Trump\’s a traitorous crook. And a very bad man. Many of those around him are also crooks and bad men (and some are crooks and bad women). The GOP leadership is complicit. Some of them are crooks too. But the Dems who resist impeachment are also enablers.
They are hurting the country. The only remedy for Trump\’s crimes is impeachment. Impeachment investigations are good and we should welcome them. But they lack clout and impact when the message from some leaders is that they will need nowhere.
But the inaction is worse than that. It sends a message that the hearings are for show. And it sets a precedent that behavior like Trump\’s is acceptable. Further, not acting is a failure to uphold the oaths taken by members of Congress. It is a failure of their duty, a failure of their duty to the Constitution and to the American people. The oh-so-knowing assertions that impeachment hearings that do not lead in a removal from office will help the president politically are also wrong on many levels.
First, all presidents who have even had impeachment considered have been damaged. None has been re-elected. The reputations of all have been shattered. Next, public hearings shift public opinion. They make the defeat of Trump in 2020 more likely.
Third, they reveal the GOP who block conviction to be partners in crime of the president, hypocrites and worse who are part of the greatest assault on our laws and values by a president in our history. Fourth, the argument that impeachment will inflame Trumpists is ridiculous.
They are already inflamed. Being a Trumpist is already a form of political inflammation and extremism. It is one that is not connected to reality. It is one that twists facts to suit their narrative of hate and anger. The reality is failure to impeach also inflames them.
The reality is Trump is already using the failure to act as a sign of exoneration. Worse, he is using it as license to commit new crimes as the Ukraine whistleblower case reveals. The Congress\’ halfway impeachment kabuki theater is not enough.
The yes-we-are no-we-are-not two faced dance of Dem leaders makes them look weak and hypocritical and by extension weakens the case against the president. It also looks like what it is–self-interested desire to preserve their own jobs at the expense of the country.
I\’m starting to think the divide in the Dem Party is not so much between progressives and centrists as it is between those who understand this moment and those who do not, those who are of this era and those who are not, those ready to lead into the 20s and those who are not.
I also think the consequences of the miscalculation and pulled punches by some Dem leaders and some members of Congress needs to be political. Some of these folks need to be primaried by Dems who get it, who are ready to do what is necessary to drive change and defeat Trumpism.
That\’s not divisive. That\’s not \”blaming the Dems.\” It is a call to strengthen the party in the ways it must be strengthened if we are to shift from the go-along, get-along stance New Dems brought to the equation that enabled GOP driven service to the 1% to get out of hand.
It is a call to prepare the party for the essential fights not just to be rid of Trump but to defeat the McConnells and the McCarthys and their backers and to undo the damage to our courts, to our environment, to our institutions, to our system of law that they have wrought.
The Democratic Party is the country\’s only hope. But it needs leaders who are up to the challenge. Some of those leaders are presenting themselves in the presidential contest, @ewarren comes clearly to mind.
She is an example of a leader who has the courage to be honest and demand action and the creative and intellect to formulate a plan to defeat not only the president but his supporters and the system that enabled his triumph. But their are other candidates who might do the same.
They are not enough. We cannot wait for them. We need leadership in the House and in the Senate and we need leaders who are going to try to shape public opinion and make the case to do what is right.
Our country is in the midst of a Constitutional crisis. One man has been placed above the law. He is attacking our country and values and allies and alliances like a drug-resistant bacteria, one that our Constitutional immune system can\’t fight off.
Failure to recognize the severity of the situation and of his crimes will be fatal. Failure to act will be fatal. Our democracy is not guaranteed to survive this. And frankly, so far, it is failing the test it has faced. In part because of Trump and his gang of malevolent thugs.
In part because of those who want to frame this as just another \”DC crisis\”, a blip in our history that can be fixed merely by waiting for the 2020 elections and winning. The principle blame goes to Trump, of course.
But he is the kind of threat our leaders have sworn to protect us from. And let\’s be honest, so far, they are failing. So far, they are enabling him to do worse, to do more damage daily. So far, America is in rapid decline. Our body politic is now in the intensive care ward.
Absent real action, real courage, real leadership now, we won\’t recover. We will be permanently damaged by this bleak moment in our history. Impeachment may not lead to Trump\’s removal in office but it will reveal his crimes and underscore that there are consequences.
It will make his election far less likely and will give ammunition to defeat his majority in the Senate and his supporters everywhere. And who knows, done right, with new revelations daily, it may also do what it is supposed to do and send the message that in the US that no one, even those who think they have gamed the system with corrupt Attorneys General and Senate Majority Leaders, is above the law.
