As someone who has voted Democrat for the 40 years I've been allowed to vote, I can honestly say that if Obama had done the same crimes as Trump has and Republicans were clamoring for his impeachment, I would have agreed he should be impeached and removed from office. I can't possibly imagine that Republicans would poo-poo the facts if the shoe were on the other foot. Republicans first investigated Bill Clinton for a land deal, Whitewater, then sex with an intern, and ended up impeaching him for perjury in an outside-the-government case of sexual harassment. It boggles the mind to consider the level of hypocrisy Republicans and their base have exhibited, and their newly-found sympathies for the Putin dictatorship. The should now be known to all as the Russian-American Republican Party.
10
Some of these comments in defense of the President sound as if the writer never read the article. "High crimes and mideameanors" doesn't refer to a specific crime. Quoting the article here …"“High crimes” refers to severe violations of the public trust by a high-ranking official, not literal crimes."
When Republican Party lawmakers insist the president must commit a crime (one found in the federal statutes in order to be impeached, they know that's not true.
To buy into this argument, one must believe that withholding authorized foreign aid in exchange for a personal favor is not "... a violation of the public trust."
The worst thing you can do in a Demcracy is to make yourself an accomplice to lie told by an elected official. We seem to have an abundance of that going on right now in the land.
I call it willful negligence.
22
Its a breath of fresh air to see a newspaper as unpartisan as this one make such a bold statement. No doubt they will demand the sun to come up in the east as well!
8
Yes, Impeach. And then Remove. Before he can rig the 2020 election any further.
I think the Republican party has lost its mind...and soul.
Would they, for one second, be okay with a President Chelsea Clinton doing this? ANY of this? We all know the answer to that, from the way they HOWLED over the most trivial things done by Clinton and Obama. The ones who insisted that "Character Counts" turn out to have none.
It is terrifying to realize that this madness has been coming over them for a long long time.... Decades. And that there is no antidote we know of.
I know one thing, though. The diseased fishhead at the top must be removed.
28
After learning the FBI of the Obama Administration altered documents sent to a FISA judge to support their request to surveil the Trump campaign was shocking. After also learning the FBI withheld exculpatory evidence from those same judges is also shocking. Learning the FBI continued to surveil Trump even after he was elected is unbelievable.
All this combined makes us wonder if the wrong President was impeached.
16
While I agree with the sentiment from an idealistic viewpoint, from a pragmatic viewpoint it is difficult to reconcile the objective of the removal of the President from office through a fair and just process with providing him the opportunity to claim exoneration through the charade of a most certainly stacked kangaroo court.
3
Impeach. If the President truly cared about corruption in Ukraine, he would be trying to investigate CURRENT corruption, which is the only reason to hold up current funds.
An investigation into Joe Biden's activities pre-2017 is irrelevant with regard to today's funding. We have proper channels to conduct investigations into US citizens abroad that do not include making public announcements before any charges have been made.
15
@Rae L
What is the Stature of Limitation for Biden’s activities.
The Senate Democrats investigated Judge Kavanaugh’s activities as a 14-year old.
5
To remove Trump requires conviction in Senate by a 2/3 vote.
The Dems can get support of GOP senators if the Dems convince Trump's working class base that the Dems will address the working class bases' economic concerns.
HRC did not do this.
Instead she called them deplorables and told them to work at jobs that paid a fraction of their previous job..
3
The fact that we've gotten this far into this Administration with their behavior is a pretty good clue that the GOP won't do squat to bring honor back to this Country.
20
Do we need an amendment to the U.S. constitution that would empower the president to approve the validity of any impeachment process before he (she) is lawfully required to produce witness and documents from the executive branch? Or are we doing that already?
2
@kel: That is a good one to put to the Supreme Court that has no direct constitutional jurisdiction of the matter. I'm getting numb to the present level of cognitive dissonance in this heavenly simulation of a nation.
2
McConnell, Hannity, Trump, Limbaugh, Savage, Jones et al have no interest whatsoever in protecting the Constitution or the country as a whole from abuse by a president. They were very keen to impeach Clinton for lying about a sexual encounter. They're not willing to impeach a president for seeking a foreign power to influence our very Democracy. The hypocrisy is impossible to comprehend.
28
Your editorial has it all wrong. A Baptist pastor, quoted in Time magazine has it right. He said: "I am not saying that what he did was right, I just don't think it's impeachable." The correct action is censure.
The Times' idea of proceeding with a Senate trial will backfire. With a friendly judge and jury, the trial will be used to demonize Hunter and Joe Biden. The twin facts that Hunter got the money and Joe did nothing when Lutsentko, a non-lawyer was appointed prosecutor who eventually dropped any prosecution of Hunter's company, will resonant t the voters. Trump at his rallies will say he was just trying to keep a crook from occupying the White House.
9
@Joe Canepa: An impeachment is simply an indictment that compels the Senate to convene a trial judged by the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Don't you want to see the best and the brightest in action? It is Reality TV for Real.
3
@Joe Canepa
Meanwhile ignore thousands of facts that show Trump is a crook- from tax evasion to Stormy payments to the Trump Foundations to Trump University to paper towels neglect of Puerto Rico, to infants in cages to spiking upwards (statistical facts) of illegal entries under Trump despite his concentration camps, to family separation; the list is too long to get it all in. Biden might not be the nominee. There is no doubt the very stable genius with unmatched wisdom and the greatest president since Washington, shook down Zelensky. The genius admitted it in his transcript, repeated the request to include China and has Rudy continuing to do what he swears he did not do.
14
Trump could be tweeting in Tongues all day long, but that doesn’t excuse the corruption of Hunter Biden’s self-enrichment influence-peddling that former VP Joe Biden claims to have known nothing about. The impeachment strategy just appears to be yet another mendacious attempt by the Democrats to divert attention away from their own malfeasance, including Russiagate.
Speaking of which...no doubt AG Barr’s soon-to-be-served indictment notices to the Russiagate gang will steal the Democrats’ impeachment thunder. The next 6 months are going to be rocky. Fasten your seatbelts...
6
One wonders what the result might be if the House and Senate chose a secret ballot.
Impeachment is too important to be driven by anything other than individual conscience.
4
@Lawrence Tomlin: It might work better in the Senate to adjust the weights of their votes to the sizes of the populations they represent.
2
"President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.”
The members of the House and Senate, as are American voters, are on a "rescue mission," regardless of whether or not they realize it. If they fail to accomplish the mission and remove the man in the Oval Office that would be king, our democracy will be little more than a memory.
9
Democrats and the media have sought the President's removal even before his inauguration. As an Independent and attorney, I find the evidence overwhelming impeachment is a partisan attack by Democrats who themselves undermine the Constitution. When a theory of impeachment fails, Democrats search for a new one. Russia collusion, Ukrainian quid pro quo, and bribery all failed, so Democrats latched onto two new baseless theories. They seek any excuse to oust this President regardless of merit.
The Second Article of impeachment not only lacks merit, it supports charging judiciary committee members who voted for it, and the Democratic leadership, with abuse of process. Here's why: Trump asserted executive privilege in response to subpoenas by House Democrats. Assertion of privilege is a common practice and is not considered obstruction. To object Democrats should seek court review, not removal of the President. Only if the President disobeyed a High Court order to comply with the subpoenas, not the case here, might his actions rise to an impeachable offense. By seeking removal prior to judicial review, Democrats treat the President and executive branch as subservient to Congress, not as a co-equal branch of government thereby violating the separation of powers and undermining the proper authority of the executive branch.
Pelosi, Nadler, and Schiff each said without bipartisan support impeachment is not justified. Here, bipartisan support goes against impeachment.
12
@Steve K: I have seen many lawyers like you see, hear, and speak nothing on behalf of clients who will pay lofty fees to lawyers with the right connections.
9
McConnell needs Trump for his legislative objectives and he knows Trump will wave his acquittal like W's "Mission Accomplished" banner. Mitch may be underestimating Amy McGrath, though; she's likely to ride the wave that swept Bevin out of office. KY may not be as safe for him as McConnell thinks.
Lindsey Graham is a different story. He was a JAG; how would he have reacted if his AF generals had told him before a trial that the court had already decided the case without him even putting on evidence? If he thinks that's acceptable, he should surrender his bar license.
7
@Cavalier in Red
Maybe that is how Lindsey Graham operated when he was a JAG?
4
Which leg of Trump's stool will break first? The Senate? The Supreme Court? The Electoral College? What is democratic about any of these things?
8
So the house will impeach Trump..... the Senate will acquit.... and then what.... it's open season on using help from foreign powers? If I'm a politician, I'l already getting my plans in place.
And based on the geopolitical needs of each foreign power, it will be interesting to see where it all lands.
Welcome to the USA - the beacon on the hill.
5
Today Comey and Schiff both went on Sunday talk shows and claimed they didn't know about the FISA abuses. OK. They're politicians. We expect them to lie. These charges were highly publicized.
But what is the NYT Editorial Board's excuse for lying about these charges, even going on record claiming they had been "debunked"? Instead of doubling down on impeachment, the NYT Editorial Board should focus on getting back to objective reporting.
8
@AACNY: We struggle mightily here just to pin down what a establishment of religion is. If we can't do that, how do we distinguish the real from the imaginary?
1
Yes. Please. Vote for impeachment. Finally. PLEASE!
I.am.so.tired.of.hearing. about.it.
Three years of gum bumping. Three years of theater and drama. Three years of whining, whining, whining. They have drug their feet over it for so long, there can't be anything left below the knees.
They've painted themselves into a corner over it an now no way out without making a mess of all they have tried to do.
So, please, finally, please! Vote to impeach.
Send it to the Senate.
Then see the tweet from Trump something like:
"See! Not guilty. Dem losers lose again!"
Then, maybe, possibly, HOPEFULLY, we won't have to hear the whining about it any more.
Please! Vote to impeach! Finally! No. more. whining! I'm sick of it. No one likes a whiner.
6
It has been said that we 'Patriots fans' would support 'Belichick' even if he were 'blatantly film the other team's signal calling,'and there is some truth in that. However, 'fans of other teams' should blame 'themselves' for that. By demonizing us and promising to marginalize us and take away all of our remaining power, 'fans of other teams' left us little choice but to support a 'cheater' who bends the rules but wins the 'game.'
3
@A Science Guy What are you even talking about? No one is or was threatening to take away anyone's legitimate power. We are talking about impeaching a criminal who is destroying our democracy.
Not sure why you seem to feel that environmental destruction, inevitable economic collapse, the unleashing of white supremacy, ruining our democratic institutions, denying civil rights, and undermining the historic western alliance constitute "winning." Shouldn't decent Republicans be opposed to these things, out of their own interest as well as society's?
13
@A Science Guy: The physicist who calculated that the football had to have been deflated is a CMU classmate of mine.
1
@Jesse Larner: Every bonfire hatches a phoenix, according to Revanchism.
Unfortunately for this editorial, the first paragraph is incorrect, so the editorial continues to drift along its partisan line. It's a shame that democrats, once the party of the working people, has become the party of intolerance and lies, focused solely on removing from office a political opponent. It's not Trump threatening our democracy, it's democrats and all their double-speak.
16
@DJOHN
Well here is Trump, admitting ON CAMERA, that all he wants is an investigation of the Bidens to smear them , and further his election prospects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Q67tAUiMg&feature=emb_logo
Sounds like he admits to abusing his power as the President to strong arm the Ukraine, and he even invites election interference from China, too.
12
Indeed, impeach if you so desire.
Your evidence is the stuff of the Courts of the Kangaroo...hear-say, assumptions, speculation, conclusion jumping. Each meme that you trot out disappears like the ice cubes in your gin and tonics while sitting in the noonday sun on the porches of your summer retreats in the Hamptons.
I have no clue as to what the rules will be for the impeachment trial, but for the sake of the integrity of our system of governance and the laws with which governance is administered, I would hope that the would follow the Rules of Civil Procedure.
If that is the way the trial will be conducted, none of the testimony that Adam Schiff took would be admissible as evidence since it was all hear-say and conclusionary.
This conservative welcomes the rapid indictment of the President and looks forward to an actual trial.
In addition to all of the kernels in the kernels in the popper, any number of balloons trying to support their argument are likely going to pop, leaving the left shouldering a heavy load going into the 2020 election.
Trump will rough-up the Democratic nominee much the way that Boris roughed up Jeremy.
17
@The Owl Utter nonsense. Trump will be impeached on strong and convincing evidence. Evidence, by the way, that is absolutely consistent with ALL of behavior in office and ALL of his behavior in private life going back decades.
You really don't know who this man is by now?
Republicans say they want to call witnesses, but they don't really. Because then they'd have no consistent excuse for blocking Mulvaney, Pompeo, Pence, and especially Barr and Giuliani from testifying. And those guys would have to either perjure themselves to next week and back, or blow up the criminal presidency they've fought so hard and so disgracefully to keep above the law. The truth can be a very stern thing.
9
@The Owl
Nonsense
Hearsay is legitimate evidence
Legal experts say that much of what you say is hearsay was actually direct evidence.
You said "Trump will rough-up the Democratic nominee much the way that Boris roughed up Jeremy."
False equivalence. But also to use your own prolixity:
"hear-say, assumptions, speculation, conclusion jumping. "
5
@Bob Guthrie: It is pot luck if the judge in your case knows what hearsay is here in the US.
1
To read the first three paragraphs of the ‘Impeach’ editorial you’d think Trump did something wrong.
But Republicans pick apart those same words and conclude either Democrats are reading into Trump’s actions facts which aren’t there, or are confusing executive oversight of foreign aid with a nefarious scheme to affect the 2020 election.
How can straightforward facts lead in opposite directions? While Democrats tried to keep it simple by avoiding referencing the Mueller investigation, to the willfully ignorant, the story is incomplete as presented.
To be complete the heads of Barisma, IMF, EU and Senate leaders responsible for sending Biden to confront Ukraine about AG Shoken would have to testify.
Hunter Biden will emerge guilty of bad optics but not corrupt. Joe Biden will emerge vindicated in removing a corrupt Shoken.
Mulvaney, Bolton, Sen Portman, Giuliani, Parnas among others will have to testify. Documents withheld from the House will need to be released. None of which a McConnell Senate with Lindsey Graham as ringmaster will allow.
In another reality it’s not hard to connect the dots and vote to convict. But Republicans are far more interested in using Trump to stay in power than be honest brokers.
8
If the rule of law does not matter, if anyone can commit crimes with impunity in the Trumpo-sphere, why should your average American...juror, let's say, follow the law or be impartial? Trumps conduct, as endorsed my the GOP and millions of Americans in his base, threatens the very foundation of our crimminal justice system. To attack the separation of powers built into our constitution threatens our entire democracy.
6
While I favor impeach and remove, I wonder if a change in strategy could be negotiated?
What if a bipartisan agreement to vote to "Censure" 45 could be accomplished? That would enable Congress to send the message that it is not OK to violate the Constitution -- but leave his removal to the electorate (since it's less than a year until we vote).
Furthermore, it would put 45 on notice that a future transgression might lead to impeachment and removal (although I don't know why that "threat" might cause him to change behavior....).
Just sayin' .... half a loaf might be better than no enchilada....
2
Trump and his supporters hang their hats by implication on the notion that the word "though" in the infamous transcript is so indefinite a term that it cannot implicate a "deal" or "bargain". To the contrary, the word "though" has a precise definition in the English language: (Merriam-Webster online: "however, nevertheless"). As in "However, Nevertheless, I would like you to do us a favor." placing a condition on the fulfillment of Zelensky's request for aid made in the previous sentence of the transcript. (Collins online dictionary: "Adverb. You use though to indicate that the information in a clause contrasts with or modifies information given in a previous sentence or sentences.") As modifying the terms of the request for assistance made by Zelenskyy in the previous sentence of the transcript. (The Free (Legal) Dictionary online: "CONTRADICTION. The incompatibility, contrariety, and evident opposition of two ideas, which are the subject of one and the same proposition.") (capitalization in original). Under this definition, no further explanation of the term is needed in this context. Etc. In Trump-speak words, like facts, never stand for what they are or what they mean.
3
I'm disgusted to hear people call impeachment a "subversion" of the 2016 election. That's a flat-out lie. Trump was elected. He served in office these last three years. The Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach and remove a president who doesn't honor his oath. Do these people believe the country should have no ability to remove a criminal president caught in the act? Would they say the same if Trump were a Democrat caught committing similar malfeasance?
The 2016 vote was legitimate and the process was followed. The impeachment is also legitimate and the process should be followed without anyone trying to muddy the waters by pretending it's an attempt to defeat the will of the voters. That's actually what Trump tried to do by twisting the Ukraine's arms into announcing a phony investigation of his potential opponent.
As for those, including Sen. Graham, who say if we don't like Trump we can vote against him next year, that's a joke. First of all, we have no promise the election will be fair, considering Trump tried to cheat last time and again this time.
Second, my vote in a state that's a certain "blue" has very little meaning compared to votes one state north or west of me that are actually up in the air. I feel like my hands are tied and I have no say. That's why the electoral college needs to go. If we had election by popular vote, Graham would be closer to accurate in his statement.
11
When Donald Trump gets impeached, he will claim that his was the biggest and best impeachment in the history of the nation.
And for once he will be telling the truth.
5
Trump is the greatest threat to our constitution and democratic way life since Russia in the 1960s. It is the duty of our elected officials to stop playing partisan politics and to pursue an expeditious course of action that will remove Trump from his position of power and authority.
9
Truly a solemn editorial that minimizes the act of impeachment. Trump is a very obnoxious and tough person; the type needed to thrive in this environment. Weakening the power of the Presidency will have long term effects on our country. The media and the Democrats are complicit in a corrupt attempt to regain power. Consequences with Durham are coming,
Next election is the time to elucidate your your agenda. 2020 is coming fast and Trump each day has not only improved our country but also gets kudos for being right about the lefts illegal attempt to destroy him. Hating him is not a compelling reason to impeach.
3
The Judicial Committee has done it's job. Now it is up to the House Democrats to finish the job ratifying the two serious articles of impeachment Each one is enough to justify impeachment. Hopefully, the Democrats put their majority to full use and vote as a block. Expecting bi-partisanship with the current in-House Republicans would be extremely foolhardy. Impeachment is a last resort. No one likes it or wants it. But the current situation warrants it. For those still in doubt, impeachment is the lesser evil. What a tragedy when the choices are just evils!
2
Democrats are lucky they don’t control the Senate. If they did, we would looking at nine years of Pence.
1
Now it appears as though Trump is asking Senate Republicans to ‘do him a favor’ with the impeachment trial coming their way. Here we go again with yet more corruption. Can he ever play fairly?
4
At least watching Trump play with matches in the global powder magazine distracts from thinking about the future.
4
It is easy to jump on the impeachment bandwagon when it involves such a repulsive and amoral individual as Trump. On the face of it, it appears to be a straightforward case for impeachment. However, if Trump was generally well-respected, it is doubtful it would have proceeded as a result of the incident in question.
Trump has made it clear for many years that, for him, every transaction is a "deal" that must come out in his favor. He does not recognize the value of altruism or helping out with genuine need without expectation of reward. Because of this, it is a certainty that he has done many many more egregious "deals" than the Ukraine one over the course of his presidency. Ukraine is merely the tip of the iceberg, but the good thing is that he was caught red-handed.
Impeachment has to proceed. Remember Al Capone? He was finally jailed for tax evasion, not for his most serious crimes.
5
If Senators are going to be the jury during the impeachment trial, then those Senators (including Mitch McConnell) who have gone on public record as being opposed to Trump's impeachment should not be on the jury because they cannot be fair and impartial. And justice in America would be a travesty.
8
The “trial,” will be a multi-week infomercial for Trump.
It will feature every imperfection and hypocrisy of Democrats: from the conduct of Biden to Adam Schiff lying about the whistleblower (his identity is know to anyone who searches the interns) to a history lesson on Ted Kennedy’s solicitation of electoral assistance from the USSR.
This is an exercise in self righteous stupidity.
8
The second article of impeachment accuses the president of obstruction of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas issued by congressional committees and directing executive branch officials and agencies not to comply. However, when the executive branch defies congressional committee subpoenas, the legislative branch and executive branch traditionally looks to the judicial branch to resolve the issue.
On the day the House approved the articles of impeachment, the Supreme Court agreed to renew three lower court decisions upholding congressional and grand jury subpoenas for President Trump’s financial records. Meanwhile, an appellate court last week agreed to review a district court ruing’s that Former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with a House subpoena.
The Supreme Court seems posed to issue a ruling that is expected to set boundaries on congressional overreach and congressional subpoena powers. There is zero chance that the Senate will remove the president from office for taking the subpoena issue to court.
5
Thank you NYT for seeing the constitutional issues clearly, for presenting them unadorned to us, the American public. To the extent that we are willing to listen.
As a person who has twice in my life sworn to uphold the Constitution, once upon becoming a USA citizen and once upon being sworn in to practice law in my state (CT) and federal courts, I live with an abiding respect for this marvelous document. I cannot fathom how anyone can claim to be within Constitutional parameters and fail to see the grave danger in the present presidential path, rife with failures and conflicts.
Even those Trump loyalists and core supporters in government who should know better, blithely disregard what made their ascent and our ascent as a country possible.
Woe be on us.
PS I did write to my R Congressman but do not expect any reply or shift in blind loyalty.
6
Australia copied the English parliamentary system. Politics is much less inclined to get personal under parliamentary systems because voters just vote for the candidate nominated by their favored party in their district.
@Steve Bolger: The constitution written by the Allies for West Germany after WW II provides for member-funded political parties organized under a parliamentary system. Only party members participate in the candidate nominations process.
