When one ambles down a sidewalk,
there is an unspoken rule that you walk on your right side. There is no “law”
that says you must do this, like driving a car on the right side of the street;
it is just common courtesy and a way to self-regulate sidewalk traffic.
Everyone knows this, but there always has to be a few rude numbskulls who
not only flaunt the rule, but seem to take a certain delight in doing so,
because they like to assert their “right” to do whatever they please and if you
don’t like it, tough, get out of the way. No one will hold them accountable—unless another person
refuses to give-up their right to the right side, and the transgressor, knowing
that the “law” is against them, is forced to move aside instead.
We can see somewhat of an analogy
with the ongoing saga of Donald Trump, for whom the unwritten or implied laws
governing presidential behavior are simply obstacles to be discarded or
ignored. Yet even when laws are clear, Trump seems to take delight in reshaping
them to fit a clearly unlawful narrative.
After loudly denying that he or his aids colluded with Russian agents
during the 2016 election, Trump has now added China, along with the Ukraine,
Australia and Italy, to his itinerary of global collusion for his own political
benefit. How mindless can Trump’s supporters be to this illegal behavior? Can
you imagine the shit-show that Fox News would be engaged in if this was the
Obama administration?
The Constitution may not mention
foreign interference in our electoral process specifically, which did occur in
1796 when the French government tried to assist the election of the pro-French
Thomas Jefferson by releasing propaganda it thought harmful to the pro-British
John Adams, who ended-up winning a disputed election after revelations of the
French interference became public. But it does say that
And no Person holding any Office of Profit
or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any
present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King,
Prince, or foreign State.
Added
to laws that prohibit campaign contributions (not necessarily in the form of
money) from foreign entities, it should be clear that Trump seeking a “favor”
from a foreign government to damage a political opponent he thought most threatened
his reelection falls under the terms of a “present” or “emolument,” especially
when it clearly is not with the “consent” of Congress, and done so (at least
initially) in secret for the purposes of concealment because of its unlawful
nature. Trump clearly sought personal “compensation” for allowing $400 million
in military assistance against Russian-backed aggression on its sovereignty to
be transferred in exchange for the “favor” of investigating the Bidens for
alleged wrongdoing he and Rudy Giuliani had been repeatedly warned were without
foundation.
Even
Vice President Mike Pence’s squeaky-clean “Christian” façade no longer holds
water; when he visited Poland in September, he met the Ukrainian president to
gain assurances from him that he would conduct the “investigations” that Trump
was seeking, after which Pence persuaded Trump to release the funds. This was
two months after Trump’s infamous
call; Volodymyr Zelensky had been
warned by his own government officials not to interfere in U.S. politics, and
his delaying to even release a statement that would satisfy Trump’s demanded
had further lengthened the refusal to release the funds. Both Pence and Zelensky
knew what Trump wanted; Pence can claim that he never mentioned the Bidens in
their conversations, but he is either lying to protect Trump, or perhaps he
lied to Trump personally about what Velensky had promised to do as a “favor.”
Trump’s defenders in and out of government
claim loudly that there is no justification for impeaching Trump. The
Constitution asays that “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers
of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and
Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Sen.
Lindsey Graham and House Republicans have only themselves to blame for
“lowering the bar” on what constitutes an impeachable offense. Bill Clinton was
impeached for having a consensual—if morally reprehensible—sexual relationship
with an intern, and not being entirely truthful about it (the “it” defense).
Yet here we have an
administration that not only sends out its functionaries to baldly lie and
deceive for Trump’s political gain, but to justify plainly unlawful, immoral and
unethical policies and actions at every opportunity. This is a president who is
even now is openly defying the Constitution by announcing loudly and clearly
that he is seeking something of value for himself personally (his reelection
campaign) through foreign interference to harm his chief political threat, on
charges that he has been warned to do not hold water. Almost no Republican
still in government has had the gonads to uphold the Constitution in the face
of Trump’s bald-faced crimes. Trump’s repeated and continuing efforts to
obstruct justice and collude with foreign entities in order to undermine
American democracy is also the very definition of “high crimes and
misdemeanors,” not to mention just this side of treason. Just because he
alternates between denials of colluding with Russia while openly seeking the
collusion of other countries may seem evidence of mental instability, that is
only the more reason of getting this man out of office.
