Donald John Trump, President of the United States, has been impeached. I have no argument with the end result -- but as for the rest...mother of God, what a train wreck.
Let's start with the beginning: Mueller said it was not for him as special counsel to determine if Trump was guilty of a crime -- he also said that he could not exonerate him either. Mueller basically said that it was for the legislative branch to make that determination. Here's why that's both right and wrong: first off, how could anyone realistically expect a Justice Department official to go against the heavyweights in the Department, Trump appointees, who were not in favour of Mueller making a determination. But he should have done so, at least as a recommendation to Congress.
The other huge thing wrong is that impeachment is in no way a legal process, you know, the proper forum for making a criminal determination. That forum is the courts. So, impeachment is entirely and only political, unless...and that's what's missing. Remember that Clinton's impeachment was pillared by the president's perjury in the Paula Jones deposition. That was the solid anchor for the political process in the House. No such luck here. That's why Democrats were foolish not to solidify the political with an Obstruction of Justice Article, stemming from Mueller's report.
Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress are soft-ball articles. They are sufficient to impeach but not credible enough to bring along partisans and voters of the other party, or even the public at large. That's the Democrats' Achilles heel. How that could swing in 2020 is anyone's guess. As Clara Peller famously said, where's the [criminal] beef?
Now to the strategic errors: this process has moved far too expeditiously. Democrats were wrong not to fight for Administration witnesses. Impeachment should not have been managed to run out the clock by Christmas. What a mistake. Trump's legitimate claims of Executive Privilege remain legitimate until punted by the courts -- which they surely would have been, based on an avalanche of case law. Recalcitrant witnesses should have been held in contempt of Congress. Again, forget the political and election calendar. Run the damned thing as solidly as possible, to bring over independents based on as strong a political and legal case (via the courts) as possible.
But what about sending over the Articles to the Senate? This is incredibly dangerous ground for Democrats. They need to be expeditious about this -- to do otherwise would amount to interfering with due process and would play into Republican hands. In short, perceived illegitimate delay loses the Democrats votes in 2020.
Another factor that's a pox on both parties is their blatant partisan demeanour and their evident insincerity and bad faith. Funny eh, how all Republicans said A during the Clinton impeachment and now say B -- and surprise, surprise, most Democrats say A now but said B during Clinton...fucking politicians, with absolutely no credibility nor consistency. What assholes.
At least a precious few had the balls to break ranks -- to think for themselves and not vote as party trained seals.
Like I said, one hell of a bipartisan shit-show. Last time, the country swung in Clinton's direction after he was impeached -- all bets are off for 2020 and who gains big from Trump's impeachment. Maybe it's Trump and maybe it's not, if polls hold steady, which they may not.
That's what is truly wrong with American politicians. No matter which party they represent, almost all of them are no better than the iconic Lindsay Graham...
No comments:
Post a Comment