1
"President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival."
In the first place the aid was held up only temporarily. And in the second place to call Biden a political rival is something of a stretch. He MIGHT be the nominee of the Democrats and then again he might not be. Also, the part about Biden occupies only five lines in a six page transcript of that phone call.
So it is a stretch.
I just cannot understand the stupidity of the Democrats. Probably, you are so angry with Trump that you cannot think rationally. Remember, the boxer who loses his temper loses the fight.
6
@Ludwig
The actual transcript is locked up in a secrets server. Tell everyone why that is. What the public has is a Memorandum of Transcript, full of elipses. Compare the time needed to read the Memorandum to the actual length of the phone call between the two presidents; explain why the Memorandum takes much less time to read.
Explain why the Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, a Ukrainian speaker, was not allowed to insert the word Barysma into the Memorandum.
5
@Ludwig: Every day Biden is hammered again. This is how Trump plays his cat organ.
1
The first of two articles of impeachment, which accuses the president of of abuse of power, is easily disproven. It alleges that the president “corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into—
(A) a politcal opponent, (former Vice President Joe R.Biden, Jr.; and
(B) a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2015 United States Presidential election.”
But the House Intelligence Committee Report and graphics shown at the House Judiciary Committee hearing shows President Zelensky actually was asked to publicly announce: “We intend to initiate and complete a transparent and unbiased investigation of all available facts and episodes, including those involving Burisma and the 2016 U.S. elections, which in turn will prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future.”
The solicited announcement makes no mention of Joe Biden, and it does not say Ukraine rather than Russian interfered in the U.S. 2016 election.
4
If Trump followed the exact same template the FBI used to conduct FISA spying on his campaign, would it be legal for President Trump to surveil Joe Biden’s campaign?
3
@Dr. John Hi Dr John
Yours is a tangential point and with respect a red herring. If they did surveil Biden there would be less certainty of finding something egregious. Go ahead spy on Biden. It would of course legal if the proper processes were followed. Besides which the IG- a conservative Trump appointee-found that politically motivated spying did not occur. Your side has an almost superstitious belief in the magical powers of Biden; I don't think he will be the nominee. Where then can the Trumpists park their paranoia?
4
@Dr. John: One of the judges whose trials I experienced as a juror went on to the FISA Court.
You must of seen how he poisons the mind of our young Navi cadets...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/us/army-navy-game-white-supremacy.html
"Military Investigating Suspected ‘White Power’ Hand Gestures Flashed at Game
The Army and Naval academies said they were looking into whether hand symbols by cadets and midshipmen at a football game on Saturday were related to hate groups"
This will end badly!
3
Impeachment: Part II
Mitch McConnell......prejudging the facts presented of a trial and committing his vote to exoneration before he fulfills the legal role of a Juror
Lindsey Graham......prejudging his vote without hearing testimony...
William Barr....misleading the public as to investigated facts.
Not acting in good faith as the people's lawyer.
The 'stink' around this Presidency and his term in office has brought the office to mafia-like conduct.
5
Have you seen this...
Military Investigating Suspected ‘White Power’ Hand Gestures Flashed at Game
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/us/army-navy-game-white-supremacy.html
He's poisoning our young generation, This will End Badly!
1
Why is it so hard for some conservatives and most Trump base members to believe that Donald broke the rules around the Zelensky affair?
Trump breaks marriage rules (Stormy/Karen etc)
Trump admits to breaking rules on Howard Stern around men in dressing rooms
Trump admits breaking rules (laws) around interactions with women in Hollywood Access
Trump breaks convention of releasing taxes after promising to release them
Trump boasts he avoids paying taxes during campaign saying that makes him smart
Trump stonewalls witnesses from appearing before congress- this at least is contravening a norm or convention
Trump has meetings with Putin on his own- breaking a convention
Trump brings Russians into oval office
Trump has stopped the WH press briefings
Individual 1 broke camping law
Trump mocks the handicapped and war veterans and families McCain and Khan
This is clearly beyond dispute. Unless you were Jim Jordan or Matt Gaetz or Doug Collins you would not dispute these examples
So why is it so hard to believe that he would in his interactions with Ukraine suddenly be compliant with rules and regulations? That is ultimately what a law is: a regulation or rule.
It would be amazing if Trump did follow the rules on that perfect phone call. IT WOULD BE UNBELIEVABLE- not credible.
Imagine how surprising it would be in the unlikely event that we saw a headline:
TRUMP COMPLIES WITH RULE
7
@Bob Guthrie
I meant Individual 1 broke campaigning law. The auto corrector changed it to "camping" law. Though I anticipate Donald would find a way to break camping law too even if it were more convenient to just obey it
3
@Bob Guthrie: Trump must represent God because gets away with anything.
4
The larger issue here is bringing the american voting public along and by skipping over crucial testimony from first hand witnesses like Pompeo Mulvaney and Others partially because Trump has ordered them not to testify and partially because the house doesnt want to wait for a court to force them to, the question of impeachment is only supporter by a thin majority The task of a Senate Trial should be to demonstrate the depth of Trumps corruption of constitutional norms in order to benefit himself Having said that we are living in a time when people like Sean Hannity Jeanine Pirro Rush Limbaugh Mark Levin Laura Ingraham are creating a false narrative and feeding it to their Fox news viewers daily A narrative that disguards the facts the history of the impeachment clause and the very words that Trump himself used in his call to Zelensky of which we merely have a transcript not a verbatim account And these Fox purveyors of nonsense do it not to inform they themselves admit they are not journalists They do it for the money and for their own access to power the very antithesis of what the job of a true journalist is Shame on them and Shame on the Murdoch family for enabling them
2
@Mike Edelman: Behold what the US spared Australia.
Many thanks to members of the House of Representatives who see wrong doing and take action against it despite all foretold obstacles, gripes, and doom saying. You were voted in to represent the people and you have done so magnificently. The entire family is in support of you.
3
@DPS: Congresspersons represent districts up to the size of states. They answer only to those local constituencies.
Lefties like the EB continue to ignore the fact that Joe Biden at best ignored a huge conflict of interest with Hunter working for Burisma, at worst he was engaged in out and out corruption (Hunter's engagement in a similar sweetheart deal in China suggests the latter). Biden running for president is irrelevant. It is clear from the transcript of the July call that Trump didn't demand anything from Zelenky, he merely suggested that that's an area they should look at (hunter and joe). Everything else is selective testimony -- 2nd and 3rd hand -- gathered in a partisan impeachment effort.
Here's hoping -- and betting a lot of dem congress persons will lose their seats over this. The dems have turned our democracy into a travesty. Meanwhile we now know that someone used our domestic intel agencies to spy on Trump. What is the bigger sin. Having a phone call with the new Ukrainian prez, or turning out intel services against a presidential candidate?
6
I hear a lot of talk these days that impeachment is a partisan process.
It is and it isn't.
Here is how it is not a partisan process.
The Democrats are following the edicts of the Constitution and doing their job of oversight of the executive branch of government, the president. Based on the FACTS it is clear that the president has broken laws and violated the constitution on many counts. They have decided to vote on only 2 articles of impeachment when there could have been many more. The Democrats are clearly doing what they are supposed to be doing and what is best for the country, not what is best for their party.
They are acting in a non partisan manner.
On the other hand the Republicans show no regard for facts, truth, the law or the constitution. They are blindly following the party line for fear of upsetting the president and his base. They could care less what is best for the country. They only care about getting reelected and keeping their jobs.
They are operating in a purely partisan manner.
7
Congress was right to pursue and investigation and will be right when it decides to impeach. We all know that the current Republicans lack both a backbone and a moral compass. They will not impeach and will sink to the lowest depths of abject behavior while trying to justify their conduct.
The only way to save the United States democracy is to vote Trump and EVERYONE in the Republican party out. Honestly, that party has to disappear.
In order to do that, the VOTERS will have to ask themselves what is more important: the future of their country or their loyalty to a political tribe? If Republicans choose tribalism, the only ones left to protect this country will be the Democrats and the Independents and they will have to vote in a block, for Democrats' candidates EVERYWHERE. Stand in line under rain, snow, hail and blazing sun for hours in order to vote if that is what is needed. Get an Uber, a taxi, a bus, a lift, in order to get however far they need to go to make sure that they cast their vote.
Everyone that lives in Republican controlled areas need to check that they are still registered before election day and if they were deleted from the rolls, register again even if they have to take a day off to do so. No one with the right to vote and a working brain can be too busy not to vote in the next elections (yes, that includes the next Midterms). It is the only way left to stop Trump and his cronies.
6
@Minerva You will need the Kremlin's permission to achieve an election victory. You have to be realistic Minerva. Have you run the novel idea of the GOP losing an election through having less votes, past Vladimir yet Minerva? You must go through the improper processes.
1
@Minerva: Hang on tight. Trump puts the credibility of the US Senate, the Supreme Court, and the Electoral College on the line, all at once.
Love and be supportive of the Speaker Pelosi and Representatives Nadler and Shiff and their staff and all in the House who have worked so diligently to try to save our republic.
7
@Entre: ...and expect no help from God. You're supposed to be grown-up to vote.
1
No, you don't have a better shot at getting rid of him by voting him out in the election; even now he and the Republicans are working to have foreign governments "dig up" (read invent) smears of his rival. Read the Constitution, and you'll see clearly that accepting anything of value from a foreign source in relation to elections is utterly prohibited.
Republican talking points-- the Impeachment is too much, it's overreach, we're tired of it, just let it go, get over it-- will leave us with a one-party system. Yes, it's dramatic and stressful, but necessary. Let it go? What's next after democracy is axed?
5
@Peggy Datz: Words are rubber to bounce people off to the vast right wing conspiracy of sophists.
It was my belief that congress represented all the citizens of the USA. However it’s obvious that it represents only two entities, the Republican and Democratic parties with goals and objectives dictated by a small group of powerful leaders from both sides. An oath of office, apart from any spiritual significance it may holds a serious commitment and violation of it constitutes perjury, a felonious offense. There’s no way that members of either party hold on to the the dictates of the select small group of leaders so therefore there’s perjurious criminality on the part of any representative who casts a vote contrary to their oath they took to represent the citizens who elected them. Everyone knows that the impeachment vote will pass in the House of Representatives and will fail in the senate weeks before a vote is taken. This makes the entire democratic process a farce and many elected representatives unindigted
@Christopher Slevin: All the states conspire to preclude development of novel national political parties. It is another contrived Gordian knot of legal fees.
@Christopher Slevin
Congress has an obligation to defend and protect the Constitution before it is obliged to represent their constituents. Sometimes they are required to vote counter to the will of their constituents in order to protect their rights and the rights of others.
That is how it is supposed to work.
The Republicans don't care a whit about the Constitution or the people of this country. They're only concern is to keep their own jobs and their power at any cost.
The cost in this case, is their souls.
2
The world is watching. The integrity of the USA is on the line.
7
@Greg
However, many now suspect that the integrity of the Democratic Party and their allies is on the line...or rather they’ve crossed the line and hurled themselves over a cliff.
4
@Greg: The unity of the United States is on the line.
3
Donald Trump is the head of a spear, and the main body is made of those few who have become extraordinarily wealthy (and powerful) at the expense of the many, so an attack on him is an attack on them. That’s why there is a no-holds barred response to the impeachment threat - they are on trial as well. This tyranny of the few is exactly what the founders feared, and the impeachment mechanism is what they hoped would provide a bulwark against such tyranny. This is the first time the Constitution has been put to the test of defending the Republic against tyranny. Sure, the servile Senate will not indict, but it would be a dereliction of duty for the House not to impeach. Hopefully voters will ultimately recognize the gravity of the situation, and defend themselves at the ballot box.
6
@Bill: James Madison conceived the Senate as a means for the opulent to govern invisibly.
Trump has now admitted on TV that a favour was requested on the infamous call, albeit he now says that the 'us' in the request for a 'favour though" meant the US as a whole and not, presumably, his motley gang of henchmen. So it is clear that, despite his other protestations, something was clearly wanted from the Ukraine government, and we know what it was form the call - a commitment to announce an investigation into Trump-alleged corruption by the Bidens. You can see why the White House would never let Trump try and defend himself - he would be shredded.
7
We’ve now advanced to the point where asking a foreign government to inquire into election activities in 2016 on behalf of democrats is an impeachable offense.
But sending agents into a republican campaign to spy isn’t.
5
@Doug Brockman: Trump has to prove all who disrespect him even dirtier than he is.
@Doug Brockman
Yes, democrats would like us all to ignore all the other issues of far greater importance raised with Ukraine. Biden was a side issue.
Most importantly, Americans support the president's asking for assistance without DOJ's investigation into Ukraine's involvement in our 2016 election. In fact, they demand it. After all, foreign meddling is unacceptable, right?
2
Today’s GOP (as distinguished from the one I knew, with at least a modicum of respect, growing up) is the party of the actor — John Wilkes Booth — and much of what he stood for.
1
Yes. Impeach.
Trump is unfit to be president and is endangering our country by dividing us, tearing us away from our Constitution, our ideals, and our history.
His defiance of Congress is unlike that of any other president, and his claims of "absolute immunity" cannot be allowed to stand.
Blanket orders stopping witnesses from testifying, and documents from being produced cannot wait for court review.
"The suppressing of evidence ought itself to be taken as the strongest of evidence the suppressing of evidence ought always to be taken for the strongest evidence; and I hope it will have that weight with you" said Andrew Hamilton t the jury in the trial of John Peter Zenger.
And with the members of the House? May all the members of the House vote to impeach. Let Trump bring his defense evidence -- if he has any -- to the Senate for the trial.
"Russia, if you've listening...."
"Ukraine, I need you to do us a favor ... "
6
America has become a very scary place to live in. A cop tickets me and I am fined hundreds of dollars for speeding on a bicycle or a minor violation like cutting across a solid line. Scammers are operating brazenly on yelp and google reviews.Big US companies steal intellectual property from tiny competitors and startups. Trump runs a university that scams people- and scariest of all, the republicans are politically protecting the biggest abuser of office in oval office history,who has bribed ukraine to get dirt on his rival joe biden, when 54 percent of all americans are saying trump should be impeached and 45 percent say he is guilty of bribery. Mitch McConnell indicated he will let prescription drug prices go up too, so the drug companies can rip off people suffering from heart disease, diabetes and asthma. Trump is an inspiration to scammers, fraudsters and corporate predators everywhere.
7
@observer
I like to be in America,
but nothing is free in America,
Trump, he is fleecing in America,
Everyone flee from America...
Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell have guaranteed their place in history and it will not be favorable.
5
There is no better evidence that Democrats do deserve the Whitehouse than this impeachment exercise.
1. It is futile which demonstrates that Democrats are impractical.
2. It seeks to alter an election result over the will of the American People, which demonstrates Democrat’s contempt for democracy.
3. It is being executed in a procedurally ridiculous fashion (secret hearings etc), which demonstrate that Democrats are tone deaf to the issue of open debate.
4. It is being done in the face of over whelming evidence that their own front runner is actually guilty of what they are complaining about. That demonstrates Democrats hypocrisy at best, and more likely an absolute contempt for truth.
There will be an election in less than eleven months. Perhaps, Democrats should focus on offering a candidate who is not calling for the end of air travel, the destruction of all buildings, and the killing of all cows. There are plenty of reasons to vote Trump out of office, Ukraine ( a place most people couldn’t find on a map) is not one of them.
6
@Sagi Thank you for your Freudian slip: agreed!
"There is no better evidence that Democrats do deserve the Whitehouse than this impeachment exercise."
Amen! Let's fight for our country and the Constitution, Dems, Independents, moderate Republicans, true patriots, and all serious media-attentive critical thinkers! Forwards, onwards, and upwards.
Once again the media and journalists undersell what happened by describing Trump’s ‘quid pro quo’ as ‘digging up dirt.’ It wasn’t even that - it was only the announcement of an investigation as Sondland made clear. Trump didn’t care about ‘Ukrainian corruption,’ he didn’t even care about Biden corruption. He used taxpayer money to extort an ANNOUNCEMENT of a FAKE investigation.
Can we please be clear on this? Saying he was ‘asking Ukraine to dig up dirt’ which I have heard journalist say at least 100 times implies Ukraine could say no and that there was dirt. No and No.
2
"Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, says there will be “no difference between the president’s position and our position in how to handle this,” as he told Sean Hannity of Fox last Thursday. Before the House had cast a single vote on impeachment, Mr. McConnell said there was “no chance” the Senate would vote to convict."
Good. I voted for Gary Johnson last time, as I couldn't bring myself to pull the lever for Trump. But I'll have no problem doing so this time after seeing this partisan charade.
1
@Stratman: You don't think Trump's lockstep army of gibbering sycophants isn't the most psychotic political party to emerge under repressed democracy yet?
1
Remember when Chief Justice Wm. Rehnquist put those Gilbert & Sullivan gold stripes on his black robe for Clinton's impeachment? That's the spirit of the upcoming Senate trial. A G & S style self-parody, with Trump singing "I am the monarch of the sea" from the White House, and the Fox News chorus chiming in.
4
Trump has been getting away with racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, misogyny, massive corruption, tax fraud and tax evasion, and now abuse of power, obstruction of justice and bribery. This is how a banana republic with a kangaroo congress and supreme court operates. Involving foreign governments whether Russia, Ukraine or China in internal politics is a security threat to every citizen and worker in the US. Nobody knows what deals are being made and their impact. The witch is Trump truly, enabled by witch protectors, the GOP. Yet elections in 2020 also threaten to impact the impeachment process. Abuse of power, bribery and obstruction of justice in the highest office are very serious crimes. Highly credible witnesses have testified on these in congress corroborating these charges. In that case, trump should be impeached. The economy will do fine. The fed has taken care of it for 10 years now.
3
@observer
Why bring innocent kangaroos into it? I have met many of them over here in Australia and have seen many being eaten by eagles as they lie on the side of roads as roadkill.
If they knew you were putting them in the same sentence as GOP Congressmen they would be hopping mad. I will have you know they are a protected animal and should be kept away from Republican congressmen.
2
Dear fellow Democrats,
Fact of life...just because you ‘participated’ doesn’t mean that you’ll go home with the trophy.
Your ongoing efforts to oust arch-nemesis, Donald Trump, by any means necessary have failed. And you will not endear yourself to swing/moderate voters with this ongoing civil strife.
Ask yourselves if you’re willing to risk losing the 2020 election to protest an investigation into the Bidens’ Ukrainian influence-peddling?
And then what will you do when you don’t go home with the trophy again in 2020?
7
Sigh. I see, all over this thread, the inane, risible, dangerous idea that the corrective for this crime spree is the next election.
Don't get me wrong; those elections *are* of paramount importance but they have zero bearings on impeachment. That that has to be said remains stunning. Where, when and why did this insidious idea take hold, one even NYT journalists like Brooks have bandied about?
For once and for all, this is not a benign idea! Yes, elections are incredibly important, but how can the following issues continue to be ignored?
A) Has it seriously not occurred to the legions making this dangerously misguided call that he may well win again?
B) An election is an election. It was not designed to be, cannot be, and must not be a legal corrective. To make an election be the remedy for impeachable offenses is to corrupt both acts.
C) We are talking about crimes. Since when does not winning reelection --the equivalent of a job promotion--stand in for being held accountable? Do we tell the CEO caught robbing his business that we'll let it pass and check back in a year later to see if stockholders still want him to be CEO?
Stop and think about these ABCs. By all means vote but voting is no replacement for legal proceedings.
DJT must be impeached. The laws of the land demand it. Impeach and vote. We actually can do more than one thing at a time.
5
Honestly, Trump should get two more terms, because the Left has so interfered with his first.
See you in November.
6
@Sagi
LOL. Trump's approval is probably higher than polls indicate because it is being measured through the nuclear war being waged on him by democrats.
4
If Bill Clinton or Obama did the same things, the NYT wouldn't make a peep.
7
The best Maureen Dowd column I have read yet on impeachment. No snark, just facts. Oddly most columnists come off better when they just stick to facts, unless your style is just shtick.
1
After all the powerful testimony by our diplomats regarding Trump’s now impeachable offences I can’t believe that the minority party in the House and majority party in the Senate will not take a stand against the worst violator of constitutional law in the history of the United States. They need to reconsider their entire outlook on the impeachment proceedings and do as they were sworn to do; to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and vote for Trump’s impeachment. By no means is this man innocent. Unfortunately, Senators like Graham, McConnell and our own despicable, “I’m a Different kind of Democrat”; southern New Jersey’s Congressional Representative Jeff Van Drew will assist this monarch and his court by helping them continue without fear of consequences. He and his cohorts will advance party agenda utilizing the preferred methods of coercion, bullying, lying, cheating, misinformation and a pattern of criminal treasonous behavior unequaled in American history.
People that looked the other way in Hitler’s Germany I’m sure made similar claims of inculpability at the start until it became evident that it was going horribly wrong. For Germans there came a point of no return and the inevitable evil his regime was to exact on millions. Now it is our point of no return……
1
As I see it, we have 2 problems to start with:
1. Donald Trump has betrayed his oath of office and We the People, for whom our Republic exists.
2. The GOP Senate, aided by its House members, has declared unconditional surrender of its Constitutional Power to the White House, thereby betraying its duty to the Constitution as a separate branch of government, the voters who put them there, and their oaths to the Constitution.
There is no doubt that problem 1 mandates the Impeachment of Donald Trump. But problem 2 is even worse - as it deprives the voters of one branch of government checking the others.
Consider a looming Problem 3: By packing the courts with Republican leaning judges, nominated by Trump and approved by the GOP Senate, a potential take-over of government by the White House (given a supine GOP Congress and partisan judges) is all but assured - given time.
