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.
