At some point (maybe at the end of 2020) I think I'm going to try to write a long post on the past 4 years, and the whole Trump phenomenon.
Spoiler alert: It will be mostly just me scratching my head and saying, "I don't understand what's going on anymore."
I was floored that Donald Trump even got elected in the first place. But I attributed it to a fluke: Hillary wasn't a good candidate, low voter turnout, Democrats stayed home, etc.
But then there was scandal after scandal after scandal, and the Republicans still supported Trump. (Or they were afraid to turn on him.) It turns out, it wasn't a fluke. This is the new normal now. A sizable part of the population is now okay with this level of blatant corruption.
It's a depressing state of affairs. And if we ever have any hope of getting back to a functional government, we need to impeach Trump. It's not good enough to vote him out. A clear message needs to be sent. He needs to be impeached.
I know there are political reasons why Democrats are afraid to do it. But they're cowards. Even if the impeachment fails, it needs to be attempted.
Can you imagine what the history books will say if there are all these scandals, and there is no attempt to impeach Trump?
Not to mention, the kind of precedent it would set. Future political analysts and lawyers will be able to say, "Well, actually, Trump did something much worse, and got away with it. So why should this other president be impeached on corruption charges for something much less?"
Friday, September 20, 2019
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I am confounded by what a catastrophic mess the Democratic Party is. At least the GOP is thinking on its feet (because their quarterback is never at the line of scrimmage, but still). This morning's Andrew Sullivan Statement -- or "ASS," for short -- "he instinctual tyrant never stands still. Each time he survives, he moves the baseline" pretty much sums it up.
Unfortunately this seems to be the standard for the Democratic Party. I remember feeling this same frustration in the mid-term elections in 2002. And just about every election since then. (With the exception of the Obama euphoria in 2008). With all the waffling and non-commitment, it just is never clear what the Democratic Party stands for.
Thanks for the Andrew Sullivan link. I read that article, and I agree that his essay pretty much sums up the state of affairs right now.
Whew! I know I've become The Andrew Sullivan Guy, so I debate with myself whether or not I should pester with the posts. Glad this was not (yet) beyond the pale of your tolerance.
So now Pelosi looks into impeachment. Better late than never, but this is very late. Surely the Dems had intel re: the call to Ukraine. A move to impeach would have gained incredible momentum if it had been launched just prior to the public exposure of this call, I would have thought. It's all very frustrating.
Personally I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt about this call. But even given that, there were numerous impeachable scandals before this one. Even right from day 1 when he refused to divest from his business interests.
But I've learned a lot in the past 3 years. When I was a high school civics student, I was taught that the President was impeached when he broke the law. And for years afterwards, I thought that this was the way it worked.
Now I know that the political climate is much more important than the law.
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