Impeachment process commences

Written By Jake Dabkowski, For The Globe

Donald Trump narrowly escaped one of the biggest political scandals of all time.  The next day he went and did it again.

No, seriously, Robert Mueller testified on July 24, and due to a variety of reasons, mostly media expectations, his testimony was a dud for impeachment-wanting Democrats. Trump had escaped by the skin of his teeth.  Then, on July 25, he called the President of Ukraine and pressured him to investigate Joe Biden, while also strongly hinting that they’d lose their military aid if they didn’t comply.

It doesn’t make sense to me.  I’ve racked my brain for potential explanations for why Trump would do this. One thought is that he felt emboldened by escaping the Russia probe, another is that he felt that he really needed dirt on Biden, because he fears him as a candidate.  But the real answer is that he’s Donald Trump – he just doesn’t care. He’s spent his entire life getting exactly what he wants, when he wants it.  He doesn’t care about the law because he never cared about the law.  The biggest argument Republicans have right now is “oh, he’s Trump, he just does that.”

The story broke, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had no choice.  She announced an impeachment inquiry. The White House published a memorandum of the phone call, trying to pass it off as the transcript. That memorandum reads like a mob boss trying to intimidate a man.  Then they released the whistleblower complaint, which paints a horrible picture of Trump’s, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s, and his Attorney General Bill Barr’s interactions with the Ukraine.

Rudy Giuliani went on Chris Cuomo and admitted that he had gone to Ukraine to get dirt on Joe Biden. He also called Chris Cuomo a “sell out” (which is, quite frankly, ironic) and repeatedly yelled about CNN being the enemy of the people. At the end of the night, Cuomo said “good night Rudy” to which Rudy replied: “you shouldn’t have a good night.”  It was one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever seen on cable news. But why do I bring this up?  Because Trump, and everyone around him, is panicking.

Republican’s defenses have been, at best, half baked. I’ve seen a lot of people say “there’s no quid pro quo” even though that’s not the standard impeachment would be held to, and also there arguably is quid pro quo with withholding the military aid. To some Republicans, I guess he would have to yell out “I, president Donald J. Trump am committing illegal crimes!”

But their opinion doesn’t really matter.  It’s on House Democrats to make the case against Donald Trump to the American people. I hear a lot about how “the senate will never convict,” but it doesn’t really matter. Either they vote to convict him and he gets removed from office, or they don’t and all have to go on record defending President Trump.

Lastly, to conclude on how bad this is: Mitch McConnell’s silence is deafening.