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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT Opinion: Trump Has Disqualified Himself From Running in 2020
By Will Wilkinson
Contributing Opinion Writer
Oct. 1, 2019
I think the American people are going to have a chance to decide this at the ballot box in November 2020, Beto ORourke said in March, neatly expressing prevailing Democratic opinion on the question of impeaching President Trump, and perhaps thats the best way for us to resolve these outstanding questions.
This is no longer a tenable position. The presidents bungled bid to coerce Ukraines leader into helping the Trump 2020 re-election campaign smear a rival struck decide it at the ballot box off the menu of reasonable opinion forever. Mr. Trumps brazen attempt to cheat his way into a second term stands so scandalously exposed that there can be no assurance of a fair election if hes allowed to stay in office. Resolving the question of the presidents fitness at the ballot box isnt really an option, much less the best option, when the question boils down to whether the ballot box will be stuffed.
Impeachment is therefore imperative, not only to protect the integrity of next years elections but to secure Americas continued democratic existence. If the House does its job, it will fall to Senate Republicans to reveal, in their decision to convict (or not), their preferred flavor of republic: constitutional or banana.
Mike Murphy, a Republican election consultant, recently remarked that one Republican senator told me if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump. Everyone understands that Mr. Trump is wildly popular with conservative voters, and that Senate Republicans would rather not invite primary challengers by alienating them. But when the legitimacy and preservation of our democracy are at stake, striving to keep a Senate seat safe through craven betrayal of the American people could come at a catastrophic price to the country.
It is now impossible to deny that Mr. Trump pressed Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig up dirt on Joe Biden while holding up congressionally appropriated military assistance intended to help Ukraine stave off Russian aggression. Mr. Trump loudly admitted it, and the summary of his July phone conversation with Mr. Zelensky and the whistle-blower report cast it in the worst possible light. If Mr. Trumps willing to cop to this, all while promoting an Infowars-level conspiracy theory to justify it, the American public can reasonably suspect that hes abusing the powers of his office in other ways to fix the election in his favor.
Mr. Trump has supplied American voters with overwhelming reason to doubt that any election he participates in can be fair. Thats why he cant be allowed to run for any public office, much less the presidency, ever again.
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Historic NY
(37,449 posts)Skittles
(153,169 posts)if the media had DONE THEIR JOBS
It sure didn't stop him the first time.
Martin Eden
(12,870 posts)They've been bananas for Mango Mussolini since he was installed by Putie, so I'm not holding my breath for them to change.
I just hope that if they do acquit in the Senate they will slip on the electoral banana peel and slide right out of office.
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)Tipperary
(6,930 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)It feels like their "opinion" is still getting warmed up. We need major newspapers to break the dam and call for him to RESIGN.
(Yes, I know, Pence; yes I know Trump won't resign. It's about pressure on the Senate to convict.)
bucolic_frolic
(43,177 posts)but someone should put full faith and effort into finding a loophole that does indeed disqualify Trump from running.
Is there a 25th amendment for candidates? Is rage serial tweeting akin to yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater?
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Unlike Stephens and Douthat hes not a bad faith liar.