Political Expediency and Abuse of Power = A Future Failed Republic

Impeachment and removal from office is supposed to protect the republic from a morally unfit president.  The ineptness of Donald Trump’s impeachment will make our republic weaker not stronger.  In hindsight, it may have been a mistake.

If ever there were a president worthy of impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors”, it’s Donald J. Trump.  His actions epitomize the concerns of the Founders and their reasons for using that term of art in the final draft of our Constitution.  But unfortunately, we also have an equally unworthy Congress to prosecute said impeachment. 

The Democrats’ decision to not wait for the courts to rule on the subpoenas issued to the executive branch has exacerbated the problems that our republic will face in the future.  By not allowing the courts the last word, they’ve given Donald Trump the last word or rather words, “absolute immunity.”  Their short-circuit of the process, when combined with the unprecedented and up to now unheard of “absolute immunity” Trump has declared for the presidency foreshows an ominous future, a republic weakened by an autocratic presidency.

It didn’t have to happen.  The Democrats could have followed the path of previous impeachments; political considerations be damned.  The odds are the courts would have, eventually, allowed testimony from John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney, Robert Blair, John Eisenberg or Russell Vought, the testimony from any one of which may have revealed information debilitating to the president.  Or the Republicans, or at least some of them, could have done what their consciences (aka the voice of God?) commanded them to do, impeach and remove this president. 

In the impeachment of President Trump Democrats and Republicans had a unique opportunity to explain to the American people what is and what is not acceptable behavior by a president.  Many if not most elected Republicans would, in private, acknowledge his unsuitability for office.  His actions that precipitated his impeachment and his actions in response to impeachment are textbook examples of that which the Founders feared in a chief executive.  They are the primary reasons for the impeachment clause.  But more important than a civics lesson, successful impeachment and removal of this president would have, at least partially, reversed the damage done to the presidency itself.  It’s an opportunity lost forever.    

But here we are.  The drama that is Congress has culminated in the impeachment of President Trump.  Come January, some semblance of a trial will happen in the Senate and the president will be acquitted.  The damage to the republic and the presidency, however, will continue. 

The Country Needs Closure on Impeachment

Republicans, a president you like to quote these days said in 1961, “ask what you can do for your country.”  Since President Trump released the transcript of the July 25 Zelenskyy conversation there has been testimony that should bring to Republicans a willingness to reevaluate their position on impeachment.  That’s the ask.

The Washington Post recently reported eight instances where a quid pro quo has been alleged and either publicly confirmed or reported to have been confirmed;

1. In the July 10 meeting between E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Oleksandr Danylyuk.
2. In a debrief of the July 10 meeting where Sondland reiterated what was said in the previous       meeting.
3. On July 25 in a text message from Kurt Volker, special envoy to Ukraine to Andrey Yermak, an aid to Zelensky.
4. On August 10 when Yermak texted Volker tying a presidential meeting to a public statement   confirming new investigations by Ukraine.
5. On August 30 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) spoke to Sondland who said that Trump will “release the   military spending” when Trump is confident Ukraine will “get to the bottom” of what happened in   2016.
6. On September 1 in a call between acting Ukraine ambassador William Taylor and Tim Morrison a former special assistant to Trump
7. Immediately following the above call on September 1 Taylor called Sondland who confirmed what Morrison had just been told.
8. On a September 7 call between Taylor and Morrison where they discussed a Sondland conversation with Trump.

Don’t take the word of the Washington Post.  There will soon be public hearings.  Pay attention.  Rise above politics, put aside your ideology for a moment and objectively pay attention.  You think you’re better than Democrats.  Prove it.

The country faces an ominous choice next year; four more years of constitutional crises or a Democratic-Socialist president.  The removal or just the impeachment of Trump may ensure a Democratic victory.  But that’s relatively unimportant.  The country can survive a socialist president.  It can’t survive the continued debasement of our system of checks and balances.

The Democrats in turn, need to show some fairness to the investigations by the Department of Justice of itself.  One is DoJ Inspector General Horowitz’ look into the FISA application and subsequent renewals to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Paige. The other is the “investigation of the investigators” being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham.   This investigation is necessary to ensure accountability within the FBI and Department of Justice.  The ability of Durham to empanel a Grand Jury and expand on aspects of the Horowitz investigation will ensure any criminal indictments needed, will happen.

With all this going on nothing of substance is going to be accomplished legislatively until the Trump impeachment process is completed.  Congress should focus on these three investigations putting them all to bed before the political season gets into full swing in February of 2020. 

Democrats can start by getting Judiciary Chairman Gerald Nadler to schedule a hearing to get testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray and I.G. Michael Horowitz regarding the soon to be published I.G. report. Sequential scheduling of these hearings is the best way to focus everyone on all the issues.

The country needs closure on all this.  Reach out to your congressmen and senators, encourage them to engage these investigations objectively and quickly.