Problem 4 is also a ticking time bomb here. For reporting today tells us that the failure of this latest international gathering on climate change relates to the absence of leadership from the US.
In my 75th year I am heartbroken as I contemplate the predicament we are in. Unless GOP leaders step up and rescue us from their unconditional surrender to Donald Trump’s would-be “take over” of our Republic,.
3
The USSR was as militarily mighty, technologically advanced, economically large, and politically influential as the USA, if not more. The downfall of such a superpower came from within, simply because the foundation of that superpower was based on wrong building blocks. All the great powers in the world have been either dictatorships or monarchies – with one exception, the USA. The rule of law, the separation of powers and constitutional check and balance among three co-equal branches of the state, and the integrity of elections (as such, the assurance that peoples’ voice is supreme) are the three pillars that made USA a role-model system/democracy. And that is exactly what has kept us an intact republic, despite our shortcomings as a society throughout history. Literally and substantively, we are the ultimate experiment of people’s governance. By outright dismissing the right and obligation of the Congress to have a check on the executive as a scam, by overtly and covertly inviting foreign powers to compromise the US election, and by claiming that he can do anything ( and literally doing it), Trump has shaken all those three pillars. I might be too pessimist here, but with those three pillars compromised, we will be on the path of self-destruction (just recall, Hitler, Mussolini came to power with a democratic election). I am in an absolute shock, how come every single republican is okay with that! Can we stop the looming compromise of our Republic for future generations?
3
@V.R.
The principals of separation of powers and co-equal branches of government argue against impeachment, not for.
The House is intruding on the President’s conduct of foreign policy and punishing the executive branch for not waiving executive privilege.
1
@V.R.: The "Socialist Republics" of the Soviet Union were inspired by the United States. Lenin copied the best ideas he saw. The Soviet Union was comprised of regions dominated by different ethnicities with conflicting demands for local autonomy.
What do they see in this guy that inspires such unconditional loyalty?. Is it:
- the groping?
- the racism?
- the imprisoning of children?
- the separation of families
- his loitering in female dressing rooms?
- the cut back in food stamps?
- his admiration for dictators?
- his perpetual rage?
- his boasting; is that what they like?
- his contravention of the emoluments clause
-his pomposity?
I don't know. There must be something that inspires them. Why do I suspect its primarily my second dot point on the list?
6
@Bob Guthrie
Because you are blind to the benefits of prosperity and peace.
1
@Sagi Peace? The guy is angrily fuming and raging and resentful on a daily basis. Its true that his family is enjoying prosperity though.
3
@Bob Guthrie Nice list but I can't believe you left out his constant lying and continuing effort to produce and disseminate disinformation for his own benefit.
1
Mcconnell should be impeached as well. His obstruction of office is well documented
3
Democrats are about to fall on a sword, though nobody pushed them.
6
@John Xavier III: What would Jesus do, choirboy?
1
Let's start with; We have a liar as our President.
I guess that should be with a capital L.
In fact, as a salute to Miles Davis, this post, which I meant to contain so much more can end right here.
2
Recalling what utter buffoons House republicans made of themselves during the impeachment hearings, I can't wait to behold Senate republicans as they, too, lie, cheat, steal, and SHOUT their way through the Senate trial.
Of course, recent Democratic turncoat and forever Trump worshipper, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, will be perched somewhere very close in loving demented support of his new buddies, clapping his tainted little hands all the way...
4
The same Editorial Board that sees no appearnce of impropriety in Joe Biden's and his son travelling to China, and one week later having an investment of $1.5 billion dollars awarded to his son's investment firm, and sees no appearance of impropriety in Biden's son being awarded a job at a Ukranian gas company that ultimately paid more than $1 million dollars per year timed almost exactly one month after his father was appointed Obama's point man in Ukraine, but does see impeachable offenses by the President, who asked Ukraine to look into the appearance of impropriety.
So much for ethics.
Interrestingly, a different board was in place at the time and the N Y Times ran pieces questioning the propriety of these activities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/opinion/joe-biden-lectures-ukraine.html?searchResultPosition=35
MY how things have changed.
6
@Objectivist Doesn't matter If Republican or Democrat, both parties need to held to some standard of ethics. Otherwise, we have truly become a banana republic.
5
Thank you New York Times. The facts are so clear, the conclusion is so obvious.
1
All of those people who give us a "whatabout" argument involving President Obama should remember two simple facts:
1. Barack Obama is a Harvard Law School graduate who was president (the most senior editor) of the Harvard Law Review, and who taught constitutional law as a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
2. Donald Trump evidently has never read the US Constitution, and even if he has read it, demonstrates time after time that he understands nothing written in it.
Two peas in a pod, right?
So go ahead and "whatabout" me some more.
2
Instead of inciting the mob with "Lock her up" the Democrats have followed the rule of law and, with dignity and decorum, carried out the constitutional responsibility of their offices.
2
The amount of hate heaped on Trump is well deserved. He has done more to ruin our Democracy than anyone else in our history. When I read all the "praise" for him I wonder what sort of person can delude themselves Is a judge.. a tax cut..a deportation worth all the the terror he he has provoked. The turning back of laws meant to keep water and air clean. The promise to Dreamers.. The shameful cheating and lying with Russian and the Ukraine.. The support of criminal governments and petty dictators.
The shameful way he pockets money ..that he should have divested himself from his businesses.
The demeaning of women. The hiring of pornstars for pay and the denial and payoffs. The way he cheats students at a university that he faked. On and on. There is no end to the cheats he works..Anyone else would be in jail. His time is coming.
His manner of dealing with people is that of a self obsessed know it all... That stable genius needs a good lesson.
Throw him out with ghe rest of the trash...before it's too late.
Time to get back to our values and turn him loose..
2
You are absolutely right: Impeach!
And at the next Democratic debate, it would help the cause if all the candidates "took a knee" during the playing of the National Anthem.
Again, and again, and again...do what is right, not what is going to really get him out of office.
In the backwaters and fever swamps of this great nation, as well as the lofty echelons of the NYT editorial offices, this whole fiasco, whose outcome of "Not Guilty", is a foregone conclusion.
You are wasting nine month of political time and treasure which should be devoted to selecting and supporting an electable opponent and whose sole effect is promoting a twitter storm from the office once graced by Washington, Jefferson and the Adams boys.
And increasing the now widely held belief that You People are trying to undo the peoples' choice and replace him with an agent of the International Communist Conspiracy.
But don't let that stop you.
You obviously would rather be right than President.
And the rest of Mankind?
That's not your problem.
The best argument for impeachment is not in the two articles now before the House.
Even though Mr. Trump has sworn to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States", he has called part of that document "phony"!
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-emoluments-clause-053289
1
Members of the House are fulfilling their constitutional duty in impeaching this demagogue of a president. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no doubt that the Republicans in the Senate will let him off the hook. It is equally doubtless that the now right-leaning, pro-Trump majority on the Supreme Court will allow the president to keep his tax records to himself. Left unfettered by our now dysfunctional checks and balances, there are no limits to what this obviously power-mad, deranged man will do next.
Folks, our republic is in grave peril. VOTE!!!!!!
1
"All in on it!"
This includes Congressional Republicans and one treasonous Democrat. Remember them in 2020.
2
It’s funny that a lot has been said that the Republicans “stand on the wall to defend Trupm” and, thus, to defend their dominance in the life of the United States, even despite all the impudent statements and crimes of Trump...
But not a word has been said about WHY they they do it!
When in fact, everything is simple: The desire of white supremacists to dominate the national minorities in the USA is exactly the same as the desire of “Moscow” to dominate the countries, territories, peoples and resources that the Russian Empire conquered during its thousand-year history...
It is this DANGEROUS that brings Republicans closer to Putin’s Russian Politics, which is precisely aimed at SEPARATING AND POWERING. This it what they want!
Trump, in his actions, directly pursues a policy in the Interests of Moscow, about which Giuliani brazenly spoke in his video on YouTube - Transfer the blame for interfering in the US elections from Russia to Ukraine!
It’s so vile that I’m convinced whether Trump Impeachment in the Senate will be successful or not, we don’t know, ...but Giuliani must be brought to justice and convicted of this lie to Ukraine!
1
'largely because so many hate him".
and?
Finally, finally, finally. Thank you NYT for quitting your addiction, albeit temporarily, to bothsidesism, and instead publish a perspective based in truth. Truth is not a political party. One party is impeaching on crimes that have been admitted to, the other has constructed an Alice in Wonderland alternative reality. Impeach.
2
'I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here'
- Senator Lindsey Graham
If you live in South Carolina and believe Trump should be impeached, perhaps now would be a good time to call him 500-600 times and tell him how you feel? I’ll be doing that to my Senator, Cory Gardner...
1
Irony is talking about "resisting the pull partisanship" when the entire impeachment process was completely partisan. Looking forward to another four years of Trump and watching the lefties squeal.
Loved the image of Trump captured by Al Drago.
Trump with a halo of stars.
Reminds me of an image of the Virgin Mary Queen of Heaven.
Trump can do no wrong.
Move over Pope Francis for infallible edicts.
There's a wonderful scene in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons where Thomas More explains the necessity of the rule of law for all. Substituting 'Democrats' for 'Devil' is interesting.
William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
― Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons
@SB You've got this so mixed up. It's this POTUS and the Republicans who are mowing down the laws, so that they can gorge themselves on power. Sir Thomas More would no more support Trump than he did support King Henry VIII who declared the King was the Head of the Church.
Come to think of it, I think there are also other apt similarities between Henry VIII and Trump...
3
You end your editorial with, "For now, that leaves the defense of the Constitution, and the Republic, to the House of Representatives." You could have included this statement too: "which means the whole affair will die."
This whole impeachment action has no meaning while the Senate remains in lockstep with Trump. The two biggest failures are McConnell and Graham and Graham continues to make statements that rank 10 on the stupid scale.
The House needs to vote to impeach and then the world will get to watch the Senate quash it.
The Republicans, by turning away from their duties to support America, have soiled their political pants and deserve to be impeached beside our failed president.
1
“Without impeachment, the president would have been an elected monarch. With impeachment, the president was bound to the rule of law.”
But according to luminaries such as the Leader of the Senate and the Attorney General, this President IS our very own Monarch, at long last! Get over it, Gloomers. Members of the House are mere representatives of the people, of the country. Donald J. Trump IS the people, IS the country. This is how god has blessed America, you heathen hoaxists!
Warm regards,
Just another Senior Adviser
2
I disagree.
1
This editorial has basically quoted me in comments I've been making on this topic since the Mueller report came out, and that is the rhetorical question: Would they put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House this way?
NO!!!
The hypocrisy of the Republicans, if it could be turned into a vapor that you could smell, would be a rotten eggs stench that you could smell from coast to coast.
2
Pompeo, Bolton, Mulvaney could all testify before the Senate. All or one of them would simply lie. That's really the only thing this administration and it's minions are any good at.
Trump , Barr , McConnell and Graham are destroying the Rule of Law'
2
The Republicans in the Senate remind me of the “yuk yuk“ locker room boys of a 50’s high school. Crude, clownish, and entitled. They divorced and married money, lecherous and demeaning. How anyone can support a man who would Photoshop his face on the body of a 16 year old female activist is deficient in morals and integrity. States and cities are repudiating his immigrant policy, we resent his destruction of our pubic spaces, we repudiate his war on women, and are disgusted by the people who think he CB is “funny”.
1
Will people PLEASE acknowledge that the "transcript" is not a transcript? It is a summery at best, no doubt edited to 45's favor. Lt. Col. Vindmen, who was on the call, submitted corrections or additions, and they were deleted!
2
Not surprised The New York Times is group of journalist selected for their anti-Trump bias.
The obstruction of Congress is a joke.The House should have negotiated with the White House and if that failed then go to get the Judiciary involved.
Trump is not the first or last president to ask for foreign help that might help in re-election As a matter of fact I think we should find out the extent of the Biden’s corruption.Hunter is a mess and his father a complicit enabler.
5
The article of impeachments were generated by a July 25 phone call in which President Trump asked President Zelensky to look into allegations against Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. The irony is that Senate Republicans will used the impeachment trial to delve into those allegations.
Rudy Giuliani has volunteered to testify before the Senate. Giuliani listed specific allegations in a letter to Sen.Lindsey Graham. He wrote that
—Ukrainian officials have direct evidence that Democrats conspired with Ukrainians in 2016 to undermine the Trump campaign and
--—former Ukrainian officials have oral, documentary and recorded evidence that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden engaged in bribery, money laundering extortion and other crimes.
Graham responded by asking the State Department for all documents related to Joe Bidens’ interactions with Ukraine and Bursima. These documents may be entered into evidence.
In addition to Giuliani, the Senate may call former Ukrainian prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk, who compiled a seven-page dossier that accused Hunter of corruption.
The impeachment trial will exonerate Trump while incriminating the Bidens in the midst of the 2020 election campaign.
https://www.scribd.com/document/436505018/Giuliani-letter-to-Sen-Graham
3
Impeach Trump – and vote the lawless, neo-monarchist GOP out of existence. That's the only real hope for preserving the American system of government.
1
Please please - enough of this idiotic argument that the voters should decide.
What if a president commits high crimes his first year in office? Then we have to suffer 3 more years of a criminal before the election?? Impeachment was put into the constitution and should be used without reservation.
An please please remove this horror. Before it is too late.
1
I shall defer to the NYT, who knows better than me how to give Trump a victory of Boris Johnson size next fall.
1
The headline should have read:
Impeach and Remove From Office.
2
Get this. Forget about the third or fourth whatever President who got impeached, I think we may be looking at the first EVER EVER Prez to get impeached and then get reelected (by a bigger margin?)
Founders' bones decayed and converted to dust a long time ago. The 21st century population of the internet, mobile, post-suffrage etc. etc. age does not care about the old fashioned model of Presidential integrity and 'foreign interference is bad'.
Jerks will get elected, because Jerkdom is on the rise in the populace. Tough.
Founders, take that.
1
I am stunned by some of the comments here as they sound like Fox News talking points. Let's be clear. Trump has been a criminal his entire adult life. NYC real estate is rampant with criminals and the mob. It's said the mob charges a '10% fee' at the top for building something there and I can assure you that a NYC construction site is a pretty scary place. It's astonishing that blue collar people support Trump as you can be sure he would stiff them if they worked for him. And who bankrupts casinos then brags 'I took a lot of money outta there". I'll tell you who: a criminal. So, trump brought his show to the WH. His personal attorney Cohen is in jail and told us about trump's schemes and the con of using thugs for dirty work. Clinton had sex with a willing partner and was impeached. Trump is accused of violently raping a 14 year old at an Epstein party who withdrew her claim when she and her family were threatened but no one seems to care. So, Trump imitates an orgasm at a rally for his voters (dutifully wearing his products) to demonstrate his concern. He called for Russia to hack his opponent's emails, recently said he would do so again and why not? And by the way, why does Ivanka have a trademark for voting machines? When will people wake up?
2
This crime is like "Murder on the Orient Express".
"Everyone was in the loop", said Sondland
The President, the white house, the vice president, the state department, the energy department, the justice department, national security advisor, the republican congressmen and women, and now the republican senators.
Where is Poirot when you need him?
1
Let's face it, the most effective way to remove Trump is the election in 2020.
Impeachment will not remove him.
Still, I am glad Democrats have a vote coming before the full House. He will certainly be impeached.
He will always have asterisk by his name if nothing else.
Hardly all that he deserves, but that is about the size of it.
Impeaching Donald Trump for investigating Joe Biden's corruption may play well on 8th Avenue, but it's an absurdity on Main Street.
4
Hannity Insanity has infected the entirety of the Republican Party.
2
Donald Trump must be impeached. It is the constitutional duty of the House to bring these proceedings forward to the Senate. In my opinion Mitch McConnell also needs to be impeached. He has over stepped his bounds in the Senate so many times. He like Donald act like they are Dictators and not representatives of the people. This is a horrible time for this great republic and the people need to press for the right thing to happen.
Get rid of both DT and MM. They are both a cancer on our great Democracy.,
5
No surprise here. The Times, root and branch, has been (with good reason) highly critical of our black trumpeter swan, dating from his election. He's not well-spoke, worser, say, that "W" ever was, and, it seems, revels in the fractured syntax spewing from his twitter releases and personal statements Of course, bright boys who work at the Times, who are products of the best Ivies and journalism schools, would view this flawed occupant of the White House with disdain.
But hold on, whatever his flaws, his lies, his attempts to undermine our electoral system with an amateurish tit for tat trial balloon launched over the Ukraine, by any measure (except per Lefty standards) his presidency has been a success, from the economy (going gangbusters with his "horribly unfair tax cuts," to his disinclination (unlike his predecessors) to involve the United States in any foreign adventures, killing and disabling more of our young men.
I'd say the Tomes editorial board is making a mistake, albeit in the hifalutin prose of outraged constitutional scholars.
4
Donald Trump is much too indecent, amoral, dishonest, unethical and crooked to allow him to contest the next elections. He has no respect for any process and protocol. This man must be removed from the White House forthwith.
3
I did anything wrong, yet those who saw me doing anything wrong have to keep their mouth shut.
2
I want to know how the GOP politicians live with themselves and sleep at night. The creature in the White House is immoral, stupid, and an abomination on the face of the U.S. here and abroad. This is WAY beyond policy disputes of both parties; this is about the integrity of our country and its elections and governing process. This about being ashamed of the clown who would be president, as the rest of the world looks on. This is about a man who stated that he could shoot somebody in broad daylight and get away with it. That says it ALL!
3
The American people are pawns. Politics and politicians are despicable.
1
Impeaching Clinton was a stretch. Impeaching Trump is pathetic. The Democrats should focus on finding better candidates for 2024 because they're getting rolled in 2020.
4
It is NOT a constitutional duty and it is little more than vengefulness on the part of the Democrats.
If, with your stupid actions, you get Trump reelected, many people will not forgive you.
You should have selected the best candidate and tried to foster that person. A negative campaign, which seems to be all you are capable of, is a recipe for disaster.
6
The Republicans in the Senate aren't "friendly territory" for subverting the Constitution, attacking representative government, and breaking their oaths. They are in open revolt and self-declared traitors. Graham is not "Trump’s footman". He is already in violation of the oath he took. The Times treats all this with a foppish genteel vocabulary that suggests that it is after all "no big deal". Why?
2
Lindsey Graham, said, “If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing.” So... he's a liar. Got it.
2
Stop and ponder for just one minute the fact that Trump's personal lawyer in the face of everything we have learned over the past six weeks continues "to cook up his drug deal".
Now stop and consider Trump has yet to invite the President of Ukraine to the Oval office and on the day the President of Ukraine went into to talks with the President of the foreign power that invaded Ukraine Trump met with Russian's Minister of Foreign Affairs IN THE OVAL OFFICE!!
2
What would John McCain do? Probably the right thing. It’s a great shame that his former friend Lindsey Graham has turned into such a spineless boot licker.
2
The Times is advocating for impeachment? As Captain Louis Renault said in the classic movie Casa Blanca I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
2
Amen to that.
1
When the president and his chief of staff have both confessed publicly, just how long does an investigation need to be?
The heroes here are the Democrats in the House of Representatives. Despite being warned that impeachment might not be a wise political move, they will still impeach this lawless president to defend the Constitution and our national security.
If this president is not impeached in the House, he might as well take his sharpie to the impeachment clause in our Constitution.
3
Please stop using the phrase "digging up dirt".
Use the word "investigation" instead.
You don't have to say "dirt" to make the overwhelming case for impeachment and removal from office.
2
When I was a third grader, our whole school was released mid-day so we could stand along summit avenue and watch President Eisenhower drive past. My memory of thoughts about the greatness of the POTUS are clear! Oh what filth time has wrought. Get rid of trump!
3
NYT,
I implore you to stop using the phrase, "digging up dirt on a political rival", when, in fact, the President wanted Ukraine to make false accusations against his political rival. I hope you can see the difference.
1
Lame, and Harry Reid Foolish. If it comes to that, watch President Biden be impeached for influence peddling in Ukraine the week after he's inaugurated.
1
America stands with Trump.
2
I agree with this, of course. Further. I am vastly more willing to take such editorials seriously now that the racist/sexist/ageist Sarah Jeong is no longer a member of the Editorial Board.
Shorter NYT Editorial: "We thought long and hard, considered all the facts and, surprise, surprise, reached the conclusion that could have been predicted two years ago." I almost want to ask for my subscription money back.
2
For crying out loud New York Times if you can't get the little things right how can we trust you to get the big ones right? First, in paragraph four, this is the FIFTH time the House has tried to impeach a president, not the third (Jackson, Jackson, Nixon, Clinton, Trump). (Trump is also the FOURTH president to be impeached [Jackson, Nixon, Clinton, Trump], not the third.)
Second, why are you calling the Republican's defense "persuasive" when it is anything but?
@livingsj
I think you mean “Johnson,” not Jackson. Andrew Jackson was censured.
The articles of impeachment falsely allege the president “corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into—
(A) a politcal opponent, (former Vice President Joe R.Biden, Jr.; and
(B) a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2015 United States Presidential election.”
If there is an impeachment trail, it will take the president’s lawyer only a few minuted to disprove the allegations. The House Intelligence Committee Report and graphics shown at the House Judiciary Committee hearing shows President Zelensky actually was asked to publicly announce: “We intend to initiate and complete a transparent and unbiased investigation of all available facts and episodes, including those involving Burisma and the 2016 U.S. elections, which in turn will prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future.”
