What’s It All About ?

It should be clear to almost every American by now that the impeachment hearings are all about our democracy- at least clear to those Americans who have given it a moment’s thought. The president of the United States withheld military assistance to Ukraine, an ally fighting an invasion by Russia, to get Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on the president’s political opponent. In fact, the Ukrainians didn’t even have to perform an investigation. All they had to do was announce that they would be investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter for possible corrupt activities involving the oil firm Burisma.

The actions by President Trump amount to bribery and extortion of a desperate nation in a life and death fight with Russia to get material that might possibly help Trump in the 2020 election. With the testimony of the witnesses at the Congressional inquiry, it is as clear as day. There was a quid pro quo for military assistance and a meeting at the White House that would be granted by President Trump.

What Trump did was not surprising as his entire life has consisted of lies and corrupt conduct going back to his time as a private citizen. What is more surprising and frankly quite sad is the unwillingness of Republicans to attack Trump’s behavior and side with the Democrats in impeaching this man who is an overt danger to our nation. Trump’s only interest appears to be doing what is in good for Trump, and perhaps some things that are good for his buddy Vladimir.

His foreign policy has been a total disaster for the United States, abandoning our allies the Kurds in Syria and leaving the country open for the predations of the Russians and the Turks. He has denounced NATO and raised questions about America’s commitment to the alliance, another gift for Vladimir. His trade policy with China and the imposition of tariffs appears to have hurt American consumers and manufacturers more than the Chinese.

Not only does Trump not have a moral compass, he is also ignorant regarding political norms and running the government. But Republicans in the House and Senate continue to stick with him and try and protect him from his own words and behavior as much as from those around him. Trump’s main defense over Twitter is to call the witnesses and Democratic opponents’ names and to lie about many of his actions and those of his surrogates.

What will it take for the Republicans to act courageously instead of cowardly: to stand up for the country and democracy instead of backing Trump and the party. GOP politicians should look at the patriotic men and women in the nation’s diplomatic corps and intelligence services who testified knowing they would be abused by Trump and his defenders. They also knew that testifying against the president placed their jobs at risk. But they felt it was more important for the nation to know of the dishonest and abhorrent actions of the president and his proxies. Those testifying are people who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and deny any partisan leanings. They want to do what is right for America.

The Russians have been working globally to destroy the concept of democracy and reinforce their own authoritarian way of life. Putin has been active in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and with the aid of Trump has infiltrated American democratic institutions. The intelligence services have repeatedly warned the president and Congress of Russian actions, but Trump and the GOP refuse to listen.

Get off your asses Republicans and do something about it. Democracy is at risk and Trump doesn’t give a damn. In fact, he appears to be in cahoots with Russia.

Resurrecting Democracy www.robertlevinebooks.com