[image_credit]REUTERS/Leah Millis[/image_credit][image_caption]President Donald Trump.[/image_caption]
I am willing to argue about policy, and there have been plenty of times that I have delved into learning about the opposing position. Republicans and Democrats have had plenty of policy arguments on budgeting; the arguments may be partisan, but there are factual points to be made on both sides. And they are all worth listening to. But when it comes to Trump, we jumped the shark a long time ago.
Policy means little to Trump. He only talks about the general issues as a means of getting an advantage. And as he hovers over the Republican Party like a dark dementor, he has taken the party down to his absurd level.
I respected Minnesota Republicans like Dave Durenburger or Arne Carlson – and occasionally I think Tom Emmer can make a relevant point. But since Trump, the Republican Party has devolved into jibberish and nonsense.
High deficit, tariffs: once unthinkable
Things that used to be important to them regarding fiscal budgeting have become irrelevant. It was unthinkable that a Republican president would ever consider a policy of tariffs. It was sacrilegious to increase the deficit at the current astounding rate. Democrats and Republicans used to agree on the importance of clean air and water — but not anymore.
[image_caption]Dave Mindeman[/image_caption]
The list of actual crimes keeps growing and because the Senate majority has decided to be silent during this crime spree, it continues unabated.
We have a president who thinks nothing of acquiring information on his opponents from foreign powers. And taking it a step further, it appears he has attempted to get that information by extortion.
Obstruction of justice
We have a president who committed obstruction of justice during a special counsel investigation and continues to obstruct constitutionally mandated congressional oversight.
I lived through George W. Bush’s administration and opposed him on policy – but I did not consider him to be lawless or corrupt. He put forward arguments for his constitutional authority through normal processes. Democrats fought him on that, but both sides respected the rule of law.
The current president has no respect for the law. None. He abuses his power for personal gain. He has clearly violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution. He laughs at the separation of powers. And he has an opaque view of transparency.
It is not partisanship to oppose this president. No, it is our duty to oppose this president. And the fact that the Republican Party members of Congress refuse to check Trump on his actions is a violation of their oaths of office.
A violation of American principles
You may dismiss my criticisms of this president as merely partisan attacks, but you would be wrong. This man is a violation of American principles in every aspect of his actions.
He must be impeached – even if the Republican Senate majority does nothing.
It is time to take action and let history decide.
Dave Mindeman, of Apple Valley, is a retired pharmacist. His writing appears on MN Political Roundtable, where this essay was first published.
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The thing is, you use a lot of categorical language, as if he were guilty, guilty, guilty, but then you talk about the rule of law, but he has been convicted of nothing outside of dem and corporate media opinion – and a mostly partisan impeachment that would not clear the Senate does not qualify as conviction on any particular count.
All the presidents since Reagan at least were good at manipulating the law to justify the indefensible. It was the Obama admin after all that codified the killing of American citizens extrajudiciously, and even did it, as example.
While Republicanism has devolved into absurdity, I do not see Dems being paragons of the rule of law at all. Most Americans see two different systems of law in this country, one for those with money, power and influence, and the actual law for the rest of us.
If this is your ‘argument’ then you have a long ways to go…. Could you throw anything more into the wastebasket???
When Americans do their duty and watch the impeachment proceedings and hear and see the incredibly long lists of things DJT has done, many of which are illegal and go against our Constitution, perhaps then their blind eyes will finally be opened to the truth and the sheer audacity and over-reach of this greedy, self-serving, pompous and constantly lying and manipulating ‘president’ who has spent his entire time in office spending others’ (ours!) money, raising the debt to levels never seen before (trillion$)), gutting our federal govn, and filling positions with equally unqualified and unethical types, coercing others, name calling everyone, and seeing pick after pick of his being charged with breaking the law, etc……… Just because the equally corrupt Dept of Justice under Barr now chooses to not hold DJT accountable based on some ‘guideline’ of theirs–not a LAW!–does not mean he is not guilty. They are just as power hungry as he. And just because the REPs in Congress have chosen, to-date, to be complicit and support DJT unequivocably no matter what he says and does, does not mean he is innocent!
I call upon every single American to dig deep, pay far closer attention, look past the insane partisanship and ‘spin’ and instead look closely at all of the damning details. Because anyone who still remains true to DJT then is either choosing to be simple-minded or is also complicit and does not believe in our cherished and important Rule of Law. Remember, NO ONE is above the law. Not even the president. That’s another lie being spread to the ‘little people’ to cover tracks, protect DJT, mislead the public and retain power:( Wake up, America!!!
Well LK, great passion and great opinion, agree 100% when do folks do what the forefathers did, “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor”, so does anyone think the Republican brotherhood can go there? Not I!
