On the singular worst day of an otherwise abysmal Presidency for Donald Trump, I posted an invitation to Trump supporters: 

What was that about her emails and the chants of lock her up? I think it’s high time for any Trumpers and GOPers with any decency to admit their error of supporting such a corrupt person and campaign.

But alas, we live in two different political universes in this country. I'm not sure that Trumpers even knew to what I was referring.  If Trumpers were watching Fox News or reading their website, what happened today may not have been fully communicated to them.  I'm sure we can say something similar about the rest of conservative media. 

The newspapers of record in the United States reported on the abundantly clear implications of Michael Cohen's acceptance of guilt in a plea deal and Paul Manafort's guilty on 8 charges verdict.  

The headlines say it all and speak the truth about the main happenings of the day: Michael Cohen, the President's personal attorney for many years, implicated the President in breaking campaign finance laws to pay off a porn star and a playboy model with whom he had affairs.  The question which the analysis of the news rightly asks, is what steps are next.  We have a President implicated in a crime of a guilty plea in federal court.  What steps do prosecutors now take?  Can they indict a sitting President?  Do they refer to Congress for impeachment?  Do they wait until the Presidency is over to indict?

---As an aside, the absolute and complete hypocrisy of the Religious Right is stunning for accepting such breaking of laws in order to cover up what they believe moral sins to which they have held other politicians, in particular Democratic politicians, to account.  You don't want to hear from these folks ever again on issues of morality as they have ceded whatever limited moral standing they may have had at the feet of a corrupt and corrupting President.  

CNN reported the news in a similar vein in the evening yet again making clear in the headlines that Michael Cohen implicated his former boss in his guilty plea: 

Fox News on the other hand buried both of those stories below the fold in order to talk about the Tibbetts story:

This is the parallel universe in which conservatives choose to reside.  While Mollie Tibbetts disappearance and murder was certainly newsworthy, was it more so than the President of the United States being implicated in a crime?  I even tuned into Tucker for a few minutes to hear more about the Mollie Tibbetts story and about Trump's campaign rally in West Virginia.  When people lament about our divided politics it is not both sides doing the same thing.  

Perhaps it is unfair of me to expect that Trump supporters come forward to say that they made a mistake given the growing number of convicted felons around Trump in his inner circle and his campaign.  Their media consumption affirms false narratives and shifts narratives away that may be harmful to the President or the conservative cause, shielding the more impressionable from the truth. 

For most of us, the meaning of this day is not lost.  The President was implicated in a crime, a crime that helped him become President.  If there is justice to be served, he certainly be impeached. Furthermore, I would argue that because this crime is directly related to him becoming President, he should be indicted.  Likewise for any Russia collusion if and more likely when that comes into the open.  

Trump ruins everything he touches including many of the lives of those who work for him.  He is now doing the same with the Presidency and we must have the political will to save the institution by ridding ourselves of this corrupt, indecent occupant who came to position through corrupt means.  

 #trump #trumpers #trumprussia #michaelcohen #paulmanafort #foxnews #washingtonpost #nytimes #cnn #media #mainstreammedia