Yesterday the House of Representatives impeached President Trump after an historically short hours-long  debate. He has, in essence, been charged with inciting the incursion into the Capitol by persons protesting what many reasonably perceived as a rigged presidential election which will result in Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021.

In his speech to the assembled protesters, President Trump told the crowd that they should peacefully assemble at the Capitol. He did not call for violence or an invasion of the Capitol, and, at the first reports of trouble, he tweeted that the demonstrations must remain peaceful. Nevertheless, his political opponents in government, the media and the tech monopolies have hung blame for the incursion around his neck, and now seek to string him up with it.

The FBI is moving with alacrity to arrest those who trespassed in the halls of Congress. Yet to be determined, however, is the extent to which non-Trump supporters fomented the trouble. For example, take a look at this revealing picture of protestors inside the Capitol building.

Note the the hammer and sickle tattoo on the hand of the man in the yellow shirt. Similarly, here’s a picture of Buffalo Man at a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

I could be wrong, but these guys don’t look like Trump supporters to me.

There are similar pictures – for now – on the internet which raise doubts about the true political motivations of those responsible for sparking the violence.

Nevertheless, the damage has been done, and now the effort is underway to make Trump and all of his millions of supporters toxic. As in, we will now go from being merely deplorable to being unmentionable in polite, intelligent, educated society. To borrow a term used by the Nazis, we are slated to become untermenschen or inferior people who must be condemned, ostracized and punished for supporting Trump.

The impeachment is part of that effort to discredit Trump and his followers and to destroy any chance that the political and bureaucratic hegemony of the Washington swamp will ever again be successfully challenged by a populist insurgency.

It is important to recall that in 2015 and 2016 Trump conducted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. Elements of that party and the conservative intelligentsia have never forgiven him despite the fact that he reinvigorated the party and the conservative movement. Despite the millions of voters that he has brought into the Republican tent, there has been and remains substantial bitter opposition to Trump among Republicans.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wishes to purge the Republican Party of all vestiges of Trump by trying and convicting him in the Senate. I’m no knowledgeable political observer, but my impression of McConnell is that he is a very smart, wily and capable politician. I find it hard to believe that he would be dumb enough to green light a Senate trial of Trump when the President has less than a week left in office. If he allows a trial to proceed and  Senate Republicans join with the Democrats to convict Trump, I anticipate that the Republican party will lose the massive support of the millions of voters that Trump brought into the party.

The Republicans did very well in the last election and are on the verge of retaking the House. But they can kiss that good bye if they turn on Trump.

So, just how serious and consequential a matter is Trump’s historic second impeachment? As it unfolded, I couldn’t help but think of the late Senator Huey “Kingfish” Long of Louisiana. Once dubbed by the political establishment “the most dangerous man in America”, Long once laughed off his opponents’ many efforts to end his political career and imprison him. Here’s a video clip of his remarks.

Trump lacks the Kingfish’s roguish charm and wit, but I predict that, in the years to come, Trump will be delivering his own version of this speech.

And the bigger-than-ever crowds will love it.