One of the main people in said debate was an old high school chum of mine who is now living in the States. He was convinced that the entire impeachment process was an effort by the "Deep State" to remove Trump and install their own leader illegally.
My well-researched response to the initial argument presented a clear record of what crimes had indeed been committed by the administration.
Criminal Bribery: According to U.S. Code 201 B2B(2)(a) this occurs when a public official demands anything of value personally in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act. Given that Trump ordered a hold on $391 million in military aid to Ukraine a week before the infamous phone call, it seems clear that a quid pro quo was intended. He even blatantly said as much on live television in October 2019.
Abuse of Power: See the above. I followed this up with a reference to Article I of the Constitution: "And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind." Trump is violating that clause by accepting and encouraging foreign governments to pay to stay at Trump resort properties without Congressional approval.
Contempt of Congress: Trump has repeatedly obstructed investigations by refusing to provide documents and instructing his advisers and government officials not to testify. Ignoring a court order in itself is punishable by fines and jail time.
Obstruction of Justice: See above, plus the Mueller report detailed multiple infractions in which Trump acted to impede investigations. Not to mention Article II of the Constitution: "[The president] must take care that the laws be faithfully executed".
Trump has not done that; in fact he has instructed officials to not comply with legal orders. Neither has he complied with legal orders.
At least two people countered my arguments with theories about Trump being framed by the Democrats, but gave no supporting evidence to that effect. Another used an obvious deflection: "Obama did the same things, nobody said anything, and there was no justice."
I asked the skeptics to provide evidence for their claims, but they wouldn't, with the exception of one who insisted the following:
"No witness had first hand knowledge [of the phone call] and anyone who claimed to be a witness were huge donors to the Democrats. The FISA Court warrant was also brought under erroneous facts because it was based on information from a company that does investigative work to find dirt on other people's campaigns. Supposedly the Democrats hired a British intelligence officer to write the report and the document was used for the FISA warrant, and none of the exculpatory evidence was shared with the court."
I was in the process of trying to counter that when several other participants resorted to name-calling. At that point I bowed out of the conversation. It was clear that these people were die-hard Trump supporters and nothing I added would change their minds.
One last poster echoed my argument; as of this writing there has been no response:
"President Trump literally admitted live on air that he asked Ukraine to investigate the Bidens as a condition of getting mandated Congress-authorized military aid released, and a White House visit. The president also expressly asked other nations to do the same, live on television, to better his chances of re-election. The White House has refused to comply with valid Congressional subpoenas, which is a textbook example of obstruction of justice. These are literally the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors. I'm not pointing this out as a supporter of the Democratic Party (I am not), however President Trump has overstepped and is clearly guilty, by his own words. For the House of Representatives to have nothing would have been wrong."
It hurts me to read so many posts on social media where the ignorance concerning the gravity of the political situation is so blatant. If Trump somehow gains a second term, it's my belief that the United States as we know it will cease to exist. The concept of democracy will be reduced to nothing more as as afterthought as the rich and corrupt empower themselves to the expense of everyone else.
Some theorize that the only way to stop this is to spark a second civil war. There are already rumblings to the effect from "MAGA" supporters who claim that they'll gather their guns and "fight to the last man" if Trump is removed from office.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment