Dear Progressive Reader,
The legendary Hollywood star Ed Asner was in Madison this past week to perform on stage in his current comedy God Help Us! – a show whose script is literally “ripped from today’s headlines” and is constantly being updated to reflect real-time events in Washington’s impeachment process. At a house party to raise funds for The Progressive on Wednesday evening, Asner was asked what has driven him to support progressive politics even at the risk of his career. “ ‘Let justice be done,’ ” he replied. “ ‘What does it profit a man if he gain the world but lose his soul?’ And I don’t want to lose my soul.” Ed Asner, at age ninety, continues his work for justice.
On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles on impeachment against Donald Trump. These now go to the full House for a vote next week (probably Wednesday), followed by a trial in the Senate presided over by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. In the event of a simple majority of the full Democratic-controlled House on either of the articles, Trump will become the third U.S. president to be formally impeached (since Nixon resigned before the full House had a chance to vote on his impeachment). Attorney Bill Blum weighs in this week on the meaning of these two articles of impeachment. “The Trump articles,” he writes, “comprise a narrative of corruption, and on close inspection may not be as constrained as they appear at first glance.” In the meantime, an Inspector General’s report released Monday contradicts the President’s claims of a “deep state” conspiracy against his election. As cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates, the President, and his Attorney General William Barr, are still trying to spin the story.
Thursday’s election in Britain resulted in a larger than expected victory for Trump ally Boris Johnson, and many on both sides of the aisle here in the United States are trying to sort out what, if anything, this predicts for our elections in 2020. Reese Erlich steps away from his “foreign correspondent” beat to share a letter he wrote to a Trump-supporting friend who “reflects the views of many older white workers who are critical of the system and blame Democrats and liberals for its breakdown.” Perhaps letters like this, and plays like Asner’s God Help Us!, this will, as Erlich hopes, open “a dialogue.”
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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