Trump Trial
In August 1974, following release of a “smoking gun” tape, Richard Nixon resigned as President, given his illegal actions in instigating the Watergate debacle. He did so following a visit from Republican members of Congress only days before his impeachment trial was to begin. They told Nixon that he was going to be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate. Those Republicans did the right and responsible thing. As a result, thankfully, Nixon concluded resignation was better than a conviction.
Bill Clinton was impeached in December 1998 for committing perjury in connection with his immoral affair with Monica Lewinsky. The Senate acquitted him on a party line vote. I got to know President Clinton and liked him a lot. Indeed, one of my all-time favorite stories involves the President sitting in the driver’s seat of my Corvette ready to go on a joy ride with me until his Secret Service agents stopped us at the last moment. So although I liked Clinton and respected his incredible mind, I lost respect for him and believed then and now, that a Senate conviction would have been appropriate. Why? Because regardless of political party, we must all demand the utter integrity of our President. Republican or Democrat, we must all trust the President of the United States to uphold our values and our laws.
The Senate impeachment/removal trial is a travesty. As of this moment, I cannot respect any of the Republican Senators who have balls the size of peas, and especially, Witch McConnell (oops, typo). The Republican senators have abrogated their oaths to uphold the Constitution by wretchedly rigging the rules in these proceedings. The facts of what President Trump has done, both in connection with the Ukraine and the Congressional investigation are clear and irrefutable. Even the public opinion polls, which include Republican voters show we all know he obstructed justice, abused the presidential power and took action detrimental to the national security of the United States. Even last night or early today, in the midst of this trial, Mr. Trump admitted, “We have all the documents, they don’t.” THAT alone is obstruction of justice! Notably, numerous of the still living Republican Senators and John Dean from the Nixon years have said that President Trump’s conduct is far worse than Nixon’s. If this was a Democratic president, I’d demand his resignation or removal and I don’t think I’m alone. Remember that just this week every senator took a new oath to “do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God,” in determining if the president committed impeachable offenses that merit his removal from office. Hmmm; I guess the Bible isn’t as important to some of those bible belt senators as they let on to their constituents.
Finally, to my many Republican friends, seriously, what would be so wrong with removing Trump from office? The new president would be Mike Pence. He is just as conservative if not more so than Trump. I don’t like hardly anything that Pence stands for, but to my best knowledge there is no reason to challenge his integrity or trustworthiness. There is nothing in his past to suggest that Pence would insult and deride our citizens and our allies and viciously tweet away on anyone who dares to disagree with him. Pence would keep your base together next November, and probably stop some of the moderate Republicans from jumping ship and voting for a moderate Democrat, assuming that we get that right come convention time. Hell, I might even vote for a Hoosier over Bernie or Elizabeth. Or not.