{"id":712,"date":"2019-09-26T17:53:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T21:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/wordpress\/almostclassical\/?p=712"},"modified":"2025-01-09T22:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T04:08:19","slug":"trump-should-be-impeached","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/2019\/09\/26\/trump-should-be-impeached\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Should Be Impeached"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump should be impeached. He doesn\u2019t deserve to be president.<\/p>\n

You never, ever abuse a position of power. When the Presidente of the United States abuses power, that must be grounds for impeachment.<\/p>\n

The president is the executive. The head of all law enforcement. The Commander in Chief. The head of state. He or she is the symbol of what we are as a nation.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump is a horrible representative of our people.<\/p>\n

He has tolerated Russian interference in our politics. I was not and am not convinced Trump or the Russians assumed he could win. This was more about seeding chaos. But, Trump did win and a president has a responsibility to defend our system. Trump has failed to lead against Russia.<\/p>\n

Now, the Ukraine mess. From The Washington Post<\/a>, an excellent timeline of events, which begins with this background:<\/p>\n

We learned late Monday that President Trump ordered the withholding of military aid to Ukraine about one week before his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25. It\u2019s a detail that will add to questions about whether Trump was tying the aid to the Eastern European country investigating former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.<\/p>\n

A whistleblower complaint alleges that someone \u2014 apparently Trump \u2014 might have made an inappropriate \u201cpromise\u201d to a foreign leader. Trump has denied this, but he has admitted to discussing the Bidens with Zelensky on that call, and he has suggested that it would be okay for him to withhold money from a country that doesn\u2019t root out \u201ccorruption.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Presidents do not get to withhold funds approved by Congress, yet Trump used funds to pressure Ukrainian leaders, particularly a newly elected leader.<\/p>\n

And then, the president and others tried to cover up this abuse of power.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no defense for his behaviors in office. The latest revelations simply continue a pattern, reinforcing Trump is Trump.<\/p>\n

Bullying the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden? Typical Trump.<\/p>\n

Hunter Biden\u2019s personal problems and financial shenanigans pale in comparison to anything Trump has done. And, though I do not consider Joe Biden a great choice for president, he\u2019s overall a decent human \u2014 certainly better than 99% of politicians.<\/p>\n

Trump has no moral authority to lead a nation in need of a moral compass. He has no decency, at all.<\/p>\n

Impeachment is a political process, we must remember. If the public overwhelmingly wanted him removed from office, he would be. But, in our era of political tribes and party loyalty, Trump will remain in office.<\/p>\n

Worse, I fear that impeachment might lead to another four years of Trump.<\/p>\n

Trump appeals to the persecution complex of his followers. There\u2019s just enough truth in what he suggests that his supporters embrace the entirety of his self-pitying victimhood.\u00a0Progressives helped create Trump, with their over-the-top identity politics. Trump offers his own identity politics, xenophobic nationalism that offers to defend traditions that never were all that great.<\/p>\n

Bill Clinton was, overall, a good president. He was moderate and did what he believed was best for governance.<\/p>\n

And, yet, I believe\u00a0Bill Clinton deserved to be impeached. He was a serial abuser of women (the evidence is a lot stronger than people care to admit). He lied to a grand jury. Excusing Clinton contributed to the creation of Trump.<\/p>\n

Let me emphasize the obvious: Donald Trump is worse than Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

Clinton had a moral failing, one that today would (or at least should) prevent his ascent to the presidency.<\/p>\n

Trump has far more failings. He is willfully ignorant. He\u2019s a liar. He\u2019s dangerous.<\/p>\n

But, unlike Clinton, I fear Trump will not be impeached<\/a>\u2026 must less be convicted and removed from office.\u00a0I complained about this before, with the same despair I continue to feel.<\/p>\n

If a phone call to the Ukrainian president brings down Trump, that would be astounding.<\/p>\n

Trump must be impeached if we care about the rule of law and standards of conduct. It is unlikely he will be convicted and removed, but impeachment might help motivate some opposition to him.<\/p>\n

There’s no way I am voting for Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. Impeachment might help a moderate candidate rise.<\/p>\n

Presidents being allowed to bend laws, break norms, and behave poorly should be a thing of the past. I never understood the defenders of Bill Clinton. Crimes are crimes, in my mind. I assumed I would never experience that same sense of frustration and despair.<\/p>\n

No, it isn\u2019t the same. It\u2019s worse. Much worse.<\/p>\n

The list of crimes, likely crimes, and incredibly incompetent policies, should disqualify Trump from re-election and ensure his impeachment.<\/p>\n

How can Republicans defend Donald Trump? How can his support remain so high among GOP voters?<\/p>\n

My values aren\u2019t as flexible as those of the average voter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump should be impeached. He doesn\u2019t deserve to be president. You never, ever abuse a position of power. When the Presidente of the United…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":1,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,36,8,43],"tags":[193,181,80,151,130],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data","category-history","category-politics","category-constitution","tag-biases","tag-bill-clinton","tag-trump","tag-impeachment","tag-political-parties","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/AC_Banner_Gray_1200x630.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfivL7-bu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1380,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712\/revisions\/1380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/almostclassical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}