Let’s not kid ourselves. Everyone talks about a recent Constitutional crisis over the Ukraine matter but we’ve been in a crisis since the day Donald Trump stepped into the White House. No, even before. He was making policy and trying to undermine Obama even before he was president. And during the campaign he was disregarding the Constitution, asking Russia publicly for help in obtaining Hillary Clinton’s emails. It’s been one thing after another, with Trump seeing the Constitution as a piece of paper to be ignored. Just like the whole legal system. Campaign finance laws. They didn’t matter to him.
The Mueller report was evidence of Russian interference in the election with Trump’s acquiescence, cooperation and probable request. That should have been enough to start impeachment proceedings against him. But Barr’s interpretation of the report along with Mueller’s diffident delivery of the report to Congress did not alert the American public to Trump’s criminal activity. And the Republicans in the Senate have stood as a firewall protecting Trump from his own actions. Secret talks with Putin with no Americans present except an interpreter. Didn’t that raise any red flags with the GOP? His constant lying and his working to bring money into his personal businesses. Didn’t those ring any bells? And his refusal to acknowledge climate change as real and do something about it. Didn’t that frighten rational Republicans?
But now maybe he’s gone too far, though the Senate Republicans still don’t seem convinced. His asking Zelensky, the president of Ukraine to get dirt on Hunter Biden admitted by Trump has certainly provided enough info to get him impeached. And then asking China for dirt on Biden. But will the Senate GOP budge? Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds has angered both sides of the Senate aisle and maybe some Republicans will support impeachment. His actions in Syria withdrawing American troops helps Turkey, but also aids Iran and Russia. In fact, trying to pin the 2016 election interference on the Ukrainians would also help Russia. Withholding arms from the Ukrainians assisted Russia as well. Holding off the implementation of Congressional sanctions on Russia also helped them. Is there a pattern here? Aside from his actions to benefit himself, most of Trump’s foreign policy moves have been made to benefit Russia.
Aside from Trump’s affinity for Russia and Putin, there has certainly been enough data evident to impeach Trump and the Senate should find him guilty. The majority of American citizens now want him impeached and removed from office, and Congress, including Republicans, should take heed. Trump has been a self-indulgent narcissistic president, concerned mainly about himself instead of the country. There’s more than enough out there to impeach Trump. Let’s move ahead and get it done.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020