On January 13, 2021, President Donald Trump was (again) impeached by the United States House of Representatives. Ten Republicans voted for the impeachment, too, a record level of impeachment bipartisanship. However, we should note only ten members of his party were honest and brave enough to admit Trump deserves to be impeached.
A bit more than a year ago, I was writing that Trump deserved impeachment. (And I wrote and wrote and wrote, as well as actively supporting a Democratic candidate for the office.) Though impeachment is a political process, it appears in legal terms within the Constitution:
Article II, Section 4: The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Donald Trump has worked against the interests of the United States. He has arguably promised individuals benefits for supporting him. Trump has committed crimes, ranging from obstruction of justice to inciting violence. If encouraging insurrection isn’t treasonous, nothing is.
The concept of criminal negligence should apply to Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Any corporation knowingly creating a dangerous situation would be criminally liable. By any measure, 330,000 deaths suggest a significant failure to protect and defend the citizens of the nation.
The Democrats in the House kept the article of impeachment simple, but they could have drafted a long list of charges. I wish they had, but I also understand keeping things simple.
As a political process, there’s plenty of reasons to support impeachment.
I’ve consistently argued he was unqualified and morally unfit for the presidency. Even the worst presidents, and there have been many bad presidents, were more qualified.
It’s no contest: Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of the United States.
Topping the list of worst presidents is no minor accomplishment. For once, I’d be in agreement with historians and political scientists ranking presidents.
That historians often list horrible men as “good” or even “great” presidents deeply disturbs me. I previously argued that Woodrow Wilson (Dem) and Andrew Jackson (Dem) topped the list of worsts. Historians often rank these two men within the top ten U.S. presidents. That’s inexcusable.
It’s hard to be worse than Jackson, a murderous racist who used his military and political offices for personal gain. The Trail of Tears alone places Jackson in the ranks of worst world leaders. Genocide cannot be offset by “leadership” qualities. Historians should be ashamed of considering Jackson a “top” president.
Too many experts also give Wilson high marks. He was a monster who directly contributed to the final destruction of Reconstruction. Promoting the KKK and even embracing the Red Summer of 1919, during which entire Black towns were destroyed, negated any and all other choices of Wilson as president.
Jackson and Wilson were directly, indisputably, responsible for the deaths of thousands.
Trump also embraced racists. Like Jackson and Wilson, he encouraged murder and mayhem, crimes against humanity.
We have evolved as a nation. We claim to understand that the Trail of Tears and Red Summer events were horrific examples of genocide. We are recovering the historical knowledge of these events, revising our textbooks to teach children about the brutal past.
Republicans who were quick to point out that Jackson and Wilson were Democrats now need to acknowledge that Trump belongs among those men, condemned by history for the atrocities committed during his tenure.
Donald Trump must be impeached as part of a national reckoning. We need to accept that we didn’t do enough to remove him from office earlier.
This was not a mediocre presidency. These four years were a national and global disaster.
It’s easy to forget how many mediocre and failed presidents we have endured as a nation. Of course, half of all leaders will be below average, right?
The United States endured Millard Fillmore (Whig), Franklin Pierce (Dem), James Buchanan (Dem), Andrew Johnson (Union), and Warren Harding (Rep). Even the decent man Ulysses S. Grant (Rep) was a disastrous president.
History might reevaluate some presidents following the Trump years. Some look downright great by comparison.
Good men, or at least well-intentioned men, also failed as presidents. Calvin Coolidge (Rep), Herbert Hoover (Rep), Jimmy Carter (Dem), and George W. Bush (Rep) receive some unfair criticism… and some deserved for their lack of leadership skills.
Donald Trump was not well-intentioned. He was not a good man in over his head. No, Trump was evil. If we cannot successfully convict an evil man during an impeachment trial, our nation stands for nothing.
Discover more from Almost Classical
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
