Donald Trump may very well be impeached.
I never thought it ever had much chance of happening because of Republican control of the Congress, nor was I convinced it would help the country.
But his words and actions of late have changed the situation, along with the news that his efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation may actually become the basis for his impeachment.
A sitting president cannot be charged with a felony crime, but he or she can be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” of which obstruction of justice is one.
If he should try to fire Mueller it would only add to the obstruction charges since he would be in violation of the Code of Federal Regulations which states such an action must be taken by the Attorney General (in this case Rod Rosenstein since Sessions recused himself): “The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies.”
Trump challenged the rule of law openly when he described the FBI’s confiscation of documents and computers from the office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, as “disgraceful” and “an attack on our country.”
He made that statement in spite of the fact that everything that was done was legal, several steps to that end having been approved by Trump’s own appointees.
In other words, Trump doesn’t want us to believe that the rule of law makes us the kind of nation we are, or that no one, including the president, is above the law.
This was just another attempt on his part to erode public trust in our democratic institutions just as he had previously done in attacking the main stream media and judicial decisions.
Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin said of Trump’s statements about the FBI raid on Cohen’s office, “There is no better formulation of his authoritarian, anti-democratic mindset than this.”
Let that statement sink in for a minute. She is talking about the President of the United States.
Regardless of whether or not Trump is impeached, though, the national mood certainly suggests he will be a one term president.
That will become more evident when he faces a primary challenge for the Republican nomination from more than one person, a challenge he is likely to lose given the fact that more than a few Republicans are already alarmed by his behavior – McCain, Flake, Will, Brooks, the Bushes, Corker, Gerson, Smith, Wallace – to name only a few.
What is more, some leading Republicans outside of government including ultra-conservative Bill Kristol have formed a new group called, “Republicans for the Rule of Law,” to help shield other Republicans office holders from Trump’s toxicity.
All of this suggests that Trump’s days as leader of the Republican Party are numbered.
Should he somehow survive a primary challenge, he will lose the general election by a landslide. I do not believe the American people are going to put ourselves through another four years of chaos as we are having now in his first term.
I think one of the reasons Trump is bringing all of this on himself and on the nation is that he thought he was going to run the country the way he ran his business, which, by the way, was very badly.
But America is not a Trump company, and he is not our boss.
Yet, we know his supporters are remaining loyal, but the crisis we now face means it is time to tell them the truth. They also shoulder the blame for what the country is now going through along with Trump himself.
They wanted a Washington outsider, a non-politician, but what the country got was a president who was not only an outsider, but someone who knows nothing about being President, doesn’t believe he doesn’t know anything, is impetuous, childish, ego driven, and engages in regular temper tantrums via tweeter.
Again, we are talking about the President of the United States here.
Trump voters and supporters are aiding and abetting someone who because of a volatile temperament is now a clear and present danger to our nation.
So it comes down to this. You simply cannot care about this country and support Donald Trump. You just can’t.
The only thing they can do that might make up for some of the damage they have done to the country is to step up to the plate and admit that their gamble didn’t pay off and their anger led them to make a very bad decision.
Then they will be able to join the rest of us in putting the country back together after Trump is gone.
None of us could have imagined less than two years ago that the country would find itself under siege by its own president.
Yet, here we are, and how each of us responds individually and how we respond as a nation will show who we really are (or are not) as a people.
linnposts.com 