12/18/19: On a nearly straight party-line vote, the House of Representatives moves to impeach President Donald J. Trump.
On a charge of “abuse of power,” 230 members vote yes, including Justin Amash, a former Republican, now an independent. Two Democrats vote no, including Jeff Van Drew, who promptly switches parties. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat running for president, votes “present.”
All 197 Trumplicans decide that it was okay to ask Ukraine to help in the next election and okay for their favorite orange president – and all future presidents – to totally stiff a House inquiry.
On the second charge of
“obstruction of Congress,” the vote is nearly identical: 229-197. Jared Golden,
a third Democrat, votes no.
*
“Maybe he’s looking up. I don’t know.”
NATURALLY, Trump takes his lumps like a man…No, we jest. Even Fox News covers the story.
At a campaign rally in Michigan, he brings up Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who voted to impeach earlier in the day.
“Debbie Dingell, that’s a real beauty,” Trump says, puffing up on stage like Mussolini in 1940. He tells his adoring fans he gave Rep. Dingell the “A+ treatment” when her husband John died last February. The president claims she called him to say, “it’s the nicest thing that’s ever happened, thank you so much. John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down.”
(As always, when Trump says he did it, it’s the “best,” the “greatest,” and now the “nicest thing” anyone ever did.)
“I said, ‘That’s OK. Don’t worry about it.’” Trump struts and smirks. Then he adds, “Maybe he’s looking up. I don’t know. Maybe, but let’s assume he’s looking down.”
Yes. So funny. Making light of eternal damnation. Again, the
president proves he has no shame and no class.
Rep. Dingell, who took over her husband’s seat in Congress when he became too ill to serve, responded politely but forcefully, noting this would be her first holiday season without the man she loved.
“I’ve always looked up to John Dingell – my good friend and a great Michigan legend,” Rep. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, responds on Twitter. “There was no need to ‘dis’ him in a crass political way. Most unfortunate and an apology is due.”
Yes.
And we won’t ever see it.
Still, good news! Donald J. Trump will now go down in history
alongside William Jefferson Clinton – who did have sex with that woman – and
Andrew Johnson. Somewhere, too, perhaps, Richard M. Nixon is looking down on
Trump, and not up, and saying, “My god, this fellow is a crook.”
POSTSCRIPT: Trump also took special aim at Rep. Carolyn Maloney during the rally. Maloney represented his old district in New York City, and the president says he made regular donations to her campaigns. “Well, give me back the damn money I’ve been paying her for years,” he shouts. His fans roar – too dumb to realize that Trump was never really a Republican till he saw a path to the White House door.
As always, every political action Trump takes, even on a world stage, boils down to dollars and cents.
Just as no Founding Father ever wanted.
Maloney, for her part, explains her vote to impeach this way:
In an attempt to cover up his
abuse of power, [the president] ordered the entire executive branch not to
participate in the inquiry, and directed it to defy lawful subpoenas from
Congress.
As chairwoman of the Committee
on Oversight and Reform, I find this obstruction particularly offensive.
Even President Nixon accepted Congress’ impeachment authority and allowed
his aides and advisers to produce the documents to Congress. And President
Nixon allowed current and former staff to testify in both the House
impeachment and the Senate Watergate investigations.
By contrast, President Trump –
without any legal basis – directed current and former officials not to
cooperate with the House’s inquiry.
President Trump’s wholesale
obstruction of Congress is unprecedented, indisputable, and impeachable.
Or you could just agree with the Trumplican Party. Henceforth, U.S. presidents need no longer cooperate with impeachment inquiries. Any candidate can ask for foreign help in any election. If elected, he or she can put U.S. national security at risk for selfish ends. “Russia if you’re listening,” help me win the next election, pay me a hundred $100 million bribe, and I will pull the U.S. out of NATO and you can walk all over Ukraine and our allies too. Then he or she can keep witnesses who know about all his or her crimes from testifying before lawmakers.
That is, the threat of impeachment for any president who
might break the law will be dead, just as no Founding Father ever wanted.
No comments:
Post a Comment