Some Conservatives favor removing Trump from office--The Tide is Turning

Daniel Larisonn (@DanielLarison; Senior editor at The American Conservative)
) https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/a-necessary-remedy-for-brazen-corruption/
A Necessary Remedy for Brazen Corruption
By Daniel Larison • October 4, 2019, 11:46 AM

More evidence has emerged from the record of U.S. officials’ text messages to support the charge that the president was conditioning U.S. military assistance on Ukrainian cooperation with politically-motivated investigations:

***

Even if the military assistance hadn’t been linked to the corrupt favor that the president wanted, asking the Ukrainian government for help against a political rival is an egregious abuse of power. That it also apparently involved manipulating U.S. policy for the president’s personal benefit makes it that much worse. This would hardly have been the first time that the president has committed an abuse of power, but it is one of the clearest examples of abusing the power of his office for his own gain. Using public office for private benefit is the very definition of corruption, and it is what impeachment was created to punish and deter.
Yesterday, the president just blurted out more requests for foreign interference in the 2020 election:
President Trump on Thursday publicly urged China to investigate Democratic challenger Joe Biden, a new request that a foreign government assist his reelection campaign adding to the extraordinary pattern of conduct at the center of a fast-accelerating impeachment inquiry.
With his brazen and direct appeal to the Chinese, delivered before journalists assembled on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump seemed to make a mockery of the charge that he abused the power of his office by pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to examine unfounded allegations of corruption by Biden and his son Hunter.
If it weren’t so serious, it would almost be funny that the supposed nationalist is asking for foreign governments to help him against his domestic rivals. It isn’t really surprising that someone as venal as Trump would put his own interests ahead of the country’s, but it is still striking to see how shameless he is when he does it. It is Trump’s brazenness and shamelessness that make the argument for impeachment and removal that much stronger. We are not looking at an isolated incident, but a pattern of behavior that stems from the president’s lack of integrity and his willingness to abuse his position to extract personal favors to the detriment of our system of government. If he doesn’t face any consequences for this, we know that he will do more of the same, and future presidents will conclude that they can get away with similar behavior. The president has violated the public’s trust, and he has made clear that he intends to keep violating it. He should no longer be in a position to continue those violations.

Rod Dreher (@roddreher; Righty journalist, Orthodox Christian, Southerner, etc.)
October 3rd
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-china-big-mouth/

Trump’s Big Mouth


After taking a shot at Biden’s son, the author turns to Trump.

The dodgy relationship between the vice president and his lobbyist/investor son is completely legitimate as a political target. But you don’t ask a foreign government to launch an investigation into your rival! You especially don’t do it when you are about to undergo an impeachment investigation for having asked the Ukrainian president to do the same thing, and having done so under an appearance of a quid pro quo.
China is not Ukraine. Ukraine was at least not a hostile country to the United States. China is our chief adversary on the world stage. And now the President of the United States has appealed to our chief adversary to investigate his top political rival. And worse, the US is now in extremely important trade negotiations with China. The president has just signaled to the Chinese that it would please him if they would investigate his political rival and his rival’s son’s business dealings in China.
It is arrogant, and it is foolish, and it might be illegal. Trump is daring the Democrats to impeach him. And he is putting his defenders in an impossible position. He did not have to do that. He and his media team could be talking about Hunter Biden and China nonstop, and compelling the media to cover it … but he did not have to appeal to China like this.
He couldn’t help himself. Because he’s Donald Trump, and he’s reckless as hell. This is the same man who, one day after dodging a Russia collusion bullet on the Mueller Report, was on the phone with the Ukrainian president asking him to investigate the Bidens.
Where does it stop? Is there anything he won’t do, or won’t say? If this is what Trump is saying in public, what is he doing behind the scenes?
Trump is making it clear why there need to be impeachment hearings. I am not saying that there should be an impeachment conviction. I don’t know yet; I’ll wait for the hearings. But he has to be reined in. This kind of conduct is disgusting.

There is also an article on Sec of State Pompeo, suggesting that if he continues as he is, he may be remembered as the worst SOS in modern history.

Anyway, it is interesting. These anti-Trump folks are called RINOs by the far Right idiotlogues.