Muddy Waters

14 November 2019

 

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

GOP Has No Defense for President

 

The first day of the televised impeachment hearings showed that the Republican Party has lost the case on the facts, they have lost on process and they have lost on justice. So, their strategy yesterday was to muddy the waters as best they could. The effort was partially successful, but over the long haul it is difficult to see how this works for them. What will save the Trump presidency (and this journal believes he will be acquitted on a party-line vote in the Senate) is the tribal nature of American politics in the year 2019.

The New York Times reported "Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio [a Republican] set their tone and pace, apparently betting that a sustained note of incredulity and a motor-mouth delivery could distract listeners from the fragility of his arguments. He insisted the president couldn't possibly have done anything wrong because, in the end, Ukraine got its money without committing to any investigations."

In other words, the failure of the president's attempt to extort the Ukrainian government means there was nothing wrong with what he did. Logically speaking, that means that attempted murder is OK because the victim didn't die.

Another strategem employed by the minority party was the claim that the witnesses were offering only second-hand information. They failed to mention that the persons with first-hand knowledge have refused to testify: Secretary of State Pompeo, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Also, a great many documents that could corroborate the second-hand testimony will not be presented to the House Intelligence Committee as the White House is claiming executive privilege over them. While this is an attempt at defense, it is also obstruction of justice.

In addition, some new evidence showed up that wrong-footed the president's apologists. Ambassador William Taylor stated that one of his staffers overheard a call between the president and Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland. The NYT stated, "In the call with Mr. Sondland, Mr. Trump asked about 'the investigations,' and Mr. Sondland said the Ukrainians were ready to move forward. The staff member then asked Mr. Sondland what Mr. Trump thought about Ukraine, according to Mr. Taylor. He said that Mr. Sondland replied that the president cared more about the investigations of the Bidens."

This ties the president directly to the withholding of funds, and it contradicts the Republicans' argument that the whole debacle was a rogue operation of which the president had no knowledge. So, the facts actually got worse for them.

The icing on the cake here was the remark by the Republicans' appointed lawyer Stephen Castor who said that the president's behavior was highly irregular, but "it's not as outlandish as it could be." That's true. The president could be running around the South Lawn naked and screaming about contrails, vaccines and the Illuminati. Mr. Castor might be wise to resign from a lousy job.

Nevertheless, nothing is going to move a third of the electorate that is personally invested in the Presidency of Donald J. Trump. No facts, no arguments, no act of God. They are beyond hope, and they are the only hope of the president and his lackeys. The purpose of the hearings, an impeachment vote and a trial in the Senate is to ensure Mr. Trump can't win re-election. His acquittal in the Senate for violating numerous laws is assured.


© 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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