The proposed announcement did not mention Russia or Joe Biden. The proposed announcement appears one page 121 of the House Intelligence Committee report.
2
Please Republican senators, for the sake of your country and in the defense of your constitution, you must remove President Trump from office.
2
Endorse Bernie Sanders / maybe with Andrew Yang VP
Integrity alone can save this Country.
The news paper of and for the people.
The NYTs wants the Democrats to walk the plank. The Democrats have been in search of an offense to append to their efforts. The Mueller investigation was a dud. The FBI was involved in an imbecilic effort to get Trump with their corrupt FISA warrant. The Ukraine charge is based on neo con diplomats wanting to foment an ethnic war there, which Trump is all for promoting. All this in the face of his buddy Putin. None of this stuff is worth a plug nickel. The NYTs isn't interested in garden variety corruption that the GOP and Trump participate in regularly. Like using enterprise zones to line their rich buddies pockets by abusing a part of the 2017 tax giveaway bill to the wealthy.
2
The Senate will do nothing, they want dictator Trump.
1
Our duly elected president deserves to be duly impeached.
2
What does Mitch McConnell say?
*
NYT stock price on Nov. 4, 2016 = $10.95
NYT stock price on Dec. 13, 2019 = $32.72
The NYT is doing well under Trump.
I certainly hope the NYT Editorial Board is being well compensated for their great work. Spread the Joy!
2
The resistance and push for impeachment began hours after the networks called the election in 2016 It has continued unabated Non stop harassment from the Democrats will continue until it will stop, finally with his acquittal in the senate probably 53-47 against! Then re-election as the citizens outside the NYT liberal bubble have had enough!
2
When we elect a president we trust that he or she will always place our nation’s interests above his own when acting under the color of his office. It is corrupt for him to do otherwise.
Is President Trump the type of person who would breach a fiduciary duty entrusted to him? Each of us will ultimately have to make his or her own judgment. It should not go unnoticed, however, that on Nov. 7 of this year, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million in damages to settle claims that his foundation, a tax-exempt charity, misused funds while he was running for president. The lawsuit alleged that funds were used by Trump for personal and political gain.
* * *
Did Trump breach the public trust when he solicited Ukrainian President Zelensky, in an official phone call, to announce that his government would be investigating the Bidens for wrongdoings allegedly committed years ago?
Digging up “dirt” on a political rival is, in itself, not unlawful. Soliciting it, i.e, “a thing of value,” from a foreign national in connection with a federal election is unlawful, subjecting the solicitor of the information to indictment and prosecution.
It is against our national interests to seek interference in our domestic elections by foreign nationals. Section 30121 of Tile 52 of the U.S. Code, the Election Code, makes this conduct unlawful.
https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/13/another-voice-president-placed-his-interests-above-the-common-good/
1
Throughout the free world, we have earned
No respect - just disgust. Bridges burned.
So, it's now safe to say, we are all on our way
To that place where our honor's UNlearned.
My father - a WWII vet -
Were he alive would not get
Why this GOP now
Chooses to kowtow
To a liar who still has not yet
Explained why he took troops deployed
In Syria out - Kurds destroyed.
And Ukraine? Same refrain.
Their democracies strained.
Now ours is. With Trump toadies annoyed
By Mueller, by Vindman! ToadIties YOU
Have disgraced yourselves. It's what you do
When you claim Democrats will "rue"
This impeachment; and how they will pay.
When your power surmounts what is true.
We can see what has just taken place.
Abe Lincoln would call you a disgrace.
You're the Know-Nothings now
And I just don't know how
You can even look at your own face.
The basic standards of trust
Trump AND you have betrayed while you thrust
The sickle & hammer, rife in what you yammer
You've earned no respect; just disgust.
You sideswiped respondents, what gall.
Like Ms. Yovanovich who stood tall.
To what Putin applauded,
And you also lauded
Trump’s threats displayed in front of us all.
BEFORE the Senate Hearing (here soon)
You routinely have howled at the moon
That you want more witnesses, bark-barking away
But when Justice Roberts can to the GOP say
That Trump can be called as one on that Senate day…
Allowing that one, you’ll want none!
1
Thank you to The Editorial Board.
1
I share the comment - remove our POTUS thru the ballot box.
Come-on, you can't be serious that POTUS abused office and obstructed Congress.
One phone call is all that he has made. And with one call - he has abused the office. Even the recipient of that call said there was nothing to it.
POTUS allowed all his staff to work with Mueller who was a legally appointed prosecutor.
If anything - most of POTUS lawyers asked that he stone wall Mueller.
But having done nothing wrong in the first place - he had nothing to fear from Mueller.
As to Congress shamimpeachment - this is a caucus that was determined from Jan 21, 2017 to impeach him.
Even if he had cooperated - the conclusion was foregone.
As it is Democrats are setting a bad precedent by lowering the bar of impeachment too low.
Just like they are regretting Harry Reid nuclear option - they are going to regret this vote.
Justice Kavanaugh warned about "reaping the whirlwind."
Well, it's coming in November 2020.
2
Trump Derangement Syndrome has been on display at the NYT for a long time. The Mueller investigation was going to be it but it rubbed as did Bob Mueller. The white blower's second hand knowledge was going to do it. Bribery then Quid pro Quo, then treason. We are left with Mt. Trump's refusal to send over witnesses and it is called obstruction because the Democrats couldn't be bothered going to court. The two hearings where fundamental rights were trampled.
Here's a big surprise for the NYT. Most people think the whole thing is a sham. It's not on TV, newspapers (other than the NYT and WaPo) focus on sports, and most non rabid Democrats are happy with the economy. Go figure...Maybe Trump is right. It's the elites against the restive us.
4
This is not an impeachment; this is a subversion of the Constitution in an partisan effort to overturn a legitimate election. The American people are not fooled by cloaking an attempted coup d’etat in legalese gobbledygook.
Since his election in 2016, the New York Times has gone to every imaginable extreme and spared no expense to overturn that result. Day after day, week after week, year after year, the Times has gone to ludicrous extremes to impede and frustrate Mt. Trump in the performance of even the most mundane and non-controversial of his official duties.
That invidious OpEd from that “Anonymous” malcontent and its periodic reprint is malicious, irresponsible journalism at its worst. It is but one of many recent examples of bad journalism by the Times. The Times has singlehandedly validated Mr. Trump’s claims of “fake news.”
Mr. Trump was elected to challenge the status quo which was not working for a very large segment of the American people. The fact that he impugns the conventional received wisdom espoused by the Times and the “deep state” does not make a fool or incompetent.
If Mr. Trump is as bad as the Times says he is, then let the American People remove him from office in 2020 using the long established and widely respected mechanism of the ballot box. The American people will not respect nor accept an elitist foisted putsch.
4
@JTS Would be a great idea to have U.S. elections determine who we elect, BUT since the Republicans have been busy for decades gerrymandering, removing thousands of legitimate voters from the polls (to this very day), requiring ID that many poorer citizens don't have, reducing the number of voting locations in poorer places, keeping parolees and students from voting, not counting all votes, and many many other nefarious techniques aimed at preventing the votes of folks more likely to vote Democratic, I suggest we finally retire the retort, "let's settle this at the ballot box."
Let me know when our elections are fair again, and then I'll listen to that argument.
1
@JTS Doesn't seem as if you have much appreciation for representative government.
And when the Senate impeachment trial fails to convict, and Trump is re-elected in the same lie-soaked madness that gave Boris Johnson a landslide victory, all these odious, criminal, thuggish behaviours are normalised for four more years and perhaps beyond. Sayonara, America, it was good to know ye...
Please don't indulge Hannity by printing his name in editorials. "Telling it to Fox news" or some such would suffice.
2
Now trump can say he has done something better than Obama.., he got impeached.
1
Though, the conviction of Trump in the Senate for genuine abuses of office and obstruction is doubtful, a much deeper concern lies with the people who voted him in. The people who support the Nunes’ and Jordan’s of the world. The depths of their credulity. The height of their self-assured righteousness. Their pompous, callous smirks of delight seeing progressives anguish helplessly, over-run by the tsunami of untruths, knowing theirs was the greater suffrage under Obama.
The feckless, unprincipled veneration of Trump by a large swath of citizenry - induced by Fox News propaganda and foreign meddling - is the greatest threat to America. Many find Trump the lesser of the evils as did the German people about Hitler. A turbulent sea of disinformation and economic anxiety can damage compasses.
Their ethics and principles suppressed by the opioid of a strong economy and delusions of persecution by the deep state, a song drummed into their amygdala by Manchurian state memes and pundits. A rousing win for Trump Republicans in November will foretell coming dark ages for enlightenment. The exhaustive depravity of it all is wholly despairing were it not for the 2018 shift in the House. This was a necessary sanitization for the good of the country and world. All would be happy deluded people without it.
Funny how the NYT published op-ed after op-ed railing against impeachment in Brazil (same legislative process, equally corrupt administration), three years ago...
1
Dear McConnell, Graham, and other trump republicans,
You got what you wanted from trump when he separated children from their parents and jailed them, by stacking our courts with racists and bigots, by supporting the NRA and oligarchs. Now do your constitutional duty and look at the facts. Put country over your wallets and your fealty to Putin (whoops, I mean trump) and convict him of the high crimes and misdemeanor and obstruction charges.
2
The central fact in the Trump Articles is his attempt to fake up the next election-- his own. He becomes a legally empowered subversive and thug if you don't take a stand, and every future WH is corrupted if this isn't litigated. And he went to a foreign country to do it. The Republican Party is a party of historic betrayal. There isn't any excuse offered up by Trump's minions that doesn't stink.
2
Democracy is surely standing on end. The Republicans, lamely, would have us believe the whole impeachment inquiry is, as they defensively and pompously put it, "a sham." Oh is it? Is it really? Is this offensively idiotic response really the best they can muster? We in America and our friends in other countries are in no way fooled by this sort of belligerent and empty grandstanding.
He may just be the greatest president of out lifetime. Rejecting the 'forever wars' and bringing more of our kids home. Increasing opportunities for minorities. Forcing NATO countries to pay their fair share. Stronger military. Stronger economy. Increasing jobs and wages. Nothing is good enough when your head is exploding with irrational hate. So what if he's a vulgar alpha male - what do you think it takes to lead the world in chaos? Obama was a total failure.
3
The photo at the top is disturbing in that the Presidential Seal is halo - ish.
In the dark of GOP direction, I see rather grim picture of the future. Isn't it obvious that the impeachable offence would not exist for GOP, not even if Trump shot down someone in plain daylight on Time Square, not even if he appointed Putin for his Secretary of State.
His second term would render Democrats completely redundant, and would end up in a break-up of the EU, NATO, and cause severe conflicts in the US. The scenario Putin only dreamt about couple of years ago.
4
@Kai
"based on the existing transcript"
o Where have you been? Don't own a television?
"The amount of money, legislative effort and time spent by the Democrats and paid for by the taxpayers are monumental."
o Benghazi ‘investigation’: $7,000,000
o Trump’s golfing trips: $83,000,000
"Literally, for nothing,"
o Over 100 criminal charges
o 34 people (27 Russians) and 3 Companies indicted so far
o 11 convicted so far
6
"The disorders and miseries, which result gradually, incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty."
~George Washington~ September 19, 1796
2
This is not an impeachment; this is a grotesque subversion of the Constitution in an effort to overturn a legitimate election. Nothing more.
Since his election in 2016, the New York Times has gone to every imaginable extreme and spared no expense to force a coup d’etat against Mr. Trump. Day after day, week after week, year after year, the Times has gone to outrageous extremes to discredit and frustrate even the most mundane and uncontroversial actions of Mr. Trump’s official duties.
That invidious OpEd from that “Anonymous” cowardly malcontent and its periodic reprint is malicious, irresponsible journalism at its worst. It is but one of many recent examples of bad journalism by the Times. The Times has singlehandedly validated Mr. Trump’s claims of “fake news.”
Mr. Trump was elected to challenge the status quo which was not working for a very large segment of the American people. The fact that he impugns the conventional received wisdom espoused by the Times and the “deep state” does not make a fool or incompetent.
If Mr. Trump is as bad as the Times says he is, then let the American People remove him from office in 2020 using the long established and widely respected mechanism of the ballot box.
3
@JTS Are you so wealthy and so lacking in compassion that you feel what is going on is OK?
That we have the highest poverty rate, the highest high school dropout rate, the most expensive healthcare, and millions of people cannot even afford it, no inexpensive education beyond high school or apprenticeships, the highest incarceration rate of all the industrialized nations. Our environment has been thrown under the bus etc. etc.
You are willing to accept all this so you could get a tax break even if temporary paid for with borrowed money from China & Japan? So Trump and other wealthy people could get a even bigger permanent tax break. It's very obvious by now that as usual trickle down economics does not and never has worked. How many of the jobs don't even pay a livable wage. Should anyone have to work their butts off 40 hrs. a week and not make a livable wage?
Did it ever occur to you that we would not have a lot of the poverty driven problems if we had really "EQUAL" education for all not just the wealthy cities & suburbs? Sorry, but I don't hear Trump addressing any of these problems.
It's should be pretty obvious to all by now that this ego driven man in charge has his own financial interests and political interests at the top of the list. The rest of us and the country are at the bottom.
ETA on Senate vote, anybody?
O and R's conversation
O sez, "So here's a question for you. If what Trump did with Ukraine is perfectly okay, than if Nancy Pelosi says to President Xi "Look we're about to sell Taiwan a bunch of jets. We can hold that sale up in the House for at least a year, but I need a favor. Mitch McConnell's wife's family owns a huge Chinese shipping company and she is the Secretary of Transportation. We'll hold up that sale if you can dig up some dirt on McConnell." If she did that it would be perfectly okay playing by Trump's new rules wouldn't it?
R sez, "No way!! That's stupid. Look, the Ukrainians didn't even know the arms were being held up. And they got the money."
O again, "That's not true. They knew in early August. And they didn't get their money until Trump learned about the whistleblower."
R again, "But they did get their money. Ukraine's president said he didn't feel any pressure. Nothing bad happened, so there wasn't anything wrong."
O again, "Then let me ask you another question. Joe the bank robber points his gun at the teller and says "Give me all your money." Then some guy in the bank recognizes him and shouts out "Hey Joe, are you really going to rob this bank?" Ane Joe puts the gun back in his pocket and leaves. Did Joe commit a crime? I mean he never used his gun. The teller wasn't even really shaken up, and the bank still has all its money. So where's the probltm?"
1
Time and again, those who support impeachment and removal from office have cited "this constitutional process" as some sort of attempt to imbue it with majesty. This editorial does the same. Just because it is constitutional doesn't make it right or grand. However necessary it is (and it is surely justified) impeachment is nonetheless a grubby process because it is administered by politicians who have strong, compelling reasons not to look at the facts, one way or another.
Constitutionally, Trump can't be removed for being a jerk. He can't be removed for constantly trying to violate laws with his wild, untested schemes that are cited numerous times in the book WARNING by "Anonymous", a high White House aide. The examples of Trump off the rails would shock anyone who has served in govt. or watched it up close as a journalist. Trump is just what he appeared to be from the beginning, a vile self promoter without an gram of self discipline, a "stable genius" who shouts the most common American four letter word (what the ______ is this?) when staff aides expect him to read position papers and memos before tweeting into action.
Another factor: where are the American people in all of this? Why don't we get to conduct some sort of recall vote? Why? The founders couldn't have imagined direct participation at a time when riding horseback from DC to NY took days. Because we are not involved, a stain if illegitimacy hangs over the results to be exploited endlessly by Republicans.
2
@Doug Terry He can't b removed for trying to violate laws? So if a person makes multiple attempts to kill another person they shouldn't be charged with a crime?
2020 Democratic landslide or die. Get everyone to vote. EVERYONE! No excuses. I don't wanna hear it.
2
Did McConnell ever have a soul? Years from now, we'll look back on this era and see clearly those turning points at which McConnell was the right bag man in the right spot when fascism needed it.
2
And where did the nyt board sit on Clintons impeachment? If a democrat was acting in this manner would this same board really have the same opinion. I would like to think so but I very much doubt it.
At least Obama wasn't impeached. Take that, Trump.
2
FINALLY!!!! It is about time that the editorial board of the
New York Times has taken a clear stand on the impeachment of the 45th president. America, as we know for the last 243 years, is about to disappear. The Senate must do its sworn duty and uphold the Constitution, thus voting to remove Donald Trump from office.
1
When we turned to all of this mandatory state testing in K-12 schools, we heightened the focus on mathematics and reading and left out civics. I believe the Americans who are not appalled just don’t know that they should be, because their education in civics is so weak. History departments in universities are also withering. Perhaps one outcome of this ordeal is for us to wake up to the importance that everyone learn civics.
There is no doubt this president should be impeached. Everything that is happening was clear from his presidential bid. This is a man who is 100 percent about himself. Why should a man like Trump run for president? It interrupts his life. The only reasons would be great civic duty, which he obviously does not have, or great ego. When he held his rallies just after being elected, I paled. These were not re-election events, but opportunities for Trump to seek love from the crowd. This was sickening, Hitler-like. At those rallies he says the most egregious things. We know he is self serving, the Ukraine moment is far from the first time. We also heard the Ukraine head joke “could I have that meeting now” during his press conference in America. This joke revealed to all that heard it (the world) that he clearly knew about the quid pro quo.
We are giving away our democracy out of the ill-fated decision one party had to nominate a buffoon from a television show as their candidate, and because some Americans believed he might help them.
2
The Trumpublicans increasingly impress me as moreso a cult than a political party. Given the midterm outcomes for Republicans, it's surprising the Kool-Aid still tastes so sweet to them.
2
What a surprise! ...nothing new to report here since this paper and many others have expressed this sentiment since his election.
2
@1515732
And what a new would be for you ? To start supporting Trump , his lies, his obvious links with the Asian dictators, his perfidious effort to break up the EU, NATO, his vulgarity, threats, his dubious mental health ?
Impeach, with neither the slightest doubt nor hesitation, and then exile to Dry Tortuga or one of the still uniinhabited islands in the Aleutians.
LOL. The only way the NYT Editorial Board can depict the president as, well, a real president (ex., the seal) is when they want to impeach him.
If only they hadn't been hellbent on destroying him from Day One, they might have some credibility. This will resonate only within the bubble, where Trump's critics cling to their Russian collusion and impeachment.
3
@AACNY Perhaps because prior to Day One this was an incredibly dishonest egotistic man whose main concern was himself and the adoration of his supporters. He lacked morals, encouraged violence in his rallies, lacked the intelligence required for the position he wished to obtain with no interest in learning, and had a racist background.
He was a TV celebrity, a businessman with a record of numerous bankruptcies, and failed businesses. Have we ever had a candidate before that bragged about sexually assaulting women, that entertained his supporters by imitating a disabled man?
Good grief! You wonder why there were negative feelings about him from the start? To me it is an incredible tragedy that there are so many Americans out there that just do not care. It is sad, just so sad.
3
Radicals have awakened a sleeping giant.
See Great Britain.
2
Moderate voices on both sides on many main issues seem to be disappearing while some of the the best of commentators in this section of the NYTimes are also curiously absent ?
1
Correction; Impeach and Remove.
1
Nail him to a plastic gold cross ... and light it.
Sadly the call for impeachment by the NYT and other newspapers will have little effect on Trumps base...as I surmise that these publications are not their source of information...see Fox News.
Yawn !! OK folks, nothing new here, nothing to see, move along with your life.
For those of you who are hiding under your pillows out of fear of Trump, there is a good book out called, "Maybe You Should Talk to Someone"
There is an election coming. The people will get to pick - again.
@Sergeant Altman The people did not get to pick last time. That was the work of the electoral college and Putin.
2
"IN THE END, the story told by the two articles of impeachment... is short, simple and damning: President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival."
How many of you realize that if and when the Republicans prove Joe Biden went after that Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son and shut down the investigation into the Burisma board, the Democrats' impeachment case will blow up in their face like an Al Qaeda bomb in your mama's kitchen?
How many of you realize that shortly after Biden pressured the Ukrainian president to fire his prosecutor general, the case against Burisma was closed with no indictments or conviction -- and no complaints from Joe Biden or anyone else in the Obama Administration?
The Republicans are waiting to get complete control of the impeachment process before they trot out the evidence against Biden. That was the plan from the start. The phone call with Prez Zelensky was a classic "Please don't throw me in that briar patch" trap.
The Democratic Party is not just in a cage fight with President Trump. They are in a cage fight with their own long-standing corruption and stupidity.
1
The articles of impeachment allege President Trump “corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into a political opponent (former Vice President Joe R. Biden Jr.),” but the record shows President Zelenksy was asked to publicly announce “We intend to initiate and complete a transparent and unbiased investigation of all available facts and episodes, including those involving Burisma and the 2016 U.S. elections, which in turn will prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future.” The proposed announcement did not mention Joe Biden.
The proposed announcement appears on page 121 of the House Intelligence Committee report.
The articles of impeachment allege President Trump “solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2015 United States Presidential election.” But the proposed announcement shows Zelensky was only asked to announce that investigation of episodes would include the would the “2016 U.S. election.”
The proposed announcement did not mention Russia or Russian interference; it mentioned only Ukrainian interference. And there is absolutely no doubt Ukraine interfered. For example, in August 2016, Ukraine give the FBI the “back ledger.” On August 14, 2016, the New York Times published an article headlined “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief.”
