Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Speaker Pelosi Calls for Articles of Impeachment
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi just announced that the House would begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Until now, the House has been able to bring a halt to the process if it seemed to be politically appropriate. Now, the Democrats are committed; the off-ramp is in the rearview mirror. The president is not going to be removed by the Senate, but impeachment can prove useful in winning the 2020 general election.
"The president leaves us no choice but to act, because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit," the Speaker said in remarks at the Capitol. "The president has engaged in abuse of power undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections. His actions are in defiance of the vision of our founders and the oath of office that he takes to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Sadly, but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our Founders and our heart full of love for America, today I'm asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment."
The president's re-election campaign manager Brad Parscale responded, "We are less than a year away from Election Day 2020 and Democrats can't possibly explain to the American people why they want to take the decision of who should be president out of the hands of voters. But impeaching the President has always been their goal, so they should just get on with it so we can have a fair trial in the Senate." No one is taking anything away from the voters. Had the Founders decided that elections alone would determine who would be president, they would not have put impeachment in the Constitution.
However, Mr. Parscale has noted the key to the whole thing is the Senate. The GOP majority there will dismiss all the charges against the president, not because he is innocent nor because the acts are not serious enough to warrant his removal. Rather, they won't vote to get rid of him because they are afraid of his base and his Twitter account. They are Profiles in Cowardice.
That should not matter to the Democrats. Indeed, it should be of benefit to them if they play their hands right. When the judge and jury are biased and acquittal guaranteed, the prosecution is free to engage in whatever showmanship it desires. The target should not be the president directly. The voters have made up their minds about him. Rather, the Republican senators must be made to squirm while they vote for the president. For instance, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was a rabid antagonist of Bill Clinton during the latter's impeachment contest, and everything he said needs to be brought up to contradict what he is saying now. The needs to be edited together and put on TV and social media.
The purpose is not to remove the president but make protecting him highly damaging to those who are going to let the GRU help pick American presidents. Winning the Senate back requires the Democrats to pick up a couple of seats, and the idea is not to get GOP voters in red states to vote blue. That isn't realistic. The purpose is to make them so uncomfortable with the Republican options that they decide to go hunting instead of voting. That, in turn, will damage the president in the few states that matter.
Cynical? Yes. It's the Trump era.
© 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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