All 435 members of Congress are up for reelection this year and the Democrats’ chances of recapturing the House are better than they have been in years.
Many are predicting the mid-term elections will be a referendum on Trump although Democratic leaders fear making impeachment a campaign issue could backfire. Their fears are irrelevant as calls for impeachment are gaining momentum.
Environmental activist Tom Steyer has already spent $20 million on a national advertising campaign called “The Need to Impeach.” Steyer recently announced he will spend another $30 million trying to flip the House.
Rep. Al Green (D—Texas) has already twice attempted unsuccessfully to introduce articles of impeachment. Both attempts were described as premature by leaders of both parties—a tacit acknowledgment that impeachment is necessary if not inevitable.
Congressional leaders’ reticence regarding impeachment is a prime of example of why many people voted for Trump in the first place, namely a disdain for gutless politicians whose pragmatic reelection concerns trump (pun intended) that which is right and good for the nation.
Make no mistake about it—even republican leaders privately acknowledge Trump is mentally unstable, unfit, and dangerous. In addition, they personally despise him but finding someone loathsome is not impeachable.
According to Free Speech for People and RootsAction, the case for impeachment is straightforward:
1. obstruction of justice;
2. violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and Domestic Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution;
3. conspiring with others to: (a) commit crimes against the United States involving the solicitation and intended receipt by the Donald J. Trump campaign of things of value from a foreign government and other foreign nationals; and (b) conceal those violations;
4. advocating illegal violence, giving aid and comfort to white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and undermining constitutional protections of equal protection under the law;
5. abusing the pardon power;
6. recklessly threatening nuclear war against foreign nations, undermining and subverting the essential diplomatic functions and authority of federal agencies, including the United States Department of State, and engaging in other conduct that grossly and wantonly endangers the peace and security of the United States, its people and people of other nations, by heightening the risk of hostilities involving weapons of mass destruction, with reckless disregard for the risk of death and grievous bodily harm;
7. directing or endeavoring to direct law enforcement, including the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to investigate and prosecute political adversaries and others, for improper purposes not justified by any lawful function of his office, thereby eroding the rule of law, undermining the independence of law enforcement from politics, and compromising the constitutional right to due process of law.
Trump is a national disgrace and a clear and present danger to not only our democracy but also to world peace. He needs to be removed from office even if making impeachment a campaign issue is risky.
