Oh, high thought. I like it.
I’ve always held what makes the American form of government great (no Trump) is that it is in a constant state of revolution. Every 2, 4 & 6 years it has the ability to reset the legislative and executive branch according to the will of the people and independent of each. That’s kind of like your “destruction” theory, only controlled.
When you really think about it, we’ve been in a constant state of revolution for 240 years.
We have had a number of severe, internal existential tests to see if our government could withstand its inherent weakness. The revolutionary war*, before we had much of a government at all, would have been the first, which we survived largely due to help from France; the civil war; the Nixon affair; and now This.
That first fourth of July after the Nixon Resignation there were tears in many American eyes and a new found sense of patriotism and idealism. This test
now is different. Now there is a Republican Congress actively aiding and abetting our criminal President, whereas in Nixon's time The Republican Congress was at first largely noncommittal; then slowly, one by one, they broke rank with their reticent colleagues, until in the end there was an avalanche for impeachment. Conviction was a fait accompli, thus the resignation.
Now, after November, we will likely have an impeachment, but conviction is still uncertain so long as Republicans hold rank in the Senate. If the President is impeached but not convicted, then our present form of government and our resolve as a nation will be tested to the utmost.** Will we become a totalitarian State where the President is above the law***, or will we withstand yet one more test of our Democratic Republic?
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* The revolutionary war could easily be mistaken for being mainly a challenge from beyond our shores. It was a challenge from beyond our shores, and that is how the American Revolutionary War is treated in school history texts. But it was equally, if not more so, an internal challenge. There were many Crown loyalists. The troops, recruited with promises, ill housed, ill clothed, ill feed, and paid with unbacked script were constantly on the verge of desertion. They were held together through intimidation and the ruthlessness of the American Aristocracy. Without help from France we'd have never succeeded.
**It's impossible to overestimate how different an impeachment and non-conviction of Trump would be in comparison to the impeachment and non-conviction of Bill Clinton. Although the definition of crime is broad, the American people are more forgiving when the crime is lying about an illicit affair between two consenting adults. The Clinton impeachment was brought on the basis of the President's lying under oath about personal foibles, and was primarily a political exercise aimed at embarrassing the President. Even the Special Prosecutor had reservations whether the House Action was wise. An impeachment of Trump would be nothing of the sort.
***Nixon famously told his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, "When the President does it, it is not illegal."