While Vladimir Putin can “joke”
all he wants, he's not fooling anyone but Trump and his fanatical supporters who still believe his claim
that Russia did not deliberately attempt to interfere in the 2016 election to
benefit Trump; numerous Russian operatives and entities remain under indictment
for committing that very crime. Although Democrats ended-up wasting much time
and energy on relying on the Mueller investigation, those indictments are still
there to disprove the right’s refusal to own it.
Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo can claim
that he now “remembers” the infamous phone call, but his insistence that he
heard nothing “amiss” is only further evidence that he is just another
political hack. While Reps, Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan continue to prove
themselves deaf, dumb and blind to Trump’s crimes, Fox News commentators continue
to undermine their credibility into permanent oblivion by repeating the latest
wacko conspiracy theory. But the truth is the truth, and people like the U.S. Ambassador
to the EU, Gordon Sondland—who got the position he is unqualified for by being,
surprise, a Trump sycophant—can be dutifully blind and hypocritically argue
that Trump’s demands for “transparency” by the Ukrainian government in return
for the release of funds has nothing to do with a “quid pro quo” to benefit
Trump, but the number of people willing to be treated like stupid fools is
decreasing.
The Constitution also states that
while “Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of
honor, Trust or Profit under the United States,” it goes on to say this:
but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to
Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
There is some argument about what
exactly that clause means, but we will assume it doesn’t refer to the Republican
Party, but the “party” meaning the person under scrutiny. But if Trump goes down, he may take more than
a few Republicans with him who have mostly remained on his sinking ship. As
much as one would prefer that Trump winds up in jail at some point, unless
something really “dramatic” in uncovered, or Trump really does shoot someone on
Fifth Avenie and someone actually cares, only the electorate can inflict the
punishment on Republicans that they so
richly deserve. But of course we know that especially in House districts, the
people who vote for the likes of McCarthy and Jordan as fanatical, bigoted and
immune from reality as the people who chose them to be their representatives.
And while the impeachment inquiry
drags on, The Washington Post is reporting that the Trump administration is
increasingly the “presidency of one,” meaning that having fired or forced to
resign experienced, competent people who respect the law, the replacements have
been Trump devotees otherwise unfit for their positions; the “survivors” in
cabinet positions—like HUD Secretary Ben Carson—were selected precisely because
Trump cares nothing about those effected by the decisions made by those departments, satisfying himself that their
heads are motivated by their desire to
please Trump and keeping a paycheck. And then there is “acting” chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, a founding member of the far-right “Freedom
Caucus,” and in his prior positions in the administration, he has shown himself
to be unethical, corrupt and a hypocrite.
Presidential “counselors” like Stephen Miller are actively performing
for Trump’s personal amusement, promoting discord and race hate—remember Miller
told a fellow student in high school that they couldn’t be “friends” anymore
because he was Hispanic—or otherwise serve as mindless pit bulls defending
the indefensible during media appearances. Jeff Sessions is looking more and
more like a “moderate” compared to William Barr, who as if he wasn’t a
right-wing fanatic 30 years ago has only become even more hardened in his
absolute hatred and contempt for anyone and anything left of merely
“conservative.” Barr showed 27 years ago that he was temperamentally and
ideologically unqualified to dispense even the pretense of unbiased “justice,”
and the passage of time certainly has not changed his perspective on crime in
high places, at least when it is committed by Republicans; note that not only
was he partisan enough to deny that crimes were committed in the Iran-Contra
scandal (it was a “witch hunt”), he has gone whole hog to undermine what little
credibility he ever had by not just ignoring (unlike George Schultz in 1986)
clear indications of unlawful behavior by the Trump administration, but by
pursuing far-right conspiracy theories about the Mueller investigation and
regurgitating old news about Hillary Clinton’s emails.
This country deserves better than
Trump, and it deserves better people than those who have chosen to keep him
propped up. In the past, the people who Trump represents were left in the
shadows as they deserved to be for undermining civil and moral codes of conduct
that are not necessarily written down but are nevertheless abided by. Trump has
released their perverted worldview and made it the “law” of the land; somehow,
someway they must be returned to the darkness where they belong before it is
too late. One way or the other, Trump must be returned to the lost pages of
history where he belongs.
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