Is it a reach to impeach?
Do the Democrats have a choice?
Nancy Pelosi looked solemn as she addressed the camera, obviously this was serious business. It’s not often the Speaker of the House of Representatives directly addresses the American people. However impeachment is serious business, and it requires a serious person to communicate the gravity of the situation. This is no celebration, and nothing to feel glee over. Impeaching a president isn’t something that a country should fell good about. Speaker Pelosi tried to put off impeachment, but when the accused proudly (or is it moronically?) admits in front of God and country that he did what he’s being accused of, what choice does the Speaker of the United States have?
This woman of great gravitas and historical significance is also a grandmother who bakes cookies. Funny, she doesn’t look like my Bubbe Mollie or Bubbe Rose. (New York Times)
Democrats in congress, particularly the far left-leaning ladies of the “Squad,” have been calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment since January of 2019. Other more moderate Democrats have offered up caution regarding the opening up impeachment inquiries on the 45th president. Many believed that the disappointing “Mueller Report” would be the catalyst for impeaching Donald Trump, however, while Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s disciplined team either convicted or indicted 34 individuals as a result of their investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election, (34 more people than let’s say the endless investigations into Hillary Clinton netted by House Republicans) there would be no impeachment inquiry opened on President Trump as a result of that report.
Why wasn’t the president impeached as a result of the Mueller investigation when clearly there was criminal wrongdoing, as well as attempts by Russia to interfere with our elective process? Well according to the president, it’s simple. No collusion, no obstruction. However, anyone who is familiar with the “Mueller Report” knows that’s not really the case. There were attempts to reach out by the Trump campaign by Donald Trump Jr., and there were numerous attempts by the president himself to obstruct in this case. Luckily for the president, his attempts were so ham-fisted, and clumsy, and well, criminal, that none of his minions, far more out of a sense of self-preservation as opposed to moral clarity, refused to carry out his orders. In the end however, Special Counsel Mueller simply stated that he did not have the right to indict a sitting president. Not exactly an endorsement of innocence.
Robert Mueller is a good and decent person, but he simply didn’t see himself as the man to bring down a president. His report, as well as his testimony in front of the congress disappointed Democrats, while bringing relief to the president, even though the report was highly critical of President Trump’s behavior as well as the conduct of many who worked on his campaign. (New York Times)
Despite being made to look crooked as well as incompetent by the results of the Mueller investigation, Trump saw only victory, and as a result was feeling emboldened. It was with this new sense of misplaced confidence that Donald Trump decided to allegedly abuse the power of his office. Reportedly, according to the liberal Washington Post, and the conservative Wall Street Journal, on eight separate occasions, President Trump called up the president of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and asked him to investigate charges of corrupt behavior by former Vice-President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden. In order to motivate President Zelensky, Trump tied the release of 400 million dollars in aid needed by the Ukraine to fight off Russia, money that had already been approved by the congress in a rare act of bipartisanship as leverage. In other words, if President Zelensky didn’t play ball, he’d be on his own against the Russians.
How do we know this? Two intelligence community whistle blowers reported the president’s actions to the Inspector General, as is protocol in such an instance. Apparently they were disturbed by what they considered to be criminal behavior on the part of the president. However, one not need question the accuracy, honesty, or motivations of the whistleblowers, or those reporting on it because the president himself has admitted to all of this. Therefore, those who would question the “fake news” aspect of this story, as Trump supporters are always wont to do, need only tune in to what their fearless “Orange” leader stated on the subject, and then you can comprehend why the House of Representatives was forced to move on impeachment.
“Uncle Donald” wants you…to believe that whatever it was that Vice President Joe Biden did was far worse than what Donald Trump did. For what it’s worth, the last time I checked, the “somebody did something much worse than I did” defense, is not much of a legal argument. Ted Bundy couldn’t point to Jeffrey Dahmer and say, “Hey man, at least I didn’t eat people, get off my back.” (New York Times)
President Trump seems very put out by what Joe Biden and his son did in the Ukraine. This begs the question, what exactly is it that they allegedly did? Well, apparently Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of the country’s national gas company. Some have claimed that there was a conflict of interest at the time since Joe Biden was the vice-president, and President Obama, as was the case of most European leaders, was attempting to work with the new Ukrainian government. No conflict of interest has been proven, and in fact none of the charges hurled by the president or his “gargoyle on retainer,” Rudy Giuliani, have been proven, not that that has ever stopped them before from making false charges or accusations.
