I am no lawyer or constitutional scholar. I am not sure I have any right to comment on the ridiculous political occurrence transpiring in the Oval Office right now. Given how unprecedented this is, it seems anyone with half a brain and interested in trying to figure this crap out is warranted in having an opinion.
I have not watched any of the proceedings around the impeachment. I am certain that there are procedural issues that I will miss. This thing seems incredibly complex from a legal standpoint, but pretty simple from a political one; the GOP wants to keep Trump in power at all cost, and the rest of society acknowledges, to some extent, that his presence in the Oval is troubling, at best. The questions being asked frame the issue in reference to other malfeasance that has come from the Oval. They attempt to determine if there is relevance to the claims that Trump broke the law. This effort to brand him a criminal misses a very important point..that he does not have to commit a crime to be eligible for removal from office.
Imagine if a surgeon entered an operating room exhausted, drunk, angry, or grieving. Whatever the case, they probably have no idea who they are operating on and don’t care. They have no ill will and no reason to injure the patient; in fact, they have taken an oath to do the opposite. They struggle through a 13 hour surgery, cleaving skin, excising malignant tissue, and suturing the opening, but they nick an artery in the effort, and the patient dies. Was there criminal intent? Did the surgeon want to harm the patient? Of course not, but their failure is still a problem, and the surgeon must face the consequences of their malicious ineptitude.
As Trump descended down the escalator the day of his announcement, we received a powerful metaphor for what was to come. Why in the fuck would any campaign manager or advisor allow him to be filmed slowly slipping down, as if to indicate he was prepared to drag the country down to the bowels of repugnant ignorance and deplorable behavior? As soon as the thought entered my mind, the answer followed…if he has some sort of advisors, they are either too inept to assess the optics of that event, or they did not possess the power to change his mind about what he wanted for the event. Either way, it was a harbinger for the administration. Once elected, there clearly was no effort to transition from the successful Obama administration. Trump was certain that he could operate the presidency as he had every construction project and entertainment venue in which he managed. He was self-assured that he would always be the smartest person in the room and there was nothing he could not handle.
The next step in figuring this menagerie of incompetence is to consider what type of guy Trump is and how would he handle a business transaction. Do you think he enters negotiations with an interest in determining a mutually beneficial agreement for all parties involved? If that were true, wouldn’t you think at least one of his properties would not be a garish symbol of opulence and horrendous taste? He approaches everything the same way, that it is a problem that needs to be grabbed by the pussy and fucked until it acquiesces to his plan. This maniacal-bull-in-the-china-shop handling of everything pairs poorly with his obvious insecurity issues. He engages the press like a petulant toddler, can you imagine how pitifully he behaves with his cabinet and the joint chiefs? He was woefully unprepared for this, but he has enough money and power that he can surround himself with sycophants desperate for his admiration and willing to fuel his malignant narcissism.
There is every indication that the overarching trait of this administration is incompetence. Whenever they accidentally assign someone with some knowledge and experience to a role, they either realize the shitstorm they have entered and hastily leave, or they cross Trump and are expelled. There is no one with the guts or experience in the administration to direct or correct Trump, especially on matters of foreign policy and national security. In my opinion, you have to have someone involved who knows what they are doing to have criminal intent. There is no question in my mind that Dick Cheney leveraged his power and the incompetence of his boss to influence our engagement in numerous lengthy foreign campaigns, all with the intent to become richer. To pull this off, Cheney had to have knowledge, experience, and a desire to commit the crime to be guilty. Clearly he was a master criminal, because he was never charged with anything.
Trump, on the other hand, is an idiot. Normally this would be considered an opinion, but given how often he is willing to prove this to be true, it can no longer be considered anything other than fact. He is the opposite of the constitutional scholar who warmed the seat for him. He was told by someone that there was a connection between Biden and Ukraine, and that we were going to give them something, and he reacted. Drunk on power and incapacitated by stupidity, he lurched to the phone and decided to “negotiate” a way to harm his primary competition in 2020. Do you find this preposterous? THE ASSHOLE BEGGED RUSSIANS TO ATTACK HIS POLITICAL OPPONENT ON NATIONAL TELEVISION IN 2016. He had no concept of how wrong that was. She was a problem, he thought he knew who could help, and so he reached out to them. How in the world can people witness that nonsense and think that he is incapable of coercing a foreign entity into acting in his favor against a political opponent. Did he think he was breaking the law? Of course not, because he didn’t care and never took the office he holds seriously enough to be concerned with how he presides over the nation.
Just like the surgeon, Trump must answer for his neglect. High crimes and misdemeanors is intentionally broad to encompass more than just murdering someone on 5th avenue. It means that Congress can bring charges against a president for any dereliction of duty. The only reason that this could not be done during the Russian collusion debacle is because it was too difficult to tie him to that. Let’s face it, a woefully inept electorate holds the power over who will be in office, so there were many democrats who were concerned about the optics of impeaching the president over an issue that was so nebulous. The Ukrainian issue is far more clear. He directly engaged a foreign power to interfere with the upcoming election. He engaged an Art of War style effort to bring suffering to a fellow American to further his agenda. I am not sure a private citizen could commit these acts without facing legal consequences, so why is it acceptable for the President of the United States to do this?
Trump needs to face the consequences of what he has done. We can no longer make this a political decision regarding what is best for the Democratic party. Congress has a job to do. It must serve as an effective check against the power of the Executive Branch. If Trump is innocent of wrong-doing, surely he will survive the Senate unscathed. There should be no interference in testimony, since he has nothing to hide. There should be a vote, which will likely result in acquittal, not because he is not guilty, but because a majority of senators will likely vote based on party loyalty rather than an unbiased commission of their duty. None of this changes the need for the event to occur.