Impeaching Trump Is Worth It, Even With the Senate Poised to Acquit

https://truthout.org/articles/impeaching-trump-is-worth-it-even-with-the-senate-poised-to-acquit/


Impeaching Trump Is Worth It, Even With the Senate Poised to Acquit

After the sun sets and all the House members have spoken their piece, Donald Trump will almost certainly join Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton in the presidential impeachment club.
Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout
Published December 18, 2019

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Donald Trump has also wantonly broken this country’s laws, and today, he faces impeachment for it. That is to say, he will almost certainly be impeached for some of it, anyway. The crimes of bribery, conspiracy, coercion, obstruction of justice and the kidnapping of children at the southern U.S. border do not appear on the articles drafted by the House Judiciary Committee and approved by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They should be there, but they are not. Instead, Trump stands accused only of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and unless the Potomac thwarts its banks and subsumes the District of Columbia, Pelosi has the votes to get it done.

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Even if some miracle of politics coalesces in the Senate and Trump is actually removed from office, the poison is already loose within the national bloodstream. It was David Frum himself who just this month wondered, “What if Trump-style politics were executed a little more deftly, by someone with a stronger work ethic?” Answer your own question, Mr. Frum, and find a mirror when you do it.

Some will say a seemingly inevitable Senate acquittal makes this whole endeavor a waste of time, even a dangerous one, as the process has invigorated an already hyped GOP base in an election year. Stuff and nonsense: The left is on fire, too, as protests in favor of impeachment are taking place today in all 50 states. More than that, the Constitution demands this impeachment, win or lose.

It is bad enough that this despicable, cruel and law-breaking president will almost certainly retain his office when all is said and done. Had impeachment not been undertaken, even in the face of possible political setbacks, the only thing left would be to turn out the lights on this thought experiment of a nation. It is dark enough already as it is.

This is an important day, a momentous day, a historic day, but not a happy day, even for those of us who have been calling for impeachment since Trump first began flouting the laws he swore to uphold. This is what we have become as a nation, and it will be a long, perilous road to recovery, if in fact we even recover at all.