Impeaching Trump Might Be Good For America

Yesterday as I was watching Nancy Pelosi urge the House Judicial Committee to file articles of impeachment a light bulb lit up in my head. 

I saw Democrats lick their chops. The left-leaning media could not resist showing their glee. Many Democrats appearing on TV expressed their joy. Rank and file Democrats gleefully exchanged high fives.

Republicans have been adamant in their stand. Democrats, in their view, are trying to undo the 2016 election because they do not like Trump and they cannot go past the fact that Clinton lost. Many of the investigations have been fishing expeditions in search of a potential crime or embarrassment. They see the Administrative State (AKA Deep State) complicit in these attempts. Some see it as nothing more than harassment.

The notion that it might be good for the nation started to loom clearly to me …

Here is my reasoning.

Democrats have been seething with anger and rage since November 2016. It has become an all-consuming affair. The shock of Clinton’s unexpected loss after being assured that Clinton’s win was in the bag was too hard to accept and too much to digest.

A call-to-arms ensued: resistance at all costs. In the Democrats’ mind, Trump was unworthy of the presidency. Trump’s style was obnoxious, his past unsavory, and he often behaved as a scoundrel. The future of the nation was surely in peril. They concluded that they should act quickly to prevent him from taking office or to remove him from office as rapidly as possible. Failing all that Trump should be defeated in 2020.

It was imperative that misdeeds by Trump should be found that would fit the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors.  Operatives and Never Trumpers were encouraged to come forth with anything that embarrassed him or that appeared to be inappropriate or illegal.

Democrats felt that they had to stop or slow down Trump’s agenda. Blue states launched numerous lawsuits to thwart or put an end to any executive actions by Trump. Sympathetic judges would be asked to issue nation-wide injunctions that would halt their implementation.

In early 2017 Representative Green suggested that the House approve articles of impeachment based on what Trump might have done or said prior to the election. The Resistance proponents advanced the notion that it was a high priority to look for offenses that might fit the definition of crimes and misdemeanors.

The Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia was ominous but expected. The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy, however, was not. Democrats saw it as the death knell of hard won decisions. A vicious attack was launched to derail the nomination.

Democrats were hopeful that the Mueller investigation would prove collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russian interference in the election, and confirm the suspicion that Trump had obstructed justice in his interaction with and dismissal of Director Comey of the FBI.

Many were rubbed the wrong way by Trump’s style and approach. People did not like his personal attacks on people who disagreed with him. His constant use of twitter was decried and ridiculed. Career employees in the Administrative State (AKA the Deep State) were unhappy feeling by-passed or overruled on policy issues.

CNN’s and MSNBC’s evening news cycle was peppered with incendiary exclamation marks: Bombshell, Explosive, Revelation, Stunning, Extortion, Bribery, Intimidating, Game Over, Walls Are Closing In, and so on. All intended to affect the national audience. Many of the breaking news proved to be duds.  The public responded by turning off their TV. In November CNN’s viewership during prime time was a measly 318,000 viewers. MSNBC’s was about 650,000.

Several lawsuits initiated by the blue states have started to crumble as they worked their way up through the appeal process.

The Mueller Report found no collusion and was noncommittal on the obstruction of justice.

Then, miracle … the Ukraine fiasco surfaced. Democrats were infuriated. How dare Trump use foreign aid to gin up dirt on a Democratic opponent in 2020? This was surely an abuse of power. Trump has to go now or he would surely win a second term.

Republicans have stuck to their position. In their view, the inquiry witnesses, except one, were opinion witnesses who testified that they had no first hand information but they had heard from someone who had heard it from someone else. The exception was Ambassador Sondland. He twas a fact witness who testified that President Trump told him that he did not want a quid pro quo from the President of Ukraine except that he do his job.

The needle on the public opinion has not moved one millimeter. Democrats continue to use polls that show that the public is in favor of impeachment but the sampling is suspect and self-serving. Not a single Republican has joined what is seen as a partisan Democratic inquiry. Trump’s base is standing solidly behind him.

Thirty-four percent of African Americans have expressed a favorable view of Trump according to the Emerson and Marist polls. Many independents view the proceedings as a partisan fishing expedition. This does not bode well for the Democrats. African American traditionally are a rock solid voting block.

Nancy Pelosi’s urging of the Judicial Committee to draft impeachment articles prior to the completion of the inquiry is viewed as a rush to judgment. Many saw Pelosi’s news conference and entanglement with a reporter as panic and desperation.

Joe Biden challenge to an 83-year-old voter in Iowa, who questioned his mental acuity and conflict of interest in Ukraine, to take an IQ test or to do pushups, was ludicrous.  

Relax, Joe! You age is starting to show. BTW – I am several years Joe’s senior.

Time for Catharsis

After 3 years of resistance without anything to show for it except increased frustration, impeachment by the House would be a big win for Democrats. Never mind that it would die in the Senate. It would rekindle hope for better things to come. 

It is a time for cleansing and redemption … without it we cannot move on.

I hope that impeachment by the House will wash away some of the anger and diminish the amount of hate hurled at one another. 

Maybe we can get back to a more civil discourse. In the end, we all want the same thing … a better future for everyone!