So the senate trolls will hand Trump a pass on accountability, at which time, with what's left in this administration, a president with no concept of government beyond his self=praise, a couple of dead-beat kids, a closet Nazi, and a "personal lawyer" we will have our very own banana republic. We already have state TV, a demonized press, a criminalized opposition, ridiculed intellectuals, stuffed courts and a shadow government and 25 states have enacted enhanced voter suppression legislation. The last step was to de-fang the troublesome House. Graham and McConnell it seems have sold whatever little decency they once had for a seat at the little-dictators table, where one could imagine regular praise sessions to test one's loyalty to the new emperor. And we get to watch it in real-time.
Little did Gil Scott-Heron know, the revolution would be televised, and it would be a reality show!
1
The NY Times ought to be honest with its choir.
This fiasco will be another humiliating defeat to Trump.
You people cannot beat Trump. Accept your fate. You are the losers, and America is better off for it.
But I offer you some help with your derangement. Trump is beatable. His policies are horrendous, and they are doing untold damage. (Of course, the Democrat politicians and their propagandists, such as the NY Times, are all in in that, but this is another issue.)
If "the Resistance" would simply treat Trump with respect and oppose him on his policies, they would show that they are reasonable people, i.e., in contrast to people who believe that men who think they are women can get pregnant. The public is likely to respond to reason. The people are stupid, but people aren't stupid. They can be convinced with rational arguments, especially those with substantive evidence that other policies will improve their lives.
We can look at what the government says about the economy or we can look at how people are really doing. It's two different stories. A focus on helping people do better is the key to electoral success.
Not this idiotic impeachment.
Clinton was impeached because of a stained blue dress. Now does bribing a foreign head of state for personal gain, and totally obstructing Congress, rise to that level?
1
The NYTimes knows as much about Constitutional duties as it knows about journalistic integrity and professionalism--meaning very little.
Who else is old enough to remember Dr. Strangelove. His clone is now in the White House. While we are debating whether to remove Trump from office, we should watch the movie Dr. Strangelove. The short video clip below conveys what many in the world, including many of our citizens, are concerned not only about Trump, but the the United States. Afterall, we elected him. ... https://medium.com/@banicki/while-we-are-debating-whether-to-remove-trump-from-office-we-should-watch-the-movie-dr-eb2706e360cc
Do they have to send it to the Senate immediately? If not, drag your feet, Dems. Impeach the fool but keep investigating. You lose the upper hand as soon as you hand it over to McConnell.
The Republican senate is as corrupt as Trump. Shameful.
1
Is there anything more tedious and predictable than a NYT editorial board piece.
We got it. You are going to hew to Democrat partisan viewpoints right down the line. If it was a Democrat being impeached, you could count on them opposing impeachment. No different than Fox News, just pointing the partisan attack in the opposite direction. Sad to see that our most prominent news outlets are so vapid and boring.
Impeach him for what?
There is nothing to do with the wascally Wussians in the impeachment scrum despite your investment of years propagandizing it.
There is NO example of ''abuse of power'' in the amateurish documents crayoned out by the House of Representative on a strictly party-line vote.
Oh yeah - that party-line vote that Pelosi hinted would be the one thing she could never go along with. Oops.
I suppose it is always better to go out with a bang instead of a whimper, but what an incredibly sad chapter for Thomas Jefferson's and FDR's party to devolve into.
Is there ANY place for legitimate thinking inside the NY Times' political directorate when the histrionics turn out THIS badly?
1
I am independent -sort of speak- said so this created issue about president impeachment is based op on partisan "politic"and the Times is par of it.
Thank you to the NY Times for declaring their support for impeachment.
The Base population wants the clock turned back to a simpler time. Hence just listen to Mr. President talk, its just painful. If you rather walk into a local hospital and watch the population meander through as you sit there watching Obese, Chronic disease, and dysfunctional lives, make their way through a Lean/Six Sigma designed assembly line. Trump will win, the democrats will lose, and the snowflakes will fall complaining in disbelief as this imbecile gets a second term. Because you just can’t get your stuff together and fight this Neanderthal out of office.
What a sleeper
NYT is desperate to flak for the Democrats. There is no crime. Just a bunch of politics. And the Times knowing that their candidates can't beat Trump.
1
Defend the Constitution and impeach this president.
This is a partisan attempt by Democrats to overturn 2016. Period.
Support by the Editorial Board of the NY Times is an extension of that, pushed down by the owner of the Times.
Nothing more, nothing less.
1
This Board wanted Trump impeached for the Russia Collusion episode, a story that the Times ran with for years (lots of mouse clicks) Now they want him to be impeached because he acted within his authority as chief executive.
The Times' long running collusion narrative has been proven to be definitively false by both Mueller and Horowitz. And Horowitz didn't mincewords when he said there was no collusion, ever.
And again, with no evidence whatsoever that points toward a personal benefit from his actions on Trump's part, they will be proved to have harped on another false narrative.
And it doesn't bother them a bit because they are no longer journalists, but political activists, abusing their journalist's credentials to escape defamation of character lawsuits and actively undermine the President.
In November of 2020 it will start all over again because Trump will be re-elected by a landslide, the rest of the nation sick and tired of leftist elitists abusing their press status.
1
A majority of Americans agree with the editorial board of the NYT.
4
I was so interested to read the Times' deep investigation into Joe Biden's filmed comment about withholding money from Ukraine (while he was VP) until a prosecutor was fired who was looking into corruption of Burisma where Biden's son worked and got payed ridiculous amounts of money.
Oh, wait...
LOL! Keep dreaming. It'll never happen.
Beat him in the election instead.
Americans CAN rid themselves of this vulgar, obnoxious, and unprincipled man in the next election, but they MUST rid themselves of a criminal without delay.
Half the nation believes that Trump took action wrt Ukraine based on a plausible belief that his campaign and administration were targeted by the Obama administration and Democrats with conspiracy theories and the vicious promulgation of the unverified and unverifiable Steele Dossier by the NYT and other partisans.
Half the nation believes that Trump honestly was attempting to uncover corruption by the Democrats in general and Biden in particular. Half the nation believes that the Trump action was a valid governmental function as opposed to a campaign ploy.
All the posturing and hand-wringing by the NYT is to cover up it faux outrage, selective reporting, partisan opinion in its news stories, and clearly biased slant in "analysis" pieces. Impeachment was part of the Dem-Times coalition from the beginning.
You get the impeachment, but not the conviction. But it has started to boomerang and will continue to move pro-Trump opinion in battleground states. Congratulations.
Come rain or shine since Hillary’s loss and Trump’s election the Times editorial board has been preaching to us on his immorality, what a surprise to read today’s sermon.
1
Trump's impeachment NOT just bribery to get Ukraine to attack the Bidens... it is Soooo much more
Partial list of actions that Trump is involved in. He is a linchpin in a vast corrupt organization. GOP are ground troops
Trump-Russia Investigation
15 months
34 Indictments/Charges (Individuals)
3 Indictments/Charges (Companies)
6 GUILTY pleas
4 CONVICTIONS
Indicted:
Roger Stone Convicted
Paul Manafort
Rick Gates
George Papadopoulos
Michael Flynn
Michael Cohen
Richard Pinedo
Alex van der Zwaan
Konstantin Kilimnik
12 Russian GRU officers
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Mikhail Burchik
Aleksandra Krylova
Anna Bogacheva
Sergey Polozov
Maria Bovda
Dzheykhun Aslanov
Vadim Podkopaev
Irina Kaverzina
Gleb Vasilchenko
Internet Research Agency
Concord Management
Guilty Plea:
Michael Flynn
Michael Cohen
George Papadopolous
Richard Pinedo
Alex van der Zwaan
Rick Gates
Over 191 Criminal Charges:
Conspiracy against the USA (2 counts)
Conspiracy to launder money (2 counts)
Bank fraud (8 counts)
Bank fraud conspiracy (10 counts)
Subscribing to false tax returns (10 counts)
Making false statements (6 counts)
Failure to file reports of foreign bank accounts (14 counts)
Unregistered agent of a foreign principal (2 counts)
False FARA statements (2 counts)
Subscribing to false tax returns (10 counts)
Assisting in preparation of false tax documents (5 counts)
Conspiracy to defraud the United States (13 counts)
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud (2 counts)
Aggravated identity theft (24 counts)
7
@Pray for Help
Brilliant summation. You will not see it on Fox though. Hannity, Carlson et al will not read it but that will not stop them calling it fake news though.
Another “bombshell” from the NYT.......yawn. Did anyone not already know that he was going to be impeached, regardless of the arguments one way or the other? The next “bombshell” from the NYT will be, “Trump acquitted in Senate trial”. Yawn, again. Let the electoral college and the U.S. citizenry determine whether he stays in office or not, next November.
If after all we know about Donald Trump and his administration including the non stop "alternative facts", the gutting of the EPA, the lying about climate change, the declaration of war against immigrants etc. ; If after all of the indictments, confessions, convictions and testimony of Trump associates, appointees and co conspirators; If after all of the witnesses who came before the House Intelligence Committee and if after waging a war on the Constitution and the separation of powers articulated in it; If after all of that, the 2020 election is on the American people. If, "We the People" re-elect Donald Trump ( and Mitch McConnell, Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, etal.) then we have only ourselves to blame for what follows.
As for the Democrats, let us all give Speaker Pelosi a standing ovation for her brilliant navigating of the unending minefields that would have stymied a lesser person. She made sure along with Chairman Schiff that the Republicans and Trump would not be successful in trying to overturn the 2018 election. She truly did eat their lunch. Then there is Joe Biden. What was he thinking when he allowed his son to accept a position on the Board of Directors of Burisma, a suspect Ukrainian energy company and receiving a reported $50,000 a month as compensation? That is not just another gaff of the "That's Joe" kind but at the least an act of galactic political incompetence.
1
The Democrats have only one job starting summer and fall 2020, get the voters to vote. It is the only way to remove "party over people" Senators and maybe Trump.
As long as Congress gets into Democrats hands, we have a chance to survive this attack on our laws and Constitution.
3
Please don’t blame the Democrats for having moved so fast to complete the proceedings in the House. Even as heated debate was going on in the House, Trump has been spreading more lies to defend the earlier lies that initiated the House move.
He will certainly do everything to manipulate the outcome of the 2020 election. There is no guarantee that even the court would stop him. Other than the court, the only check on his lawless behavior is Congress. We all have seen how defiant and contemptuous he is of Congress and how he persistently worked to thwart its constitutionally mandated inquiry into his wrongdoings. And the Republican legislators, as the editorial has rightly said, “have been working overtime to abet the president’s wrongdoing.”
As long as we have Republican senators who act as Trump’s courtiers, the possibility of his being removed from office is nil. House Democrats knew this full well when they initiated the inquiry. But that knowledge did not stand in the way of their performing the constitutional duty to hold this president accountable for his egregious violation of the Constitution. Let's applaud them for that.
It’s so appalling that not a single Republican legislator has expressed concern for this egregious violation. What about the oath every one of them took to protect and defend the Constitution? If they continue on this path, they will soon find themselves working in a dictatorship. But then, courtiers have no problem working for a dictator.
5
"As the constitutional scholar Noah Feldman testified before the Judiciary Committee last week, “Without impeachment, the president would have been an elected monarch. With impeachment, the president was bound to the rule of law.”
In this case, not a monarch but a cult of personality clearly proven by McConnell's public declarations that he will be assisting Trump in his defense at the Senate trial, whose conclusion even he has said, with no sense of having any knowledge of the Constitutional process, is already decided.
5
The Presidents defense in the Senate trial will consist of lies and conspiracy theories that will exhibit his obstruction of congress on an almost monumental scale. Meanwhile the Presidents base will continue to believe their President is some kind of profane truth telling messiah, leaving everyone else to detest this President. This is obviously not the way democracy should work. How can we fix it? The answers are beyond all of us right now. They will come over time and have to do with reining in the executive branch, making it once again a coequal member of the government and holding both the President and Congresspeople to their oaths. Right now, it seems like this unaccountable President will remain in office, getting away with this, just as he's somehow gotten away with other indictable offenses throughout his life.
2
This morning Rand Paul and many more Republican members of Congress and Trump supporters have also stated the Democrats hate Trump because he is a Republican and that is why they are trying to impeach him.
In the last 100 years there have been ten Republican Presidents and eight Democrats elected as President. Only two Presidents, Nixon and Clinton went through the impeachment process and neither one was removed from office. (Nixon resigned).
If the Democrats hate Republican Presidents so much where is the proof? Is it just possible that Trump is actually a liar and misused his powers as President and deserves to be removed from office. Facts say YES! Liars say NO!
5
This disgraceful president is the result of voters who just had to "vote their conscience" and pull the lever for Jill Stein or some other third party candidate and the "Bernie Stay-At-Homes" who were not going to vote because their guy didn't get the nod. If the Democrats plan to retake the White House in November they need to pursue a get-out-the-vote campaign unprecedented in this country.
1
@Mark
Your overlooking the fact that Hillary got almost 3,000,000 more votes than Trump.
Trying to blame it on a third party or non voters is a red herring
"It's the electoral college, stupid."
1
If no one including DJT is above the law, then drug dealers, murderers, child abusers, thieves, etc., and other obvious law breakers can refuse to participate in their trials, order people not to testify, ignore subpoenas and be found innocent. In which Twilight Zone episode must judges and many prosecutors agree with the criminals and set those criminals free. Help me make it through the night and day.
1
@Rita Harris
What you mean is that if anyone (not "no one") is above the law, then . . .
Yes, the House will impeach. But then what? Is there any tangible benefit, given that the Senate will no doubt acquit? Indeed, impeachment might only encourage Trump's reelection, given the defiant mindset of his base. And it's too bad that the Democrats have yet to put forward a credible alternative, which could make all the difference. Indeed, the pathetic performance of the Democrats so far (perhaps with the exception of Michael Bloomberg) might just drive the undecided into Republican hands.
1
@Antoine
The impeachment process has stopped Trump's shakedown of Ukraine and it has also put a stop to his effort to win in 2020 by using the Ukraine to support a bogus smear campaign against Joe Biden. So, while Trump will not be removed from office, in spite of richly deserving removal, the impeachment process has served 2 very important purposes.
3
The impeachment process and the subsequent Senate trial have moved beyond the realm of politics. Donald Trump has committed multiple, verifiable impeachable offenses.
Our democracy is now at an inflection point. As painful as this moment is for the country, we must put protecting our constitution ahead of all else. History will judge whether we sacrificed the values at the core of our democracy for political expediency or had the strength and honor to protect those values for future generations.
2
It will be interesting to see if Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump gets his way for length of trial in the Senate. McConnell wants a slam-dunk acquittal. Trump wants prolonged theater, in which he can do more self-incrimination, which is why McConnell opposes that plan. Sense or Drama - we shall see.
Pointless exercise, except to the extent that it will air a few issues for future history books -- assuming students of the future will be able to read. He will be the first impeached President of the US to be reelected.
3
Well, the president could come down and testify in person; 'ya think? :) He's always said he is his own best spokesman.
1
I hope Speaker Pelosi does NOT send the articles to the Senate. I hope they just vote them and hold them while they continue investigating. Let that criminal grifter/ conman/ liar/ thief sit with the reality of one impeachment and prospective ongoing investigations make him sweat.
He cannot be trusted and should be aware that he is under watch at all times.
2
Of course we should impeach and hold a trial before an impartial Senate, and we should subpoena Putin to explain his meddling.
2
We do not have a President. We have Donald Trump.
3
trump will win again. the media and dems go into rehab a short time after.
1
If only the World had a say in this circus. Trump would be Impeached in a New York second. What does it say about your democracy when 50% want this dictator gone; but still because of his fanatical sycophant base; he can continue to run roughshod over people, laws, and the U.S. Constitution with total impunity. UNITED States of America. I think not.
2
Were Trump mayor of a small town, he would be gone for any of his imperial moves. To give a president a free pass is to disband the republic.
5
One man in this world, {trump does not count, since anything coming from him are lies}, that knows exactly what trump meant when asking, "could you do us a favor", that being President Zelensky of the Ukraine. With promises of White House visits not being kept, it would seem Zelensky knows the corrupt man he is dealing with. It's understandable that he seeks to protect his country against further Russian aggression, but one word from him would clarify the impeachment of trump one way or another. Further aid to the Ukraine would not be halted by this government if he stated he was challenged by trumps attempt for him to just state publicly that he would investigate the Biden's regardless of carrying out the investigation. No word came forth from Zelensky, therefore no White House visit.
2
For all those who "fear for the country", we say emigrate. Please! Decamp to all those paradises we hear so much about. The fewer of you whiners around, the better. Note this: many here opine about a different form of government - because they have been out-voted time and again; ok, we too desire a "different form of government". One that excludes liberals, globalists and wonks. Tit for tat. You all vote for yours, we'll vote for ours. We shall see which of us has the numbers, and then, the hammer.
2
Please, do not confuse the Senate (R)'s with facts. A made-up mind has no room to deal with uncomfortable details.
2
If Trump is not impeached, American democracy is toast.
3
Donald Trump earned impeachment and removal. He is unfit and clearly so.
5
I have some wisdom for those GOP Senators who think it's a good idea to vote to acquit Trump. Eternity is a lot longer than 6 years in the Senate folks. God is not going to look upon you with favor for defending an amoral man.
"For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body." 2 Corinthians 5:10
2
The problem with impeachment is is yes or no - win or lose - start and finish - and forgotten. He might as well have been talking about the GOP and his base when he walked out of that Access Hollywood interview. "... and they let you...." No up or down vote he can claim victory.
........................... Censure him. Label his behavior. This lets him off the hook. This man is a cancer on America and democracy. He has infected GOP legislators who once had integrity and fed the hatred of the ultra-right and tea party. He has no clue what he is doing - meets with North Korea and they're now developing nuclear weapons. He obsessed over a wall that Mexico would pay for (no) and now the military says no. He single-handedly started a trade war with no expertise except being a disrupter and destroyed the livelihood of his own rural supporters. He has burst through the doors (tweets) trying to intimidate a witness during House hearing. And on and on and on. ......... Let the Senate vote it down - and then rise up and censure him - shut him up or shut him down. I'd bet everyone of them secretly wants him out. They've got the Supreme Court and federal courts. They got their taxes eliminated. But no - this is yes or no - they'll save him - and embarrass their way through their re-elections fearing a presidential tweet if they speak.
1
Trump must be impeached. Mc Connell is busy in jury tempering and he should recuse himself from the senate trial. Lindsey Graham is Trump’s pet dog barking obnoxiously . Senate impeachment trial will be a great test of the senators test for patriotism and loyalty to constitution.
3
If the Republican Party doesn’t blink an eye at treason, and Trumpism is the order of the day, a mighty plague has infected the democracy that America was founded on. To even consider re-electing this man is insanity. Impeachment is in order. Let’s get it done.
3
Just because the Republicans made a deal with the devil doesn’t mean we all have to. The GOP is a desperate political party doing whatever it can to maintain relevance rather than doing the right thing. They’ll dump poisonous chemicals in our drinking water and say “it’s what Jesus would do”. They’ll take children away from their parents and lock them both up in cages while blathering on about “freedom”. There is no reason and no middle ground with them anymore. It’s now people that value the rule of law vs. a weird, destructive cult for angry people.
4
Too many Trump apologists, calling themselves Democrats or Independents. Very suspect. Perhaps just a bunch of T zealots attempting to swing the vote to impeach. We must, I repeat, we must remove this sordid demagogue from our White House now. Each day we wait another disaster occurs.
3
Never will I forgive the non-voters, third party fools, and fake "independents" who enabled Trump to slip into the White House.
The subsequent chaos and corruption should weigh on them forever.
4
Go back to Devin Nunes' antics during the last Congress and explain to me how you are supposed to accommodate such juvenile behavior in a serious investigation? It isn't too much to expect our elected officials to behave responsibly and put the country's interests above their own. Otherwise go find something else to do with your life and let those committed to public service to take it from here. Unbridled Lawyers gone insane has a lot of our current mess!
1
Congressman Van Drew (D-NJ)
1.202.225.6572
zip codes available online (07632)
Call and tell him to vote for impeachment. He should not support a president who has been proven disloyal to the country.
3
I would like to address this thought to whichever Republican members of Congress have been following along and understand that it has been factually established that Donald Trump did in fact engage in an extortion racket from the Oval Office.
Some of you must know this. You are not all stupid, and not all prepared to think that we are. And you must have some idea that the very last thing the Democratic leadership wanted was to go down this road, so you must realize that a partisan "witch hunt" is the very last thing this is.
For the time being you have been letting the junkyard dogs of your party speak for all of you, but you have been peculiarly silent.
So what I want to ask you is this: what do you think is going to come of it if you allow this process to continue without ever acknowledging the facts? Do you think they will just go away? And more importantly, do you think this is the last time Donald Trump will abuse the public trust if you give him the cover to continue?
For God's sake give honesty its due. You can still do some good here, but time is definitely running out.
3
As we have seen in the impeachment cases of Nixon and Clinton, there are no perfect ways of going through an impeachment. I rad in many comments if..."only they had interviewed so and so", etc. Given the circumstances I agree with the Judicial Committee that time is of the essence. This is Impeachment time.
Within a few months, there is a time for the presidential election. We all know the background behind the daily unlawful doings of Trump, the most wretched president in American history. Complete the Impeachment and be done. Move on to a future that promises honesty, caring for the citizens of this country, and improvements in healthcare, childcare, education, retirement, climate change, gun control, and infrastructure. And, stop the unending wars and slash the military budget to pave the way for a future of life instead of death.
4
@David Michael: Trump's performance on Zelensky is a fractal cell of his methodology. It is an element of a repeating pattern.
1
In view of the fact that the Senate "trial" will be nothing but a sham, it is my personal belief that at this point there is only one correct strategy for the House.
