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His goodness has lasted the test of time. His forgiving treatment of the South had his critics chomping at the bit and quite probibly got him killed. The BS about Booth being a Southern sympathizer is just that. Had he really been he would have realized Abe was the South’s best friend.
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This is true. I remember what Jefferson Davis allegedly said when he heard Lincoln had been shot. “God help the south now.”
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I am a very solid believer in the “everything is perfect and works out in the end” idea of life. Mr. Trump, not withstanding, I have faith in the end of things, so I try very hard (and manage most of the time) to not worry.
I get laughed at a lot and told off a lot – which…is perfect, too.
Scott
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I’m not seeing any of that under my Christmas tree. But I think we delude ourselves if we think that’s really the sort of government we have ever had in this country. Makes a great sound bite, though.
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I don’t know what to say. It’s all very distressing. We’re the greatest country in the world behaving so badly.
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You have a fine take on a sad history. I shutter to think what the Andrew Johnson case would have been like if AJ had a tweeter account. The aTrumpeter has out grossed them all with his new low.
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I’m so disturbed by the photos of him, the lack of humility. John Gotti had a milder expression when he was on trial. Also, this using the whole wretched affair to incite as he campaigns for himself. There it is in a nutshell. It’s still about him, not the betterment of the country. He should be thinking of us, and we’re not even in his eye line, unless you’re at a rally with a placard with his name emblazoned across it. He really is Stalin in an ill-fitting suit and bad hair. Even Joe combed his when he met FDR and Churchill because as slight as it may have been, he was trying for peace as well. Let us have peace, to quote U.S.Grant, not the greatest president but a kinder, more conscious one who too sat where he’s sitting. Forgive me for such a first light rant. It just inflames me so. sigh
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I have a similar reaction. Take care.
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It’s really a bad state of affairs with many to blame. The parties are at war with each other; the media feeds the fire and keeps it going. For the three years Trump has been in office (and prior to his election) the opposition has worked at ‘ridding America of Trump’ top of their to-do-list…no matter the cost. They have run rough-shod over this country. One can only imagine how disgusting 2020 will be…I will not listen to anymore trashing. No sane person will desire the office of POTUS. God Himself couldn’t please the parties or the media. Nothing is sacred. And it didn’t begin with Trump. Disgusting isn’t descriptive enough for what goes on in the House and Senate (let alone behind closed doors and in closets)…and we, the people? Do we count? Not a bit…we are simply bystanders in a charade/sham/scam. Oh God, where is integrity? We need it badly! Thanks for the good piece, Susannah. Ho, Ho, Ho…Have a blessed holiday…be happy!
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Nothing is sacred, is what jumped out at me. They’re like the Sharks and the Jets…they just behaved better. Merry Christmas Vasca.
P.S. I never apologized to you for my lack of grace when you sent me that book…I Can’t Hear You. I was having a very hard time adjusting to my hearing loss and felt intruded upon. My feelings were distorted as they say in 12 Step, so again, I’m sorry for being rude to you. It’s so unlike me.
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Apology gratefully accepted. I totally understood. Your thoughtfulness today is a lovely gift from a lovely lady. Hugs ‘n Love on this beautiful Christmas Eve.
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