Anyone with any basic modicum of sense knew that a Donald Trump presidency would wind up as an unmitigated disaster. I write this not as some hyper partisan Democrat, but as a concerned citizen who could see very clearly that Trump was a carnival showman, an actor if you will, one who lacked the intellectual acuity and discipline necessary to be an effective leader of the Free world.
During last year’s campaign, Trump’s late in the midnight hour Tweets endeared him to millions of Americans who were drawn like moths to flames to his bombastic and bigoted rhetoric. His supporters included a large majority of conservative white men and women who longed for a return to the era where Mexicans mostly stayed in Mexico, Blacks were not uppity like Barack Obama or Ol’ Hobbs and “stayed in their places” as second class citizens per Jim Crow, and women stayed in the home or if they worked, they were seen and seldom heard from on matters of great importance.
While this reality made me despise Trump and hold his supporters who would give the keys to the nuclear launch codes to a slow witted, infantile lech in contempt, the optimist in me hoped that once Trump sat in the Oval Office, that perhaps the magnanimity of the office would prevail upon him to rapidly mature and become a TRUE leader. Well, that ain’t happening as it is clear that if you put the crown on the head of the court jester, he is still a fool and not a leader. Indeed, Trump’s foolish leaking of classified intelligence about ISIS to Russia, info gleaned from Israeli intelligence that could find its way into Iranian hands to Israel’s detriment, is beyond problematic, it is outright grossly reckless. In true Village Idiot form Trump, instead of admitting that he talks too damned much and has erred, has doubled down and remains defiant.
Not to be outdone, on the same day that the world learned that Motor Mouth Trump has compromised Israel, we learn that Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to stop his investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’ s ties with, yep, Russia. As one who practices criminal law in federal and state courts regularly, Trump arguably has crossed the line into Obstruction of Justice land, a high crime in the justice system if ever there was one.
I use “high crime” for a reason; yes, IMPEACHMENT! While as rare as a Papal Election, Trump is very well on his way to becoming the fourth President seriously considered for or subjected to impeachment proceedings, joining Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton on this infamous list.
Under Article I Section 2 of the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives is granted the sole power to impeach, which means that body serves the same function as a grand jury in regular criminal courts by considering and leveling formal charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Under Article I Section 3, the Senate is granted the power to try a President duly impeached and to vote as a jury would in a regular case on the merits of the factual allegations (Chief Justice John Roberts would serve as the presiding jurist). Both Presidents Johnson and Clinton were “impeached” or formally charged by the House of Representatives, but neither was convicted or removed from office by the Senate. (Nota Bene: Nixon resigned before formal charges could be voted upon by the House of Representatives.)
Now, you may be asking what constitutes “high crime and misdemeanors.” For Johnson, his included violating the Tenure of Office Act, failing to enforce Reconstruction Acts as passed by Congress, and “conspiring against Congress” for disparaging remarks he made undermining Congressional authority (sound familiar, Trump supporters?) As for Clinton, his charges included perjury for lying under oath about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Last, had Nixon not resigned, his charges would have included his attempts to obstruct the investigation into the burglary of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel (similar to Trump seeking to nix the Flynn investigation)
Precedent considered, it is only a matter of time before some member of Congress makes his or her move to get the legal proceedings started against President Trump. At this juncture, there is little that the president can do to shake the faith that his die hard supporters have for his administration because to these great unwashed, Trump is a target of a fake media seeking to exact vengeance upon him for beating Clinton. Such analysis is so shallow to not even warrant detailed remarks, as the simple truth is that the simpleton Trump simply was ill equipped for the job and if he is removed, such should serve as a warning to all other outsiders like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Kanye West, entertainers who see the presidency as a potential popularity contest and not a serious avocation for serious minded people, that this, too, could be their fate!
To be clear, voting for an outsider is ok if said outsider takes his or her job seriously but Trump has not, as evidenced by this critically damning quote from this morning’s New York Times:
“In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president for divulging classified intelligence to the Russians: that Mr. Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of his briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or the knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would harm American allies.”
Damn…
While such could provide Trump with a defense during a trial in the Senate in that he could not have intentionally leaked classified information because he is too dumb to know what he was saying, it arguably provides enough damning information to have him removed for a separate reason–that he is a danger to the “continuing process of the American government,” a standard articulated during the Watergate era by Yale Law professor Charles Black in his seminal work: “Impeachment–A Handbook.” In the end analysis, it is a shame that so many Americans failed to see and stop the Village Idiot from commandeering this constituional train wreck that we all now must endure.
All I can say is âThank you!â