Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Televised Impeachment Hearings Begin
It has been almost inevitable that Donald J. Trump would face impeachment at the hands of a Democratic House of Representative. The man has no sense of political norms and relishes ignoring them. He has played fast and loose with the law throughout his adult life, violating both civil and criminal statues (unindicted co-conspirator in the Michael Cohen case at least). So long as the GOP cowers at the thought of his Twitter account and so long as it controlled both houses of Congress, the president could act with impunity. He did so for the first two years of his term and developed habits that could only attract talk of impeachment. Today, the process goes on the airwaves.
The American Constitution makes the removal of a sitting president so difficult that it has never happened in the entire history of the document. At the same time, numerous presidents deserved removal. The main reason that they have survived in office is the resistance to the idea of removing an official without a vote of the people. When the electorate has the chance to get rid of the guy once every four years, that should be enough, the thinking goes.
However, the president today has another year and then some to continue in office. If he is guilty of bribery, abuse of power, obstruction of justice and other "high crimes and misdemeanors," allowing him to continue for another 14 months could prove exceedingly damaging to the Republic. If guilty, his removal needs to happen at light-speed.
That requires 67 members of the US Senate to decide the president needs to go. The Republican Party holds 53 seats. In other words, no fewer than 20 of them will need to turn on the president they fear. As things stand now, that is unlikely in the extreme.
The only thing that can change that is a shift in public opinion so great that those 20 (whoever they are) have a greater fear of enraged voters than of the Twitter activities of POTUS 45. Millions will have to be convinced who are not now. That will require the reach of TV.
The fact that the cameras will be broadcasting makes the idea of removing Mr. Trump from office feasible. There is no guarantee, however, that the needle will move one iota. American politics has become tribal. Facts matter less and less. Identity matters more and more.
Nevertheless, the broadcast of the hearings will be valuable even if public opinion doesn't shift 20 senators from the GOP. The broadcast of these hearings can create an environment that makes the re-election of Donald Trump more difficult. The 2020 election does not require a 2/3 vote to remove an incumbent. It merely requires a majority in the electoral college to vote for a challenger. Given the pro-Republican slant of the electoral college (owing to accident more than design), the Democrats will need to win roughly 55% of the popular vote to secure an electoral college majority. The televised hearings may well provide the extra few percentage points needed.
Above all, however, the hearings will show to the American people their government in action, or perhaps, their government's inaction. In either case, an informed electorate is vital to a democracy. So in that regard, these hearings are destined to be successful.
© Copyright 2019 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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