The House should vote on impeachment, certainly, but should not send articles of Impeachment to the Senate until they have more evidence, more articles, and guarantees that the trial will not be a sham.
In other words, the House should never send articles of impeachment to the Senate until after the next election -- and then only if Trump wins re-election but Democrats control the House and Senate.
1
@James: The burden to conduct the Senate trial should fall entirely onto Chief Justice John Roberts, going by the Constitution.
What if things go as most think they will. The House impeaches and the Senate acquits? Then what happens if Trump wins in 2020? Fat chance of impeaching him again, regardless of how control of congress plays out! The House should debate it on the floor and then vote to continue the investigation and postpone the vote until after the election. The continued unfolding of the evidence via court rulings etc. would help the Dems in the election and they could still impeach Trump during his second term. Further, the Country would be in a much better position to try him for the crimes he has committed and ultimately put him behind bars (unlike Nixon). This is the only scenario that I can see as producing a positive outcome of the Trump presidency. I would prove that our system works and that people like Trump should never have the opportunity to be a candidate for the presidency!
1
In this one way, Donald Trump has delivered. He continues to promote the anti-democratic methods and goals of the Republican Party. Even though he is guilty by his own admission of impeachable offenses, the chance of anything close to a conviction in the Senate is zero. His ability to clear this low bar will be spun into total exoneration.
He will win again, as he has time and time again. And, as he promised, I am tired of winning.
Promise made, promise kept.
1
I disagree with the position taken by your newspaper. So much
digging in of heels by both Parties is Civil War but very much in style for Our Age which will pass hopefully for the better. "Rejoice!
I say it again 'Rejoice'. " --St Paul
My god, what are the Republicans waiting for?
For this president to assume such power that he can tear the Constitution apart in front of their eyes?
Think of the Country Senators when you try Mr. Trump. And vote to remove him from office or suffer the consequences.
7
Why have Republicans given into Trump? The threat of being
"Primaried" is one of the reasons.
5
The American people are bored with this Democrat-led reality show. Don't they understand that without sex, extramarital affairs and violence (or at least a clandestine break-in under the cloak of darkness that they can make a movie of) the voters are just wondering what the Democrats have to offer that will improve their lives? The next season of this show has been canceled due to a lack of interest by the viewing audience.
1
President Trump will utilize Executive Power to say in Office should a second term be threatened. He has no affinity for decorum, only his own advantage. Members of the GOP hope to capitalize on his support, implicating themselves in the shredding of what I/we all were taught was the very core of our existence as a Nation, the Constitution. As it was in 1859, we are once again tragically bifurcated as a citizenry. The UK, Hungary, Russia, Poland, etc. Macron is hanging on by a thread, and what is the alternative?: Le Pen? Enabled by this American President and tens of millions of his sycophants at large... many in other lands are falling in line as the USA heads down the political road towards Tyranny. Rulers who place themselves beyond the reach of the law, enabled by legislative and constituent support: Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, Al Sisi, Jinping, Al Saud, etc.. What new political alliances may be forged from such philosophical allegiance? What, if any, mechanisms remain in the democratic toolbox to stop the momentum? With a GOP controlled Senate and Supreme Court matters are likely to lean in their own favor. The grooming of a government to enable such conditions is elementary to the creation of an autocracy. From what I understand, history shows just one cure for such infections of a democracy: a holistic cleansing via the destruction and rebuilding of the society from which the malevolence sprung.
1
Bringing only the two articles of impeachment related to the Ukraine problem and I repeat related only to the Ukraine problem is a major major error, it is the only way to have Donald Trump re-elected because the top Republican leaders will make a mockery of the Ukraine impeachment problem. Only the inclusion of the findings of the Mueller report on Russia which shows that Donald Trump is a traitor will have been a good policy because the Mueller findings have shown obstruction of justice and every citizen in the USA could be guilty of obstruction of justice which means they will PERSONALLY feel concerned by this impeachment and this would have been the way to win the election of 2020. Solely Using Ukraine findings for the impeachment is profoundly unentelligent and a major gift to Donald Trump.
Sure wish Trump could be impeached over the nearly 1,400 lies he has spewed upon the American people in 3 1/2 years, 400 crazy "I'm the victim here" tweets last week alone. A shame that so many swallow whatever he cooks up on any given minute. Perhaps it's baked into their DNA.
4
It would seen clear the GOP dose not care at all about the constitution just raw power, they know there will be a seat in the supreme coming up and that will set them up for full control of all laws the way they want. We are at war here there may not be bullets flying but it is about full control. They do not believe in equal rights never have.
3
When an organization like the NY Times comes out strongly for impeachment- no shock obviously- it makes Trump supporters feel even more strongly in their belief that he needs to defended.
Why is that?
Because their anger is not against illegality, incompetence of even "petty" acts of treason and bribery. Their hatred is against institutions that provide the facade of moral decency and lawfulness, but deep down hate their values- whether it be racism in all of its twists and turns- gun rights, abortion and the rest. Nor does it matter whether Trump is a libertine who could care less if his or someone elses baby is aborted- as long as he does what they want- no matter how servile and hypocritical.
And the nice thing about all of this, is that it strips all parties of their hypocrisy- bringing them all down.
I think if Lenny Bruce were alive today his stand ups would contain no expletives- Why? Because these words no longer have the taboo they once did. Instead the debasement and hypocrisy is in there use to appear human and relatable- rather than exposing monstrosity.
Nixon resigned when the evidence showed that he did what he was being accused of. Imagine if Nixon, rather than resigning then, had printed tee-shirts that said “listen to the tapes” and asserted that the tapes proved he did nothing wrong. Then imagine that every Republican congress member had to also state that the tapes proved Nixon did nothing wrong, even though all the evidence and testimony proved the opposite. What type of country would the USA be now?
If the Watergate burglars who attempted to steal Democratic Party documents had been found to be Russian military intelligence officers, as were those who hacked Democratic Party e-mails in 2016, trying to aid the Nixon presidential election efforts. Nixon would have been imprisoned. Collusion or no collusion, conspiracy or no conspiracy, obstruction or no obstruction.
The Republican legislators’ behavior in the current impeachment proceedings should not be compared to the Republican legislators of the Watergate Nixon era. Rather, a much better comparison is the similarity with the all-white jury that acquitted the killers of 14-year old Emmett Till in 1955 Mississippi. The killers made no attempt to conceal their identities from the multiple witnesses and the killers sold their story of exactly how they had lynched Emmett Till to Look Magazine for $40,000.
3
Should the Senate fail in its duty to convict this corrupt president, to whom will fall the duty to defend the Constitution and the Republic? The People?
There will be blood.
1
The editorial states it succinctly: the behaviors are clearly impeachable. All the 'what abouts' by Republicans won't change that. In fact, the Republicans at best sound merely ridiculous parroting line after failing line of obfuscation and misdirection. Other times, they sound as if they are following a script from the Kremlin, poorly translated at that.
3
Listening to representatives and senators is distressing. They are like a herd of angry buffalo driving us over the precipice to the loss of our democracy. They show no reason nor concern for facts.
3
Finally sat down to read the actual Articles of Impeachment—all nine pages in easy to comprehend prose. A careful reading took less than 20 minutes. Regardless of where we come down on the upcoming Senate trial, we should all inform ourselves as to the actual facts and opinions stated in the document.
2
The Republican party has declined from merely corrupt and avaricious to outright evil.
5
President Clinton was impeached for lying to Congress about having sex. Lying about trying to get foreign powers involved in our elections is a much more serious matter. I think any president would and should be impeached for this. But I also think he should be impeached for outing one of our intelligence agents to the Russian ambassador. I think he should be impeached for destroying the notes of his conversation with Putin. Really, there are so many reasons why this particular President should be removed from office. Anyone who is unaware of them should read the paper more often.
6
Kudos to the NYT for this strong editorial piece.
Trump leveraged the power of the presidency and the United States to extort a desperate nation that was trying to keep Russian soldiers and tanks from rolling down its streets to enslave its people.
Trump is a con man whose cash-register mind sizes up the world by what he can profit or personally gain from it.
He's left a trail of business partners who he has cheated; people who did work for him and weren't paid; bankrupted companies; honest people who enrolled in Trump University and were ripped off.
What kind of sick mind raises $8 million for charities and spends the money on himself and his brood.
A depraved, narcissistic mind who would sell out his country and its democracy if he could make a buck out of it.
Trump wanted President Zelensky to declare that the Bidens were under investigation so he can enter a stadium with thousands of his cult followers and tell them that he "heard" that Joe Biden and his son Hunter were under investigation.
He would do this with a smug smile along with a goofy expression and expect to be showered by cheers, applause, and whistling.
The crowd would yell: "Lock them up! Lock them up!"
Trump would wallow like a self-righteous pig in the political mud, knowing that he pulled off a nefarious con at the expense of the American people.
Trump would challenge the "fake media" to go and check with Ukrainian authorities.
But what is worse is the Republican Congress who allows him to do this.
4
Unfortunately, since the passing of Senator John McCain, Sen. Graham has reverted to being a lap dog. He would do well to take a hard look at what happened to Tony Blair!
2
The proposed impeachment of President Trump is driven by hatred and hysteria, not facts. The impeachment articles do include a single example of high crimes and misdemeanors. bribery or treason (as required by the Constitution). No Republican will vote for it, and a number of Democrats with integrity will also vote against. Shame on the NY Times for supporting such a wasteful, partisan and useless exercise.
On the plus side, it appears to be hurting the Democrats with independent voters, making a conservative victory in 2020 that much more likely
1
The first paragraph of this article made me laugh. “Digging up political dirt”...isn’t that what the DNC and their allies were trying to do with help from FusionGPS and Christopher Steele? And since that strategy was an abject failure at a cost of over two years and millions of taxpayer dollars (the Mueller investigation), the Dems have moved onto to the Ukraine-Biden-Trump-quid pro quo affair...
... which has left us with the nagging question as to why Hunter Biden was paid $50k per month by a Ukrainian gas company while his father was VP and Ukraine point man for the Obama administration. And why a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating that company was fired at VP Biden’s insistence...or else!...in other words ‘quid pro quo’.
What a shapeshifting, mendacious endeavor. I suspect the faction formerly known as the a Democratic Party will lose badly in 2020. Then what?
1
The downfall of this democracy will not come at the hands of communism, of over-greedy capitalists, by the confused mutterings of the fundamentalists or the hate-filled screeds of racists. It will not fall due to any great movements of thought, any leaps backward in knowledge. Instead, like a soapy 74 year-old man in the shower, it will slip and fall at the clumsy machinations of a short-fingered vulgarian. Unless that short-fingered vulgarian is removed from office -- by Impeachment or by the vote. Either or both will do.
2
Once ordinary citizens of this country get used to the notion that the law does not matter, that public officials can commit crimes with impunity, how will this effect the very foundation of our crimminal justice system: the impartial jury. What if "it's no big deal" rules the day?
4
Impeachment isn't the hurdle; from what I read, the Democratic majority in the House will be sufficient tor this, even with a few defections. And Pelosi seems confident enough not to whip up the votes in this most critical of votes.
It's the Republicans in the Senate that should take our attention now. From the angst I read in the comments below, it's hard to believe the majority of us who are horrified by Trump can't work to energize public opinion. Other online activists must join Indivisible in it's outreach for calls to constituents of Republican Senators. If only a few flip, they will make it safe for others to follow. Somehow, I can't believe there is not even a smoldering embers of decency somewhere in their dark hearts.
My other hope is that, just as that "perfect" phone call to Ukraine dramatized and out did the muddled Mueller report, Trump can still outdo his previous performances. There may be an ethical line too far even for Senate Republicans.
Another hope is that media, the entertainment industry produce something that captures the horror of this moment for the ill informed. Could we have an updated "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," for example.
It's just too hard for me to watch us go down without believing a fight from everyone of us can still turn the tide.
3
@citizen vox
"There may be an ethical line too far even for Senate Republicans." Good luck.
When people get their "facts" from Fox or invent their own facts, it takes more than facts and logical argument sway public opinion.
Somehow, perspective has vanished in the American political realm. Thinking people are actually wringing their hands over whether or not the House should impeach Trump for using the power of his office and almost half a billion dollars in approved military aid to bribe/threaten a vulnerable ally to assist in his reelection bid, conspire to hide the act, and willfully obstruct the investigation.
But the act of impeaching Trump is really just ceremonial, because the Republican Senate, terrified of Trump's total control of Republican voters, will never move against him.
If perspective was not banished from current thinking, the enormity of Trump's inevitable acquittal in the Senate would be obvious. The Mueller Inquiry proved that Trump cannot be indicted - as president, he is entirely above the law. With Republican Senators refusing to honor the Constitution, Trump is also unimpeachable. What does this mean? It means the separation of powers is a mirage. It means checks and balances are non-existent. It means Donald Trump is the ruler of America. There is no other honest interpretation.
Americans continue to take out-sized pride in their democratic institutions and myths. Americans cannot grasp that those institutions and myths are being exposed as empty rhetoric.
The 2020 election is less than one year away. With a glimmer of perspective, who truly believes the vote will be fair? What would compel an unindictable, unimpeachable egomaniac to not cheat?
3
@Rob: At this point, the credibility of Senate apportionment, the Electoral College, and the Supreme Court, all stand on thin ice.
1
@Steve Bolger - Theoretically, the courts are the last bastion of defense against a despotic president. But the president appoints judges, and despite the many unfilled positions in other senior areas of government, Trump has been appointing judges at a frenetic pace. Many of his appointees are horribly unqualified, but reliably partisan. At some point during the next five years Trump will almost certainly appoint another Supreme Court Justice, firmly packing that court with hardliners and cementing his stranglehold on power.
A second term for Trump will make his first term look benign. By now he has solidified his own sense of omnipotence and eliminated all the pesky "adults" who kept him at least partially in check. There are no remaining tools to resist his rule. What will stop him from overturning the two term limit? From curtailing press freedoms? From appointing Ivanka to a cabinet post? An unfettered president Donald Trump marks the end of America as envisioned by the founders.
Democrats must debunk Republican's argument that Article II Obstruction of Congress is premature. They claim the President is exercising his legal right, under the Separation of Powers doctrine, to have the judiciary decide whether he is obligated to comply with the Congressional subpoenas.
Their argument is negated by the fact that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against President Richard Nixon in United States v. Nixon, 481 U.S. 683 where Nixon claimed that he and his administration did not have to comply with the Special Prosecutor's subpoena for tapes and documents. The Court ruled that, other than where “military or diplomatic secrets are implicated, . . . the President's generalized assertion of privilege must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending criminal trial and the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of criminal justice. Pp. 707-713."
In an Article I Impeachment process, the House is the Special Prosecutor. There are no “military or diplomatic secrets are implicated.” Therefore, the Administration must comply. The Administration's failure to comply with the Congressional subpoenas and the Republican's argument mock the Court and undermine the rule of Law.
5
The Democrats went ballistic when Donald Trump won the 2016 election by a majority of the electoral votes, despite Hillary Clinton having the majority of the popular vote. They have been looking frenetically for any way to reverse the election result, and finally they have a convoluted unclear situation involving purported corruption by the Ukraine governments, Burisma, Joe Biden, the Obama administration and President Trump upon which to hang an impeachment charge. None of it is clear to me. But now the Democrats have the majority in the House, and are pushing hard to spike the constitutionally mandated result, rather than await the next election. The framers would be turning in their graves if they could see this specious and mercenary twisting of their perfect plan for our governance.
2
I do believe that our Republic may be under threat. While unclear at this moment, this threat may aim to take our Republic off what I view as a progressive path toward 'an ever more perfect union’ for all and take it onto a path that seeks to pursue some as yet - to me - unspecified form of political & social arrangement. If this is a reasonably accurate appraisal, We the People and our political representatives must argue strongly and loudly against it. For civil society to have the ability to function toward the equal benefit of all, civil discourse must be based on an anticipation of honesty and the use of factual evidence. If no such anticipation exists, how can we trust what anyone is telling us? How can we conduct arguments on important matters rationally? We can not. Civil society unravels in such an environment and another kind of society - not a civil one - takes its place. Honesty and the use of factual evidence is no less important in political discourse. We can not have any hope of achieving ‘an ever more perfect union’ for everyone without them. What we will achieve is some sort of political and social arrangement based on distrust, deceit and manipulation. In my mind, this the fundamental question on which I will cast my vote next year. Which kind of civil and political arrangement do I desire for my country: one that continues to seek that ‘ever more perfect union’ for everyone in America or one that does not seek to achieve that.
1
What strikes me is that there are few, if any, that will strike out and vote against party lines in efforts to save their own head. Are there no vulnerable GOP house (and eventual senate) candidates that have polls telling them to impeach/remove. Is America as an electorate as partisan on this topic so as to ignore rule of law as their legislators? Did the 2018 election provide any indication of America's taste for POTUS' lead by divide platform? Does the GOP really feel Trump is the best they can do?
3
if Biden had not decided to run for office, it would have happened to somebody else. trump and the gop would have manufactured fairy tales to smear his opponent in their lust for power and the gop would have willingly followed along with their own war on democracy.
4
I am persuaded by Trump's refusal to allow witnesses to testify or to provide documents like the full transcription of the July 25 phone call. He's hiding something. It is much worse than we think at this moment. If the witnesses or documents exonerated Trump, they would have been provided.
The reason the Mueller Report failed to generate impeachment is the prejudging statement of AG Barr and the daunting size and dense nature of the report. Enough is provided in that document for impeachment. Trump cheated in the 2016 election. He is and always has been an illegitimate President.
The July 25 extortion attempt is merely the proximate mover of impeachment, not the complete and total reason it must be done.
7
@cjg: The Mueller Report was an obvious stall by wishful thinkers who believed that being president would have a positive effect on Trump and he would grow up in office. Fat chance.
1
If it is about the constitution, then how can the republican party that impeached Clinton possibly find Trump innocent. Recordings of those 1998 republican arguments should be played as a reminder to all, prior to the full vote of the House.
4
It's unfortunate that the founders couldn't have put more judicial procedural teeth in the impeachment process, (although at the time, there was not the historical legal framework to so inform them). As an attorney and former administrative judge, I'm amazed by the purely political gamesmanship that has so polarized this impeachment. In an ordinary judicial proceeding, even an informal one, witnesses would be compelled to testify, proffered evidence would require offers of proof as to relevance, sanctions would be awardable for procedural misconduct, etc.
As it stands, the whole process has become a farcical forum for political demonization, unrelated to the underlying facts which, viewed through a more traditional legal lens, should have easily and quickly compelled this president's removal from office.
3
Have we missed something? Why have we not heard anyone say specifically ... Joe Biden worked for Burisma in hopes that his presence would move Burisma to a less corrupt business position? We are not being naive ... just that those who are guilty of truly corrupt are not addressing this point other than to point fingers elsewhere. We would like to have clarification of what "corrupt" means ... since we believe "corrupt" means "the ends justify the means" or "it's okay to do anything to get what we want" ...
1
@Castanet: Hunter Biden, Joe's surviving son, is a corporate lawyer. His experience was relevant to inform the Burisma board of directors of Western business practices. Practically all corporate boards include politically-connected people. Trump has never reported to any corporate board, before having to report to Congress, so he seems to be utterly clueless about the real world.
9
The Trump and his supporters have spent the last few weeks railing about the Bidens. They ignore the fact that the Bidens are not on trial here. They also ignore the fact that Trump and Giuliani, in their purported campaign against corruption in Ukraine, never mentioned any names except the Bidens. None.
And please stop calling the record of the July 25th phone call a "transcript." It is not a verbatim record of the call, nor is it based on an audio recording. It is a reconstruction by a handful of people listening in on the call. And Lt. Col. Vindman testified that he sought to make the call record more accurate, but was rebuffed by White House attorneys. We do not know, and may never know, the exact words spoken by Trump on that call.
Finally, if Republicans lose in 2020, we can thank Adam Schiff.
3
@Bill Barrett: Democrats should probably run Adam Schiff against Trump if defeating him is the prime objective.
1
Now we face the true Constitutional Crisis, one that is nearly as serious as the Civil War that would have provided a "clean" break.
What the GOP is about to endorse is destruction of rule of law, trashing the Constitution, blowing up norms of civilized, acceptable behavior,and gutting our three branches and checks and balances. In essence, Steve Bannon never spoke truer words then when he uttered these: "I want to blow the whole thing up."
But they want to do so in ways so murky, insidious, and sticky that we will have a nation torn apart in all but real borders. Because this is the story distilled to its most bitter essence: The press did its job in uncovering wrongdoing; the whistle blower did his patriotic duty; the witnesses put country before self; those testifying risked their jobs and reputations to break with a WH overtly threatening them; the Dems--with real reluctance and knowing that it might cost them their seats--held a fair trial (despite the GOP acting like clowns and thugs) in which DJT was invited to defend himself and produce exculpatory evidence and refused.
The overwhelming totality of evidence confirms that our system works and that the president is guilty. But we are now about to witness 50 people-- who have already broken their sworn oath to be "impartial judges"-- vote to undo the work of legions of civil servants, journalists, the legislative branch, and the will of the people.
A "house divided cannot stand." We are on the brink of disaster.
6
Pay2Play is the DC industry par excellence. Essentially you are convicting Trump of breach of etiquette. In the end, the hypocrisy of his accusers reduces the whole to farce.
However, what we all know is that the substance of the effort is proximately to obviate an impediment to Ukraine/Russia neocon policy, ...and neocon & neolib policy generally.
How sad so few Americans (I assume you are Americans) commenting here do not believe in the Constitution. Goodbye American flag, goodbye freedom of speech, goodbye freedom of the press and goodbye three CO-EQUAL branches of the government.