“see the incredibly long lists of things DJT has done, many of which are illegal and go against our Constitution”
Without defending Trump, I suspect like most of the supposed “10,000 lies” he has said depends a lot on the listener, quite open to iinterpretation. I’ve seen the list from WaPo, and a lot of it is just Trump saying things the Imperial globalist deep state does not care to hear. I suspect a lot of his supposed illegal and anti-Constitution behavior is like that too.
Of course there was plenty in gov that was illegal before and after Trump, from Obama era folk, from Comey to McCabe to Drozak etc, but they seem to get a free pass from the Left because that illegal activity apparently was part of the “resistance” – just like Hunter Biden in Ukraine and his handsy Dad get a free pass, and the Clintons before them….
There is no mechanism for convicting a sitting president other than by the senate arising from impeachment. So, by definition, no president is convicted until the senate votes.
“Killing citizens”??? Not sure what that is about. But Trump seems to have a complete disregard for legalities. If he doesn’t like a law, he ignores it. The border is a prime example. Courts have ordered that children in custody can only be detained for 60 days….Trump has ignored that. His business conflicts do not even register with him. He has no empathy, no ethics, and no limits.
It is the law of the land since Obama:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/legality-us-governments-targeted-killing-program-under-domestic-law
Dave, may I call you Dave?
I agree with everything you said 110%. Well said! Now if only others will start to see the light . . . America might still have a chance . . . if not . . . well, I pray often. That’s the truth. What the other evangelicals see in President Donald J. Trump, I’m sure I don’t know.
Sorry, Mr. Duncan, but Donald Trump has publicly admitted to betraying his oath and the Constitution on the Ukraine matter (yes, he admits to requesting/”suggesting” that Zelensky open inquiries into his political rival Biden, and yes, he deliberately withheld appropriated military funds from Ukraine, by himself and for no good reason, as context for that request; Trump only released those funds when Republicans in the Senate got upset about it).
If you have read the Mueller report, you know full well that Trump has committed many instances of obstructions of justice, over his cooperation with the Russians in the 2016 election. Trump is currently, as the author here discusses, obstructing justice over and over again by refusing to permit documents to be released or any Trump administration people to testify before Congressional oversight committees. On any or all issues! He’s thumbing his nose at the Constitution. Plus: He lies all the time, about everything. That’s why millions of us doubt that anything the White House releases (vid: phone transcripts and video recordings) are honest and truthful expressions.
Can you stop plaiyng “what-aboutism” for once, and just look at Trump? He is visibly worse than any president in our history, for what former Governor Weld two days ago called treasonous presidential behavior.
Trump is calling the nation’s bluff, asserting that he, indeed, can shoot someone to death on Fifth Avenue and no one will be permitted even to investigate him. His lawyers actually asserted that claim in court this past week–that, as president, Trump can’t be investigated for anything!
“Can you stop plaiyng “what-aboutism” for once, and just look at Trump? He is visibly worse than any president in our history,”
Every time the Left turns every thing he says or does into a “smoking gun” that is going to end his presidency, he comes out stronger and the left is diminished. Every time the left screams about what a monster he is, many of us who otherwise do not care for Trump and the Republican party, we tend to roll our eyes and think about the hypocrisy of it, as if the Obama’s and Clinton’s are saints.
Trump is surely not the worst president in American history either. That seems more hyperbolic overinflation. More like, he couldn’t be further from what many people have come to think as Presidential.
Me, I tend to think Trump is exactly the gross, crass megalomaniac this waste-based, sclerotic, eternal warmongering consumer empire deserves.
Impeachment has never been a partisan political strategy, and it isn’t this time. Presidents have only been impeached when their misconduct reaches an outrageous level, and THIS president reached THAT level barely a year into his term.
The fact that Republicans refuse to recognize Trump’s crimes IS a partisan reaction, and a shameful betrayal of their responsibilities. Tom Emmer’s response to the Impeachment announcement reveals that he and his entire party have descended into Fascist mentalities that seek to protect Trump at any cost.
House Democrats almost have no choice at this point. If they fail to impeach they would be abdicating their Constitutional mandate and tacitly endorse a descent into historical levels of Executive corruption, malfeasance, criminality , and even treason. The fact that Republicans would ignore or endorse all of this will be a stain on their Party that will take decades to erase.
I think it’s important to remember that “Impeachment” isn’t a criminal trial, and doesn’t actually require criminal conviction as per legal standards such a “beyond reasonable doubt” etc. The term “misdemeanor” as it applies to impeachment isn’t a reference to criminal code, it’s a reference to unacceptable presidential conduct.
Abuse of presidential power or influence may not be codified as a misdemeanor like public urination for instance, but it is nevertheless a impeachable offense if Congress decides to impeach.
Basically in terms of the Constitution’s checks and balances, the power to impeach is the response to a Nixon’s clam that: “When the president does it, it’s not illegal”. An impeachable offense is essentially whatever Congress says it is. You just have to get the votes if want to actually remove the president.
Informed and intelligent comments, from the left anyway. Thanks all.