The damn Democrats are officially launching an impeachment inquiry regarding President Donald Trump, with the blessing of very cautious House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and we can’t blame them. If a Democratic president was as credibly accused of doing what Trump stands credibly accused of doing a Republican majority in the House of Representatives would surely be doing the same, and we’d wish them well.
The proverbial straw that broke Pelosi’s rigid back is apparently the widely reported story about Trump asking the Ukrainian government to provide dirt on potential Democratic rival Joe Biden. Trump swears he’d never do such a thing, and is promising to release a transcript of the telephone conversation with the Ukrainian leader to prove it, so far now we’ll wait to see how that turns out, but given Trump’s past statements aabout his about his willingness to accept foreign interference in an election we’ll read that transcript with a suspicious eye.
Even if the latest Trump scandal about Ukraine doesn’t prove damning enough, which is quite possible given how slippery Trump has proved during his long career as a celebrity, and how loyal the hard-core fans are, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives still has plenty to work with. There are the millions of dollars that are pouring into Trump-owned businesses with every presidential golf game, and more millions of dollars of arguably unconstitutional emoluments from foreign governments pouring into other Trump-owned properties, and the special counsel investigation that documented Russia’s meddling on Trump’s behalf and cited 10 different instances when Trump tried to impede an investigation into that, which used to be considered an abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
There are a number of other impeachable offenses Trump stands credibly accused of, from altering weather forecasts with a felt tip pen to his accommodationist policy toward Russia, and several more scandals we can’t currently recall might also appear in the impeachment bill, but for now that doesn’t much matter. Even if the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives votes to impeach Trump, as it might well do, there’s little chance that the razor-thin Republican majority in the Senate will provide the 67 votes needed to convict and remove a president.
If Trump is acquitted by the Senate in an impeachment trial he’ll run on for reelection as only the fourth president to be be impeached by the House of Representatives, and on unprecedented footing. All three of the previous impeached presidents faced judgment in their second terms. and although none were convicted in the Senate President Richard Nixon did resign rather than accept that inevitable fate. Trump might well use his vindication by a Republican-majority Senate to cast himself as a victim of a “deep state” conspiracy, and by a year from from next November he’ll probably have plenty of persuasive arguments against whatever nominee the damn Democrats come up with.
Rhese scandals have a cumulative effect, though, and we figure that come a year from next November the Democratic nominee will also have plenty to say. As Trump has boasted he really could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and not lose a supporter, but he doesn’t seem to be picking up any new votes.
— Bud Norman
The Central Standard Times 