2
McConnell has laid his cards on the table. No suprise there. Pelosi, knowing that the Senate would not vote for Trump's removal smartly hesitated before giving in to her caucus. The Ukraine affair left her little wiggle room other than to authorize impeachment proceedings. The committee members talked past each other and the redundancies were tortuous and ultimately ineffective. Partisan polictics was in full display. The House will impeach Trump but Pelosi softened the blow by making deals on trade and defense with this President. As long as Trump continues to control the narrative he is ahead. Senate Republicans have gotten their marching orders from McConnell and they will not convict Trump. Trump continues to cheat and play the Democrats and the nation for fools. The process has been a great but painful civics lesson that hopefully will motivate the electorate to vote. The danger of another four years of a Trump Monarchy will have serious consequences for our country and the world.
5
@Jane Let's see; the economy is doing great. The 2nd Amendment is stronger than ever. The President is securing our southern border. A fair trade deal with China and the USMCA passed. If this is what you call serious consequences for Trump being in office, I'll take it.
2
Let us be clear, the Republican defense is a slight of hand that will convert democracy to authoritarianism. By declaring that there is no Constitutional violation that can support impeachment of a Republican President no matter how corrupt, they have declared themselves the ultimate authority. But in our democracy, the law and the Constitution is the ultimate authority. Nothing could be more un-American than the Republican defense of Trump. That it comes as no surprise on the heels of decade after decade of attacks on our democracy makes it the final and ultimate betrayal of our founding fathers. Bravo Republicans, you have finally destroyed the very thing you claimed to care about the most.
It is not the first betrayal of our democracy, but it might be the last.
For those of us that have seen through this charade for all these decades, I morn for you and with you.
3
Imagine if the whistleblower had not come forward and Trump was free again to invite foreign influence in our election again? The pattern of lies and deceit with this president is there for all to see, if they care to. Trump deserves impeachment. And let’s impeach him again if he continues to abuse the power of the office.
5
And to think, when Barack Obama was President, the Republicans criticized him for wearing a tan suit in the White House.
3
For the few members of Congress who understand the true depth of Trump's tyrannical personality, a vote to impeach will require real courage: after Trump and the GOP inevitably establish their full-fledged-dictatorship (November 2020, win or lose), Trump will seek vengeance as did Saddam Hussein, who executed the Iraqi MPs who opposed him. Look at Trump's (and the GOP's) heroes: Kim, Erdogan, Bolsanaro, Duterte.
1
Is the impeach movement instigated by GOP? it seems so, since clearly they will benefit and Dems (AKA shlemiels) will be the loser. First rule: do not start something will will clearly lose: the Senate trial. Instead, the Dems should continue incessant attacking Trump and family Inc. about their corrupt business practices, illegal deals, world-wide begging for money for losing businesses (see Kushner) and the maximum pressure should be done in the last weeks before elections (like Comey's infamous announcement of new investigation of Hillary which was cancelled a few days later, after the damage was done). God Help America@
1
Reporting or commenting on verifiable facts (this editorial does the latter of the two) is not bias. Of course articles look negative when they report ugly facts. When you act as egregiously and persistently as Trump does, it is not going to make for a pleasant article. That does not make it fake news. What is really fake is Mitch McConnell in essence being a jury foreman finding the defendant innocent before the hearing. Morally and logically this is a step away from finding people guilty before the hearing which the Dems have been carful not to do... very careful.
Fake Senate trial.
3
The Asset is causing our Congress to be moot.
Thus, a dictatorship.
He must be impeached, tried and removed.
There is not choice, other than to accept the death of our representative government. And, to welcome a one-party dictatorship.
1
As a New Yorker, I've always found trump's behavior - the constant seeking of Press coverage whether through lies of self-aggrandizement or destructive lies about others - repulsive. His 'business acumen' was an utter joke and colleagues on Wall Street, thanks to their own greed, found themselves on the bad end of his 'deals'.
This is trump's 'power'; exploiting the avarice he sees in others for his own gain, then slamming them for their greed and stupidity and making a mockery of them in the Press. GOP - take notice.
He's abused the courts to a degree unrivaled - even on Wall Street - yet no court stopped his malicious lawsuits and he settled those he could not win.
The lesson most New Yorkers took from trump's decades-long behavior has been to keep our distance from him, to ignore him until he goes away and to essentially pretend he doesn't exist. This collective shunning, the response recommended for dealing with malignant narcissism, is learned behavior in New Yorkers.
Trump voters have thus far exhibited no 'learning'; indeed, their support only grows more vehement as trump's autocracy seeking behavior increases. The end of the trump saga promises to be the same failure he's always experienced, but this time on a world scale.
The only hope for America....is the VOTE. We did it in 2018 and we can do it in 2020 on a grander scale - as we must.
5
Benjamin Franklin asserted that the power of impeachment and removal was necessary for those times when the Executive "rendered himself obnoxious."
Guilty as charged!
3
Even Trump’s footman, Senator Lindsey Graham, said, “If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing.”
Trump's footman, I like it
1
This is a meaningless political statement. Get back to doing business of government, not this sham.
2
@Robert Miller ..... I do not agree that the issues involved in the Impeachment are ".....a meaningless political statement". The issues go to the very core of our Constitutional Republic. It represents an assault on the Rule of Law ; it represents an assault on the notion of the Separation of Powers and it goes to the fact that no one is above the Law.
The Republican Senators and House Members seem not to understand or do not care about the basics of Constitutional Governance.
1
It may be that half the country doesn't see a problem allowing Mr. Trump to continue in office. It is true that within a year we will hold a vote to determine his popularity and electoral chances. But for now we have a man who by all accounts is behaving above the law in our highest elected office. He spends hours each day attacking the only law enforcers our country uses to control his action. He attack persons whose only infraction was to call out Mr. Trump's misdeeds. He rants, name calls, and verbally assaults anyone who dares stand up for the law, as if the law was his enemy. I think it is his enemy. He is a criminal, working a criminal conspiracy before our eyes. This cannot stand, any more than El Chapo could continue his evil work. Trump's proponents point to his "economy"; the jobs reports; his massive wall. If you make your fortune and maintain your power outside the legal limits, you are a criminal just like El Chapo; powerful, ruthless, and rich, but you ought not to be the head of any civilized country. Trump needs to be gone. He is a criminal.
4
@Patrick Stevens ….. Very well said.
1
trump has a lot to hide. He proclaims his innocence every day, has the emotional makeup of an unpleasant 15 year old, and embarrasses the country every day. He lies unrepentantly.
The Birther nonsense alone should make him ineligible to be president. This is another president appointed by the anachronistic Electoral College, which needs to be eliminated ASAP.
What kind of president prevents witnesses from testifying and gets away with it? One that needs to be removed from office, that's what.
3
Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats realize there is a political liability in pressing forward on impeachment. They also realize that the Senate will not vote in sufficient numbers to convict. So why pursue impeachment some say. Why not wait until the 2020 election? The answer is that a line must be drawn. The would be Dictator for Life can not be allowed to subvert our democratic principles with no check.
Trump's intellectual laziness, ineptitude, vulgarity, meanness, lying and general buffoonery are issues best suited for handling via the ballot box. On the other hand, abuse of power and obstruction of justice, left unchecked, threaten bedrock constitutional principles.
Every Republican knows that Trump did what he is being charged with. Their concern for their jobs and fear of the inevitable Trumpanista backlash should they do what they swore to is venal and cowardly. At least Pelosi and the House Dems can take pride in the fact that they are doing their jobs whatever the political blow back. In this era, doing what one swore to has risen from what is expected to courageous. A sad commentary.
4
The Senate will engage in jury nullification, in much the same way the jurors acquitted a guilty O J Simpson.
Yes, McConnell, Graham and their brethren will win the day. Mr. Trump will be able to attend his rallies and publish his tweets and lie continue his lying, insults and demanding the office.
Yes, he and his henchman in the Senate, the House the DOJ will win the day.
It will be a day of infamy. History has a place for all of these traitors to our constitution and the people of our country. It will never forget their betrayal. Never.
4
Obvious to anyone -since they actually stated it on TV - , Sens. McConnell and Graham have a plan to put the kibosh on anything even resembling a fair Senate trial.
McConnell simply has to go. He is very unpopular in Kentucky. His approval ratings are so low, a Democrat would have a good chance at his seat next November.
Support Amy McGrath (or other Dem) in Kentucky.
Now, before it is too late.
5
I think the President has done more, in this short period of time he has been in office, then any other president...... People leave him alone let him do his job....
2
@Franchesca .... he certainly has done more than any President to divide the Country, upset the economy, redistribute wealth to the richest 10 % , to undermine the trust of the American people in the DOJ, the FBI and the Intelligence Community, he has alienated our Allies abroad and extolled dictators like Kim Jong Un, Duterte, Belisario, and Putin, in his wink wink nod nod way he has encouraged white nationalists and racists . His bullying nature, his obscene language , his demeaning and insulting behavior to anyone who challenges him have clearly done more that any President to bring disrepute and embarrassment to our Great Country.
Franschesca, we can not let him to continue to destroy our Country.
2
@Franchesca:
More in terms of corruption and incrimination.
On one point, I agree with the Republicans ---that we were wanting to impeach Trump from the beginning. Anyone who had been paying attention to the 2016 presidental campaign could clearly see that the man was immoral, incompetent, and unfit to be president. Blind loyalty to the Republican party has taken over the country--and yes, he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his numbers would still go up!" God save us! What has become of my country?!
1
The editorial persuasively cites specific facts to refute the Republican nonsense that the president was in fact motivated by a general concern about corruption. But what makes that very notion not only an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has spent any time on earth, but "spit your coffee" ridiculous is the notion that the most corrupt president in history - he of the paid off mistresses, admitted charity looting, confessed sexual assault refusal to release tax returns at all costs and endless lies - actually cares about corruption. Truly a tribute to Chico Marx's foreshadowing of the Republican party as it now exists: "Well, who ya gonna believe me or your own eyes?"
3
If Trump was a Democrat, he would have been impeached on a bipartisan basis in a New York minute. Such is the utter hypocrisy of the Republican party.
3
Trump defenders - he has defenders rather than supporters, since many defenders (one reads) don't like him-are fond of citing the existence of what they label Trump-haters. The label is unfair, to use a Trumpian adjective. I detest for example Pol Pot whom I am not comparing to Trump. Can you be nuanced enough to see it is an analogy to illustrate a point, not a comparison between the two men as individuals. I fear some will not make the distinction. I am illustrating a point, not accusing Trump of what Pol Pot did. If I hate Pol Pot I am not to be labelled a Pol Pot hater. I am a person who hates Pol Pot. It does not define me. So it is with so called Trump-haters. Just because a lot of people dislike him does not make an exculpatory point.
In normal life- that is a life not enriching you when you are a toddler, people learn to adjust; that you cannot demand everything you want whenever you want; that if you throw your toys out of the playpen a good mother will not dutifully pander to you. In normal lif, if a lot of people hate you, you learn to adjust your behaviour so that they stop hating you. I feel compassion for Trump because he never had to learn these lessons. He is a victim in a sense- but not the way he thinks he is. Donald, I am talking to you. A lot of people who support you do not like you. Multitudes really do hate you. I know you are 73, but its time to adjust your behaviour. It is not entirely their fault they do not find you likable.
3
I don't delude myself for a minute that there are enough forthright, honorable, courageous, patriotic Republican senators to convict Trump and remove him from office. I used to oppose impeachment out of concern that a failed effort would only leave him stronger. I've reconsidered . We have to do what's right. We must make a statement against Trump, against his lies and arrogant evil. We must do this even if we lack the votes to remove him from office. We must make our voice heard for what's right and against him and all the wrong he embodies.
3
By all means, House Democrats...impeach the President of the United States. But hopefully, U.S. voters and constituents won't allow Congressional Democrats to forget what the Democratic U.S. House leadership vowed to them regarding impeachment:
“You have to be able to think, at the beginning of the impeachment process, that the evidence is so clear, of offenses so grave, that once you’ve laid out all the evidence, a good fraction of the opposition, the voters, will reluctantly admit to themselves, ‘They have to do it.’ Otherwise you have a partisan impeachment, which will tear the country apart.”
-House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)-
“I’m not for impeachment. Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”
-House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)-
So...let's see your "bipartisan" House impeachment vote, Rep. Nadler and Madame Speaker Pelosi.
Is that what you'll deliver to the American people next week?
Please...just stop misleading your constituents.
1
It won't do any good to point this out, because the MAGA-heads have stopped their ears and put blinders on their eyes except for their zombie fixation on Fox News, but now a plethora of major newspapers have endorsed Trump's impeachment. This has not moved the needle in the direction of sanity one iota.
This is not a disaster for Trump. He has managed to outshout and out-insult everyone calling for him to be removed from office. It is a disaster for the influence of the American media. If our best and brightest analysts and thought leaders can't combat this fascist Trump-publican propaganda machine, what hope is there for our nation.
3
Not only should Donald Trump be impeached, but his entire White House collaborative team should be evicted. This includes Pence, Kushner, Ivanka, Giuliani, and others who have been accessories to the crimes.
4
@Greg Pompeo Barr..
McConnell is trying very hard to render the Senate meaningless...!
Once upon a time it was used to be considered as "the greatest deliberative body" in United States' democracy.
With McConnell it is new referred to in the past tense "once...!"
2
Americans, please please please do not let us down. We in the rest of the world have looked to you as a champion of freedoms and justice. Over the last few years we've begun to have our doubts. You need to pull up your socks. Don't disappoint us, please!
4
Not since 1939 has Christmas come at such a dark hour.
1
I am incredibly proud that my elected representatives in the House. They've proved they favor country over party, but not the cowardly spineless sheep, and just about as smart as sheep on the laughable Republican side. The willingness to stand tall and do the right and only thing to do has inspired me and will hopefully whip up our base and keep it whipped up. If a Dem president did anything close to what the cheat did, the Republican's would be crying like enraged little girls, which they are. Oh wait, i think there is only 1 republican female senator. The rest are old men with white hair and brains where they sit.
2
Funny, but I suspect Trump's most ardent fans are now convinced that once this goes to the Senate they will hear from all those witnesses that the GOP wants to hear from.
Trump - and his GOP Senate - LOVE LOVE LOVE the poorly educated, and here is one perfect example why they do:
Because once this goes to the Senate, there will no longer be any screaming, bellowing, whining, or table-punching from the GOP for witnesses, because Justice Roberts would then allow for Trump to be called in as a witness.
Oops.
Don't you just love gullible some people are.
Trump does.
The GOP does.
And so does a former KGB agent whose name is Putin...
... obviously.
3
Trump's toadies keep claiming this is partisan.
But let's review their lack of concern when it comes to what just happened to the Kurds (a democracy-loving group of people) - many of whom were recently slaughtered and the stand they took forfeited - thanks to Trump pulling our troops out of Syria...
And let's review what happened to Ambassador Yovanovitch, an anti-corruption ambassador who was smeared and now is no longer an ambassador in the Ukraine - thanks to Trump...
And let's review what happened to the newly elected anti-corruption and pro-democracy Ukrainian president ...
As you can see by these three items, Trumps fans TO have the backing of another party.
Putin's!
3
@Jbugko
Don't worry about the Kurds. They cut deals with Assad & the Russkies months before we folded & bolted. They have survived Mid East politics for centuries.
The USA has a long tradition of leaving allies in the lurch. There are videos of Vietnamese dropping off of helicopter skids when we hightailed it out of Saigon.
1
Going with the truth should always be what each person does rather than go with the tribe. However, the nature of the human animal is tribal, and they tend to go with their own family, religious, and political affiliations over the truth to keep the peace. That stems from both an outdated, and unevolved primitive nature. That is often why the common good, not only about impeachment, but the country in general, the world as well, is in such a bad place, in so many ways, because people tend to go with the tribe, who it turns out goes with evil, time after time, after time. That has been a proven fact.
2
@MaryKayKlassen
Finally, a comment that shows understanding of human nature without bashing anyone.
1
Impeachment is not a bridge we can use at this edge of America’s decent towards chaos,
Once Trump is impeached, Pelosi should NOT send the case to the Senate for McConnell to put on a Trump-a-ganza. She should invoke McConnell's own "Judge Garland" rule of no major political moves before an election. Let Trump twist in the wind while Democrats campaign on the kitchen table issues that won back the House.
It's the smart reply to what will obviously be a rigged GOP/Fox News propaganda fest.
3
There are now two confirmed Democrats who are not voting in favor of impeachment. One of which is switching parties. Remember, the Democrats in the House can only afford to lose 16 more Democrats. There is a total of 31 Democrats who are in districts where Trump won in 2016. A total of 67 Democrats are either undecided or haven't responded yet. It is actually within the realm of possibility that after all of this impeachment posturing, the Democrats won't have the votes to impeach. I will leave it up to you to decide what the ramifications would be for the Democrat party if impeachment fails in the House.
Oh, yeah, and for the NYT editorial board!
4
Patriotic Americans who believe in the US Constitution must write to their Senators in Washington and tell them to be very very careful, because if it clear that the Constitution has been violated and you vote against impeachment you will no longer have my vote when it comes to your re-election.
1
@Greg I am willing to bet that the 2nd Amendment is a four-letter word for you. But yeah, the Constitution is essential!
@Greg
I already wrote to my senator. Support Trump!
By-the-way, is Macron still a "pain"?
What's up with the Yellow Vest riots?
1
This is one of the best editorials I’ve read from the NYT. I would copy and send it to a Trump supporter. Except....
A Trump supporter has a plan for this country, which is to drain the swamp. This actually means that the NYT reader would disappear from the face of the earth, be burned at the stake, be committed to an institution, embalmed, shut away, castrated. what have you.
How can I discuss the Constitution with somebody who only wants to see me covered in oil and set aflame?
Worse for me, I have no reason to support the Democratic Party, which is trying to suppress the urgent ideas from Bernie Sanders in order to find some formula for preserving an anachronistic world order.
Do not doubt that the world order is under siege. This is the meaning of the unrest today in Chile, Lebanon, France, England, the US, Brazil, Hong Kong. It’s war. We need to prepare to go underground. I invite those conservatives who doubt Trump’s morality to join us.
Congressional Republicans have turned that branch of government into a veritable mosh pit of hysterical, shouting and out of control ravers.
America deserves better than a compromised legislative branch, with a Senate controlled by hypocritical Republicans not just willing, but eager to sell their souls in order to preserve, protect and defend their own sinecures rather than the country itself.
This is a deeply serious moment in our country's history. It would be wonderful if Republicans treated it as such, instead of behaving like a bunch of drunken teenagers.
Then again, it worked for now Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.
1
There are a remarkable number of commenters here who not understand what Trump did. But if Fox crowed about how bad it was (substitute a Democrat) and they would be outraged.
1
Amen to that! It is sadly likely that craven Senate Republicans will stand by their "man" (earning them well-deserved ignominy in history), but that is their choice. Our battered and frayed Constitution will endure as best it can, and America will be the poorer for this gross and shameful miscarriage of justice.
1
Our country has to face the face that the Republicans know Trump is guilty of grave misdeeds. They know they would have screamed bloody murder if a Democrat had done these things. They know he is a liar and a crook who bribed a foreign leader to get dirt on his opponent. They know he was not working to root out "corruption." (The targets of his corruption campaign, out of all the 7 billion people on earth, only happened to be the Bidens?) The greatest horror of this situation is that they know they are supporting a president who is defying the Constitution, who is a crook, because he is Their crook, Their liar, Their dictator. They can stick their fingers in their ears and yell, "La, la, la, We can't hear you," all they want. But the truth is this. They are willing to bring down our great American democracy for their own selfish gains.
When Two-Faced Trump, Kosher Kushner, and Pompous Pompeo have exited the scene, the world will breath a sigh of relief.
2
@Greg
How is the weather in France? Staying warm from all those Yellow Vest rioters? Yeah, France is an example for the world.
The problem isn't the House of Representatives or Trump.
The problem is the Republican Party.
We thought Trump was the most corrupt person.
The Republican Party proved they are equally corrupt as Trump.
1
This whole mess exposes the core corruption of both parties: all they care about is being re elected. Thus Republicans dent the obvious, and Democrats do not wait for the courts to force key witnesses to testify!
Trump clearly tried to muscle Ukraine to trash a political opponent, and Democrats are silent about the illegal actions of the FBI!
WE NEED TERM LIMITS.
@Shp Flesh-creeping false equivalence.
2
@Shp
This whole thing has been a money machine and vote pusher for both parties.
The Dems knew from 2016 that this would be good for their pockets. Took the Repubs a while to catch on but they are now raking it in.
They are all scammers.
Trump's only "defence" is to claim ignorance. Willful ignorance of the law is never a justification to break it, as I know having been a Federal law officer for many years. Trump whored himself to the Russians in exchange for assuming the throne--which is precisely how he has ruled--and laughing at the poor people who he has burdened with insupportable taxes. While letting the big pigs wallow ever deeper at the trough, supported by all that tax revenue squeezed painfully from below. So much like 1776 with the insane George III of Hanover attempting to assert himself over this his most lucrative farm...Trump has threatened a civil insurrection several times if his rule is challenged by impeachment, and we cannot ignore this menace though we must pursue impeachment, let the consequences be whatever they will...
1
I am told there are 31 moderate democrats in the House who are concerned about the impeachment. If 18 of them switch sides and vote no, impeachment will fail. Republicans in the House are not breaking rank! Multi-million dollar TV and Radio ads, are asking the constituents to force their representatives to vote NO for the impeachment...facts do not mean much for the public.
Good luck Pelosi...
