Facing laughable White House defenses, the House Impeachment Show is already a triumph, the most sustained blitz that exposes both mindset and crimes of the Despicably Deviant Trump (DDT) Syndrome. Plus, current GOP Senate candidates, visibly colluding with a guilty president, are stuck defending a kangaroo court cover-up every day until the November election. The mightiest punch so far to the Trump gut, Impeachment thus presents the greatest threat to Republican Senate control — in short, a welcome win-win for the Trump resistance.
Nothing — not Trump’s ugly, ignorant campaign, nor congenital mendacity, not illegal payoffs to prostitutes, nor scandalous sex-harassment videos, not the lawless Comey firing (and cover-up) — and tragically, not the blunted Mueller Report — eviscerates Trump as does today’s House Impeachment. Has anything more clearly established a calculating, career criminal as president? A growing U.S. majority, needing no more witnesses, already supports conviction and disgraceful exile. Yeah for the wisdom of the people — smarter, and more in touch with principles than slavish, fixated senators!
Kudos also to once cautious Democrats, now effectively promoting what over 55% of us knew months ago: America staggers when a vindictive, deranged creep holds our top office. Big surprise: bad things happen when bad guys reign, and worse still when arrogantly acting above the law. The Impeachment presentation confirms that rational adults, mounting a bully pulpit more than equal to mere Trumpian stagecraft, can spotlight, even offset an unhinged WH crime wave.
Abuses for the ages
This is an Impeachment for the ages because the severity and magnitude of Trump abuses are for the ages. Had Trump simply ambushed a needy foreign president, concocting illegal conditions to withhold approved military assistance, that could qualify as impeachable. But worse still, Trump coerced a foreign power for (fabricated) campaign dirt on a fellow American capable of unseating him. And most revealing, most unsettling of all — if sanity matters — were the delusional shake-down drivers: fantasy Biden corruption and the non-existent Ukrainian server — the one that couldn’t disrupt ’16 campaign. That astonishing, compounded set of crimes (no mere funding withhold) not only justifies impeachment but offers proof positive Trump is deranged. Who else but an unhinged Russian pawn, suckered by propaganda, would put his presidency on the line — then follow up with pitiful denials and massive, inept cover-ups?
You can pick your crimes here and what each abuse tells us. For me, risking the presidency so overtly (observed by a fistful of witnesses) because of Russian nonsense makes Trump not just unfit but dangerous — to us and the world. That all ties in with his irrational challenge to the right of Congress to impeach (duh?) — let alone forever mouthing this epic whopper: the Ukrainian blackmail call was “perfect.” Sleepy fourth graders can unpack that fakery. Talk about overplaying the Big Lie gambit, inviting the current (and predictable) boomerang flood.
Exposure that stands alone
So, if Impeachment opens Pandora’s truth box like nothing else— exposing core aspects of a naked, show-business Emperor —I say: why not keep the reality parade going? Now millions should want to know all the impeachable corruptions left on the cutting room floor. To wit:
- Gross violations of the Emolument Clause, turning election into a profit center for Trump, Inc.
- Obstructions of justice, beginning with Comey, but distilled in non-stop stonewalling against legitimate subpoenas and witness demands.
- Illegal connivance, using unauthorized funding to build fractions of that stupid Wall.
- Sabotage that damages key U. S. institutions
and countless honorable public servants, from intelligence
pros and military brass to top diplomats.
- Insupportable nepotism, leveraging unqualified relatives as high advisors and national representatives.
- Finally, empowering a rogue “personal
attorney” (yes, that Rudy) to undermine our laws, State
Dept., foreign policy and steadfast ambassadors.
Got any others? In short, less is not more when it comes to House impeachment mandates. Further, why stop at the president? Overwhelming testimony confirms top officials were actively “in the loop.” If shaking down the Ukrainian president to corrupt an election was a team effort, why not hold all malefactors liable? Like VP Pence, vulnerable on obstruction of justice, complicity and/or conspiracy, failure to report crimes, or just being a spineless door map. How about Sec’y of State Pompeo, spanning conspiracy, Ukrainian misdeeds, deception and coverups, then duplicity to coverup the coverup. Quoting Wash Post’s Max Boot, “Pompeo has become a Trump mini-me who emulates his master in boorishness, bombast, and bullying.” And finally, don’t let AG Barr escape scrutiny, digging into any Ukrainian connections, conspiracy, obstruction, lying to Congress, even failure to investigate emolument crimes. Only in-depth evidence of “the entire loop” honors reality.
Look, having polished its impeachment credentials, the House should complete its Constitutional task and investigate all power abuses. More indictments would tie up the do-nothing Senate for months, with no appreciable downside I see. It’s not as if this GOP-run syndicate doesn’t compete for the least credible, least capable and most unprincipled Senate in our history. We won’t know what high crimes and misdemeanors have already been done — or still in the works — without unfettered investigations, however difficult.
Okay, I understand even a good thing can be overdone. But we endure a nightmare of Rethuglican governance, especially with unconscionable attacks on climate change science, dumb saber-rattling, plus shameless defenses of corrosive inequality of wealth. Is this the time for House reticence from authorized duty? If not the House, who will call out and confirm the mafia-style boss and crime wave making America much worse? I say: more impeachment indictments, with complete scrutiny of all villains. How else can 2020 voters wisely overcome reams of fake news, look truth in the face, and make rational, country-saving decisions?
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