“I will say that the politics may or may not work out in the right way, but we’re a country of laws. You have to enforce the laws.” Andrew Yang

It seems to me that the Democrats are a little like the dog that caught the school bus; now what do they do? Putting aside, for a second, all the good reasons for Impeachment, there are lots of good reasons not to Impeach. Trump is, by reputation, an excellent street fighter, willing to escalate a disagreement to a wild Twitter attack that most politicians are not equipped to handle, the whole affair is too “inside the beltway” and too technical to be compelling to many, if not most, Americans are a couple. Pelosi’s assessment has been that the people are not really interested, they want the time spent on lawmaking – lawmaking which, in an increasingly toxic Washington, even without Impeachment, is almost impossible under Pelosi, Trump, and McConnel – and the Impeachment hearings, a Democratic action, will be blamed as a distraction. Perhaps, most importantly, Impeachment is a political act, a very Divisive Act. This impeachment is not going to be good for the country. Maybe it will be better than no impeachment, but it will not be good, it will not be healing.

I share those concerns. I was never a big fan of the Russian collusion story line. Yeah, Trump wanted the Russians to tap the Democrats’ computers and even asked for their help on National Television. And, sure, the Russians probably did help Trump – or tried to – but, so what? Don’t get me wrong, I do think that Trump may be a crook and he is surely a con-man but I don’t think the help he received rises to the level of an indictable crime. The problem with Trump is not just one thing, one crime he committed, it’s that he has committed hundreds of almost crimes, or sort of crimes, or should be crimes. He has slimed the Presidency more than criminalized it. He is, by nature, an autocrat who puts himself above the Government, and, in doing so, he is attacking us, us being Western Liberal Democracy. Our Courts, our liberal Constitution with its separation of powers, our liberal laws, and conventions, our professed ideals, are all under attack.

Trump was only a candidate when the Russian thing happened and, as much as I thought it was, at best, a worthless snipe hunt, the rules are and should be different for a sitting President. Even by the White House summary of the conversation, Trump seems to have strong-armed the Ukraine President. He refused to act in a way mandated by Congress, holding back the shipment of a much needed defensive weapons system to leverage a personal favor (or partisan political favor, if you prefer). And that’s according to the White House version which is undoubtedly a whitewashed version. The Administration knew this was illegal; they locked down the phone conversation records in as secret a file as they could, hiding it as deep as possible.  

By doing so, President Trump has given Congress no option other than Impeachment; the whole purpose of the House, the People’s Chamber, is to control or, at least, restrain the Executive’s actions. That is why the House is given the power of the purse, they control the money. I keep reading that the Impeachment Claus – The President…of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors – is unclear, but it’s unclear on purpose, to allow a broad interpretation. At the time the Constitution was written, the new United States were surrounded by tyrants. The Founders knew tyrants and they didn’t trust them; tyrannical rule is what they were revolting against and they wrote the Impeachment Clause as wide as possible; if the Executive became a Tyrant, acting in a way the people didn’t approve, the Founders said The President…of the United States, shall be removed.