The Republican senators’ speedy exoneration of Trump marks perhaps the most dramatic step in their capitulation to the president over the past three years.

That process…recalls the ancient Roman senate’s compliance with the autocratic rule of the emperors and its transformation into a body largely reliant on the emperors’ whims.

Along with the senatorial fealty that was again on display, there was another development that links the era of the Roman Republic’s transformation into an autocratic state with the ongoing political developments in the United States. It’s a development that may point to where the country is headed.

Trump’s lawyers argued that the president’s personal position is inseparable from that of the nation itself. This is similar to the notion that took hold during the ascendancy of the man known as Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, who was in power from 31 B.C. to A.D. 14…

This inability to separate the personal interests of a leader from the interests of the country he or she leads has powerful echoes in ancient Rome.

Yes, we can erect a roadblock on this path to destroying our constitutional democracy. Trouble is, the Dems have done a superlative job of convincing the average American the Two Old Party-system is the best way to choose who leads our nation. We’re not supposed to worry about Tweedledee and Tweedledumber leaving us with an updated mirror image of Benito Mussolini.

Whomever the Democrats’ political herd eventually decides upon will be the sole choice reasonable Americans can support this coming November. Painful though it may be for any independent progressive-minded voter – at a minimum, we’ll have to press for a platform that takes heed of the fight for an end to endemic bigotry, social and scientific cowardice…any number of economic reforms. And…if such a platform is to be something more than a pretty poster, folks must press all the candidates opposing this fascist-minded krew of korporate klowns to grow a backbone sufficient to win.