WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 5 (DPI) – In four days in which 100 million people watched a football game, thousands of Iowans voted in a botched primary caucus, the President of the United States hung a medal on Rush Limbaugh and then droned on for 90 minutes in a self-serving speech, our national reality show got another episode tonight with the president’s acquittal of impeachment-related charges.

Yet none of that – to the satisfaction of the media producers of our national reality show – has resolved the matter of Trump’s future in Washington, nor has it cooled the ongoing cauldron of strife that cable channel pundits and talk-show hosts are determined to keep on high heat.

“If the last four days are any indication, the next nine months are going to be a wild ride,” wrote one Washington-based poster this evening.

A Democratic Senator from Ohio offered up a column on nytimes.com tonight asserting that his Republican colleagues voted for acquittal out of fear, and their private comments to him confirmed that.

And the reader comments – reflecting disgust, despair, and occasionally a little determination – flew fast. The most popular comments:

The 48 senators who voted to convict represent 18 million more Americans than the other 52. The real problem is that we are a minority-ruled country now. It is not sustainable.

It is nothing less than shocking to me that when so many have fought and given their lives for their country, only one Republican senator was willing to endanger his seat by doing what he knew was right. This is the w Fear is what Trumpism is all about. Time to extricate ourselves from it before we lose everything. I’m grateful for small miracles, like today’s decision by Senator Mitt Romney. He overcame his fear and is a true patriot in my book. I’m also grateful for Sen. Sherrod Brown, who speaks truth to power. ay dictators rise. But I never thought it would happen in the United States.

1. Trump’s award to Rush Limbaugh stuffed Limbaugh that much deeper into Trump’s back pocket. Senators can be certain that to oppose Trump is to be certain to face the wrath of Limbaugh. 2. Romney voted his conscience. Profile in courage. And a Trump offspring has the nerve, within moments, to demand that Mitt be expelled from the GOP.

Fear is what Trumpism is all about. Time to extricate ourselves from it before we lose everything. I’m grateful for small miracles, like today’s decision by Senator Mitt Romney. He overcame his fear and is a true patriot in my book. I’m also grateful for Sen. Sherrod Brown, who speaks truth to power.

Several Senators say that yes, Trump did it, however, impeachment would be an excessive penalization. This raises two questions: one, what could be the “right” penalization? and two, what can be done to enforce the President to behave legally?