I would be willing to wager that not only does Donald Trump not even understand what it is he is accusing Joe Biden of having done, he may very well not even have any idea at all what the alleged corruption was that Joe Biden is supposedly guilty of having committed. However, Giuliani has claimed that the vice-president lobbied the Ukrainian president to fire their lead prosecutor so he wouldn’t look into corruption charges against his son. Despite pushing this narrative, there has so far been no proof of such an act being committed.
Remember when he was “America’s Mayor,” praised by the right and the left, leading us through the aftermath of “9/11?” Remember when he was an independent voice for moderation in America’s greatest city, an actual liberal Republican? Yeah, neither do I. (New York Times)
Many on the right are of course referring to this as “fake news,” despite the fact that the president admitted to all of his acts which have been called into question. They feel though that the whole idea of impeachment is being driven by a hostile media. However I wonder if some of these individuals even understand the purpose of the impeachment process, or how it works. The House of Representatives acts not unlike a prosecutor, or even a grand jury. Their job is to investigate alleged misdeeds by the president. Basically, the House is charged with deciding whether to indict a president for committing “high crimes, and misdemeanors.” The vote is strictly by majority, as it is with all issues in the House. All you need to impeach a president in the House of Representatives is a simply majority. When Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1999, the Democrats in the House refused to even show up for the vote, choosing instead to walk out of the House chamber in protest.
Once the House votes on articles of impeachment, the Senate acts as a jury and votes on whether to convict the president and remove him from office. It takes a two-thirds supermajority to remove a sitting president, and it has never happened in our nation’s history. Only two presidents have even been impeached, Andrew Johnson in 1868, and the aforementioned Bill Clinton. In both cases there were complaints of set-up, and that neither president had really done anything to merit removal.
This is the best smile I can muster. I was framed after all. (Getty Images)
In Andrew Johnson’s case, he was set up for impeachment. The Radical Republicans in the congress passed a law over Johnson’s veto called the Tenure of Office Act. This law which was unconstitutional stated that the president couldn’t dismiss a member of his cabinet without permission from congress. Johnson purposely broke this law believing it to be unconstitutional. The House immediately impeached him, but the Senate failed to convict by one vote, saving Johnson the humiliation of being removed from office, but not from being considered by and large the worst president in U.S. history, with all due respect to James Buchanan…and the “Orange Menace.”
In Bill Clinton’s case, just like with Donald Trump, the president was accused of a variety of corruptive acts, none of which the Republicans or their stooge Kenneth Starr were able to prove. However, they were able to get Clinton to commit perjury over his consensual sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and the Republicans now had their reason for impeachment. Once again the Senate failed to convict, as most Americans believed the charges to be more incriminating of Clinton’s disgusting personal behavior, but not an offense worthy of removal from office. In fact, Clinton’s popularity went up as a result of this ill-conceived political attack.
Lindsay Graham, seen here laughing at another one of Donald Trump’s hilarious jokes done at his expense, led the charge against Bill Clinton, and his outrage was palpable. As for President Trump’s behavior, which includes a complete humiliation of Graham during the 2016 campaign, not so much. (New York Times)
In the case of Richard Nixon, he never gave his enemies a chance to impeach and/or remove him from office, which they most certainly would have. After the House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend impeachment charges against Richard Nixon, Nixon, knowing that the Republicans in congress had abandoned him, and chosen country over party, literally the last time the Republican Party acted in such a fashion, Nixon resigned in disgrace.
Will the House vote to impeach the president? It would appear to be the case. Speaker Pelosi wouldn’t have allowed an impeachment inquiry unless she was confident that she had the votes as well as evidence of the president’s illegal behavior. Will the Senate vote to convict? I doubt it. Majority Leader McConnell is a political animal, and it would be hard to conceive of a scenario where McConnell would see it politically advantageous to remove the president. The real question is how it affects the results in 2020, oh and justice, an impeachment would be an example of justice being served. That still matters…right?