It was the beginnng of the end for John Gotti.

As I stood in an outside corridor of the New York Courthouse, taking a break from jury duty, the “Dapper Don” passed by me, escorted by his entourage.

With tanned, smiling face, he looked liked a million dollars in his $1,000 Italian suit. The occasion, a preliminary hearing to determine if the New York crime boss would stand trial for murder. Previously, he had escaped punishment after several trials, thus his “Teflon Don” monicker.

It was the beginning of his end. Finally. He went to prison after conviction, and died there.

Now that Citizen Donald Trump has been indicted and arraigned, and presumed  innocent until proven guilty, is this the beginning of his end? And will his Republican Party sit up and finally take notice?

Perhaps ex-president Trump will be found guilty on a few of the 34 counts for which he has been charged. And, if not, in upcoming indictments and arraignments in any of the remaining, perhaps more important, cases expected to be presented against him.

Assuming he is found guilty in any of the many charges emerging, and denied a run at the presidency again, maybe even imprisoned, what next?

Will his Republican collaborators in Congress and around the country finally release themselves from Mr. Trump’s iron grip and move on?

Will they reject authoritarianism and fascism and embrace Democracy once more?

Can the Republican Party, as now constituted, be saved?

Can Democracy itself be saved?

How did the United States of America allow itself to get into this tenuous position in the first place?

These are just some of the most searing questions that occur to this, and I’m sure, many other writers as we watch the latter days of an attempted overthrow of the U.S. Government in a failed coup d’état by Mr. Trump and his seditious followers.

Those followers, I mean, that attacked the U.S. Capitol and many that remain seated in the Congress. Think Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Green, Josh Hawley, et al.

One might think that the U.S., being the most militarily and economically powerful nation on earth, would be wise enough to continue to embrace the Democratic way of life. The Republicans frequently refer to “Freedom,” but do they not understand that a nation governed by a dictator offers few freedoms? Look at Russia, Hungary, China, Cuba – the list goes on.

Was Hitler’s Germany in any way free? Mussolini’s Italy? Hirohito’s Japan? The United States defeated  those totalitarian oppressors in World War II. Are we then to become one of them? The Fall of the American Empire would surely occur quickly.

Under the ex-President, that Fall has already begun.

You can stop it.

Vote.

Throw the bums out. Elect true believers in Freedom.

Restore our Democracy.