1
@Kenell Touryan Two of them have already said they will vote no, one of which is switching parties. There is a total of 67 Democrats who are either undecided or haven't responded yet. It is actually within the realm of possibility that after all of this impeachment posturing, the Democrats won't have the votes to impeach.
2
The people gave control of the House to the Democrats in 2018 because they have had enough of Trump's bad acting.
The Democrats beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt are doing the right thing, regardless of the political outcome.
Civilization is only as successful as its resolve.
Thank goodness for the Democrats.
2
Trump is no angel but to impeach based on the existing transcript sets the bar so low that literally every President can now expect to be charged by the opposing party, should they be in charge of Congress.
The amount of money, legislative effort and time spent by the Democrats and paid for by the taxpayers are monumental. Literally, for nothing, as Trump will not only be exonerated by trhe Senate, but given a platform to skewer his tormentors. Instead of helping resolve the differences, Nadler, Schiff et consortes have made things worse. If the Dems lose 2020, they can thank Schiff for it.
232
@Kai That bar was set when the republicans put a wire on Bill Clinton to trap him into perjury. It was set already back then. An even worse precedent is set if a president is allowed to withhold aid in order to force a country's leader to dig up dirt on a political opponent. We do not allow that. This government is run by the people, for the people, of the people. He broke the law. He should be held accountable regardless of if we win or lose in 2020.
600
@Kai
Freedom isn't free. Justice Is not a passive enterprise of a society that values fairness. Better to lose fighting for a greater good than to shirk from your duty because it involved risks.
586
@Kai Sorry, but I can't understand what impeaching a president, including this reputed "president" for inviting foreign nations to skew the results of our elections is "Literally for nothing."
Newt Gingrich once said that in his opinion, the entire U.S. congress could be bought-off very cheaply. I believe he estimated that it would cost $100 million. Later, he revised his estimated price downward. I think most Americans would agree that through Republican- promulgated laws and rulings like "Citizens United", the Congress and Supreme Court HAVE been bought off.
I believe that if you think about it a little, you'd agree that having, say, Russia, or China, or even one of our Western allies owning our elections is not a good idea. In fact, it is a recipe for catastrophe.
If you think yet a little harder about the seriousness of what trump has done, you'll agree the articles of impeachment SHOULD charge trump with treason, not the charges that have been brought.
550
My grandfather was Ukrainian, but I’m sorry, Ukraine is not and has never been an “ally” of the United States. Nor is Russia an “enemy”- unless the Cold War has started up again, and I just didn’t notice. No U.S. security interests were harmed by delaying military aid, whatever the reason for the delay. The American public is entirely justified in not caring one bit about any of this.
3
@Greg. Regarding the status of Russia, I think Mr. Mueller would beg to differ. A country that aggressively interferes in the elections of another is by any other name an enemy. And Ukraine has been the target of Russian aggression, which the US and Western Europe have attempted to repel. If, by Trump’s maliciousness, Russia succeeds in its attempt to bring Ukraine under its control, the next target will be the Baltic Republics, which ARE our allies under NATO. That treaty commits us to come to the aid of allies, which would lead to a real military conflict between the US, Western Europe and Russia. That is very much our security interest, and Americans should be concerned about this, comrade.
7
Throughout this entire process I've been disgusted by the partisan behaviors of both parties.
The Republicans have stubbornly refused to acknowledge Trump's culpable behaviors and acts while touting his accomplishments.
The Democrats have been disrespectful to Trump by underplaying his accomplishments while condemning his behaviors and acts.
Ying and Yang. No wonder American voters are so polarized.
5
NYT Editorial Board, fine by me, and I'll bet the rent money the very next time there is a Republican controlled House of Representatives and an other than Republican president, the Republican controlled House will, on "wafer thin evidence," impeach that president.
Back in the day, I recall Sen. McConnell imploring/pleading with Sen. Reid to not change the Senate Rules to provide for a "Nuclear Option" (simple majority vote}, and he told Reid that Reid would "rue the day" he changed the rules. Reid went ahead with the rule change.
Well recently, two Supreme Court Associate Justices were confirmed by a Republican controlled Senate using, guess what?, the Nuclear Option.
4
This question is being asked by more educated people than me, and I want an answer from trump supporters.
In any impeachment, of any party's president, the Senate members are to suspend their regular duties for a certain period of time to discuss and vote on the charges. The constitution is super specific about details. The U.S. Senate votes on charges that the House brought. Because it's a trial, they are the jurors. They have to take an oath to the process, just like jurors do. The form of the oath is specified. It has to go like this: I SOLEMNLY SWEAR (or affirm, as the case may be,) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of , now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God."
Here's my question, trump followers: When Mitch McConnell and every. single. republican Senator. has publicly vowed to ignore all evidence and acquit the defendant, how is that impartial?
NO ONE would accept a jury where half the members said out loud that they were on the defendant's side, that the judge and the law were partisan, and the factual evidence merely opinion.
trump followers gleefully mock every sacred thing that makes America special; citizen juries, the absolute power of the law for everyone, even the words on the Statue of LIberty!
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY.
I'm embarrassed to quote Superman, but he DID speak for us at one time.....
Impeach, but do not send the matter to the Senate, where Trump allies will bring out nonsensical claims and claim victory. Continue the investigations as court decisions are made, even after the Supreme court decides on the availability of his financial records. Pass a bill in the house that specifically forbids his emoluments. No, it will not get to Senate but it assures that congress did not APPROVE of his emoluments, which he has not sought.
3
Nothing can be kept secret forever. The incriminating records of Trump's crimes and betrayal of the country will be revealed and the Trump's officials, who now refuse to talk, will talk at some points in the future for whatever reasons, perhaps mostly for money.
His tory will then judge the Republicans in Congress very harshly for they had put their personal, partisan politics and interests above those of the country and of Americans. They had looked away from the evidence, mocked and demeaned civil servants who testified despite threats to their personal safety and careers, and above all they had trampled on the American democracy, however imperfect that it is.
1
The editorial board opinion piece on impeachment of the President lays out exactly why the house democrats should not have rushed the process. If McConnell and the rest of the Republicans in the Senate aren’t going to conduct a thorough trial then the evidence against the president may never be exposed; that is to say, They may decide Not to call witnesses that were directly involved in the alleged crime!
Or does it matter at all because the republicans are so far gone that even with testimony from Giuliani, Pompeo, and Trump himself, they do not care as long as they control the levers of power?
It’s as sad state of affairs.
I wonder if any Republicans will read this column, and if they do they will continue to cheer for trump and that will be the end of the Constitution.
Might as well forget asking Republicans to ask whether they'd put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House in the way Trump has; much less, "...consider the facts, the architecture and aspirations of the Constitution and the call of history."
The Republican mantra under Trump is, "Do as we say [and when we say it], not as we do." The party of Reagan and Bush 41 is long gone and is now totally insincere, without ingenuity.
I really wish Trump supporters would read the "perfect" transcript. It's a total shakedown. Add to that, all the behavior associated points to this shakedown. It's all in plain sight for anyone who has basic reasoning capabilities necessary if we are to continue as a democracy.
2
It's funny how Trump and his minions are always available to appear on Fox, but can blissfully blow off subpoenas. Unfortunately, this editorial is mostly preaching to the choir.
The challenge is how to reason with Congress and voters who happily cast Trump as victim. Nancy Pelosi isn't the one praying...
We should remove every Republican who has aided and abetted Trump that we can in 2020.
3
Impeach, yes, 100%, yes, but I live in the hope that this brazen individual and national embarrassment Trump is ultimately brought to justice in a court not controlled by his no shame and craven Republican loyalists in the Senate. Nobody is above the law and certainly not Trump stripped of immunity. Whatever happens, the self interest and shame of his Republican surrogates and enablers will echo as the worst case of constitutional abrogation in U.S history.
2
A WARNING to all those Republicans who refuse to impeach Trump. Sometime in the near future (perhaps in a June Supreme Court ruling), Trump's financials will be revealed and will likely show him to be Putin's pawn. Republicans: do you really want to go down in history as the enabler of a Russian (GRU, KBG) stooge? Do you want to go into the 2020 election with this mark on you?
4
Democracy's salvation, in this country at least, remains in the hands of the Democratic party...Failure will be laid at the feet of the Republican Party by courageous historians trying to avoid inspectors with arm bands.
2
PRETENSE
[ˈprēˌtens, prēˈtens]
NOUN
1) an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true.
2) a claim, especially a false or ambitious one.
It seems we are potentially on the precipice of hypnotizing much of our populace in to believing that engaging in pretense is good and that dropping the very pretense that you're not engaging in pretense is even better. Lindsey Graham is the poster boy for this movement but elevated by all of the republicans we witnessed during the House fact witness testimonies and debates.
Water is not wet, on a clear day the sky is not blue, nowhere in the July 25th call memorandum is there a reference to investigating the Bidens. an already extensively vetted and approved aid package to Ukraine needed just one more look but did we mention that was not about the Bidens.
The chances of this sad spectacle of a 'solemn, prayerful' process ending in the actual result in the title are absolutely zero.
This futile gesture of political retribution to cover up prior Democratic Party dirty political tricks and tribute will be remembered in history for precisely what it is - cynical manipulation by a political establishment seeking to retain its ill-derived privilege.
Middle America will punish the Democrat party for its hubris in 2020.
1
The outcome: (1) president can't be indicted according to Justice Department rules; (2) president can't be investigated by prosecutors; (3) president can defy all legal subpoenas from Congress, removing congressional oversight; (4) Senate majority leader, who should be an independent juror, colludes with the defendant to rig the impeachment trial. In America, president is now above the law. Monarchy anyone?
1
Why do people yap on and on, trying to find something nice about Trump?
He is a very bad and corrupt person, and has been since the '80s, which is how long I have despised him.
4
@Pat
I know your question is a rhetorical one but I will answer it. Because he gives them permission to be racist. They love it.
2
Recall the angst and hand-wringing that occurred on the left when Trump announced Pence as his running mate . . . be careful what you wish for.
McConnell: "There will be no difference between the president's position and our position."
He is announcing he will obey the accused.
He is announcing he will betray the oath he will be forced to take at the beginning of the trial, stating he will listen to all the evidence and be impartial- ADMITTING he will NOT be impartial.
He is announcing he is not a senator at all, but the toady of a dictator.
Welcome to the new United States: a tin-pot dictatorship.
6
You don't let a criminal continue committing his crimes without putting up the most rapid and powerful defense available to you at the time. Not if you want to make the point you will fight them every step of the way. It's that or go hide in a corner and keep your mouth shut. You've given up any credible right to protest the injustices done you in the future.
On a separate front i see a new jersey dem rep is defecting to the gop because he's afraid of losing his job. After telling everyone just last month he'd never switch and he's been a moderate all his life. He'll fit right in with his new party. People who have sold out their morals, their country, and our Constitution for the sake of keeping their jobs.
Morals, country, Constitution. Ideals people have been willing to sacrifice their lives for over the history of our country. "I only regret i have but one life to lose for my country." This guy goes, gee, i'm too scared to lose my political office for the sake of fighting to save my country and our Constitution from wrongdoing. If he's truly been a moderate guess how long that'll last as a member of today's gop.
2
I watched all the testimony. There is absolutely no doubt Trump is guilty. I read the entire Mueller Report. There is no doubt Trump is guilty. But the biggest problem with Trump is his threat to our democracy. I recommend three things to read: the book on Amazon titled "Trump and the Demise of Democracy," the "Summary and Interpretation of the Mueller Report " also on Amazon , and two recent posts on Facebook by Sunny Izme titled "Ukraine and the Quid pro Quo " and "Impeachment. " I am proud of the NYT for taking a stand. We all need to email, fax, and call our congresspersons constantly demanding impeachment and conviction. You can use the site Govtrack.com to make the connections.
3
If it does not bother you to learn that the FBI repeatedly and deliberately deceived the FISA court into granting it permission to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign, then it is virtually certain that you are either someone with no principles, someone who cares only about partisan advantage and nothing about basic civil liberties and the rule of law, or both. There is simply no way for anyone of good faith to read this IG Report and reach any conclusion other than that this is yet another instance of the FBI abusing its power in severe ways to subvert and undermine U.S. democracy. If you don’t care about that, what do you care about?
3
It's one thing for the Times and the Post to call for impeachment. I want to know how this is going to play in Peoria, in Oklahoma City, in Tampa, in Phoenix. Unless some editorial boards in places like that take some bold steps, I so fear this will go nowhere.
1
Any future President can pevent any in his administration to appear for a subpoena - do you think this should be so?
Clearly the Executive Trumps the Legislature - is that the way it should be?
this is not about differing opinions or policies. trump and his minions are organized criminals, and the justice that must be served comes from the founding principles of this nation.
2
This impeachment will fail, because the Dems did it very wrong. Pelosi was right, at the beginning, when she said that an impeachment HAS to be BiPartisan, or it will fail and tear the country apart. The Dems SHOULD have made it bipartisan, and that literally means you have to give something that BOTH side want. The Dems should have found that something that gave both sides something.
MY suggestion for that ... make it an impeachment of ALL corruption on both sides of the aisle. EVERYONE in the country is for eliminating corruption. Impeach Hillary for Uranium One and for selling access to the State Department through her charity. Impeach Obama for the FISA court abuse. AND impeach Trump for Ukraine. EVERYONE gets something they want ... and the whole country can get behind going after corruption.
What we have is totally partisan ... Dems only care about corruption if the person has an "R" after their name, and Republicans only care if the person has a "D" after name. Well, MOST people in the country DO care about all corruption on both sides.
BUT that is NOT what they did, and so this impeachment will fail, and the country overall will be weakened for it. Horrible mistake to have done this soooooo very very wrong.
3
In addition Giuliani (Trump's personal lawyer) was meeting with ex KGB scoundrels in Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden and his son. All this in plain sight while the house was debating articles of impeachment. Does anyone think this is exculpatory evidence for Trump's desire to get dirt on Biden? Then Giuliani is invited to the Whitehouse by Trump. If this abuse is done in plain sight then we should ignore it?
The summary of the call is also in plain sight and just because Trump says it is perfect that doesn't mean it is. When Trump says, "do us a favor though" he is not asking about corruption. He's asking about "crowdstrike" (a debunked conspiracy theory by his own administration) and investigations on Joe and Hunter Biden. If Trump was so worried about corruption why did he give money to the actual corrupt president of Ukraine in 2017 and 2018? Trump now asks for a favor because Joe Biden was running for president. He held up the approved congressional money for Ukraine until he got caught.
Trump needs another "lock her up"chant but this time he wants "lock him up".
This is a blatant abuse of power!
Give us this for that and us refers to his administration which includes Mulvaney, Pompeo and Barr. It has nothing to do with fighting for corruption because he never used the word corruption. Does Anyone think Trump cares about corruption? Look at his own administration.
He must be impeached.
1
Yes, it's time to impeach Donald Trump because the longer the Dems let it linger, the more harm the do to their chances of defeating him next year.
Maybe, just maybe, if the drama ends quickly there will be enough time before the election for the progressive infotainment industry to gin up some shiny distraction to take the place of this DOA scheme.
Naturally, Trump will never let it drop and it will be his go-to, crescendo stump theme from now until Inauguration Day, 2021...and beyond.
Hey, Republicans, here's an idea: take your time with the trial in the Senate. Ignore proper procedure - there's ample precedent for that - and use the Senate trial as a springboard to lay bare the widespread collusion that started and sustained this colossal farce. Draw it out. Even the progressive infotainment industry will not be able to avert their eyes 'cause the ratings will go through the roof.
See, there is no ill wind that doesn't blow some good.
Put the House vote on standby.
The Grifter will, without a doubt, commit a ‘’high crime’’ in the very near future that can be added to the two articles already voted by the committee.
He has been crooked all his life, he cannot help himself.
4
A house divided against itself cannot stand, as Lincoln famously quoted from the Bible. And so it is today.
This impeachment is more than an impeachment of a president. It's an impeachment of the president's servile party. It's an impeachment of the voters unfazed by brazen criminality manifest even before the 2016 election.
It's an impeachment against deceptive and manipulative propaganda taken straight out a fascist playbook, and against foreign influence that threatens our elections and democracy.
But this impeachment is but a feckless formality to save the last vestiges of our Constitution. While expected to fail, it states for the historical record that some honored their oaths and stood to defend the Constitution, come what may.
We are a nation that is not at peace with itself.
1
Excellent photo illustration. Well done, Al Drago.
Our Constitution is ailing and failing.
The chances GOP members of the Senate will evaluate the evidence fairly and impartially is slim to none. And Slim just left town.
If Clinton could be impeached for lying (under oath) about a consensual affair that was no one's business Trump certainly deserves to be impeached for lying about everything. He is a pox on our country and our form of government. We used to have some esteem in the world but not under this president. I detest Pence but how much harm could he do in a short period of time. Trump, on the other hand, thinks he is king and listens to no one. Let's save our country. NOW.
2
Republicans don’t have the courage to say the obvious: to all you children in middle school and high school, and all you young adults in college and beyond, no matter what you do, *anything goes*; any behavior is OK if it means you get what you want. Laws are for other people, and you will never pay a price for any law breaking or immoral actions. You can lie your way out of any situation.
2
Phone Transcript and Zelensky undermine a charge. Those pesky facts getting in the way? Not for the dems. They just opened the door for political impeachment from now on. Shameful behavior.
RIDICULOUS ARGUMENTS:
1) A restaurant owner goes to the restaurant of his chief competitor. He visits the kitchen and puts poison in each of the dishes. He then calls the local news channel anonymously, and states that he was just made violently ill at that restaurant, as were many others.
RIDICULOUS ARGUMENT: Restaurant owner: "I was just trying to protect the city against unsafe restaurants!"
2) A boxer is facing a championship fight. The odds makers have him down 2-1. He knows that his opponent deeply loves his children. He hires a well known hit man, with many reported hits before this, to call his opponent on a burner phone, and let him know that, should he win, his child will run into an "accident."
RIDICULOUS ARGUMENT: Boxer: "I was just trying to clean up boxing!"
3) A President is facing an upcoming re-election bid. His main opponent is rated as 7-10 points ahead of him in most polls. He calls the President of an allied nation, which is desperately fighting off occupation, attack, and being subsumed by Russia. He withholds promised military assistance from the ally. He makes clear that he will provide the military assistance only if the allied President makes an announcement on national U.S. television that his opponent is under investigation.
RIDICULOUS ARGUMENT: President: "I was only trying to fight corruption!"
Of course Donald Trump doesn't think he did anything wrong because he has been corrupt his whole life. Go back & look into his business dealings - all the unpaid bills, all the lawsuits against him, all the failed businesses like "Trump University" and the recent revelation where he misused funds from a charity. And of course Mitch & the Boys will make sure the Senate takes care of their corrupt underling. What the people who truly care about democracy and The Constitution can do is make sure Trump is voted out of office in 2020.
2
Since Trump won the election in 2016 the Democrats in the media have been throwing a hissy fit. Trump is a Russian agent, Trump / Russia collusion, obstruction, Mueller "the walls are closing in" and now impeachment. All the while America is living in peace a prosperity with two great trade deals in the near future. The Democrats are in big trouble for 2020 with a weak ideology which seeks to abolish ICE, open borders between the cartels and the US, absolute insanity and the America people see it.
1
The president has revealed in his actions and speech that he is mentally ill. If you can't agree with that statement, perhaps you could at least agree that he suffers from one or more severe character defects. Because of this, he is unfit to serve as president.
Rather than impeachment, the proper way to remove him from office would be for his cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment and install the vice-president. This hasn't happened because of his cult-like grip on the party base.
The Republican party would never tolerate such behavior from a Democrat president. That they allow it from President Trump is a testament to their hypocrisy. They are shameless and can no longer claim the moral high ground.
1
After Trump was installed it was my hope that somehow the Republican dominated Congress could temper Trump's bombastic and insulting behavior.
But in their lust for Federal Court appointments and tax breaks that favor corporations and the very wealthy ,the Republican Party has sold their souls to this President and those around him in the White House. The Republican Party no longer exists, only the Trump charade does. I was so very, very wrong in hoping for some kind of restrain from the GOP of this malevolent President.
We will need all the help we can get to survive this dark and poisonous stain on our country.
2
Donald Trump is a success. He's the most powerful and successful criminal this country has ever produced.
3
Tragic in every respect.
3
I wonder if the presiding Chief Justice could dismiss McConnell from his role because of his prejudicial statements?
3
My poor grandkids. What Donald Trump has done to this country that will affect them for a long time....
A sad Christmas.
5
Impeachment is not removal. Just ask Bill Clinton. Trump has committed unlawful, treasonous acts. Drag the grifter through the mud, and prosecute him until the cows come home. If he doesn't win the 2020 race, the statute of limitations will not have expired and they will be coming for him. Acquittal or not, he will be a desperate man with his back against the wall. If anyone thinks they have seen everything from this president, every low bar crawled under, they ain't seen nothin' yet.
2
It is shocking and disturbing to learn that some house democrats in purple states may not vote to impeach trump. What a blow. If trump gets away with this as a result of these dem defections then they (not the republicans) will be blamed 100%. The trump/fox propaganda machine will surely go into overdrive delivering a humiliating blow to every single democrat who is struggling and working to save the country and to all decent folks counting on constitutional justice . The defectors will have betrayed their constituents - and helped to elect trump to another - they will forever be disgraced by their failure to uphold their oath of office.
The two biggest lies in modern American history...Today's Republicans are "Conservative," and today's Republicans are "Christian." They make an abject mockery of both. Do they really think that the Founders would support a man like Trump? Would Jesus?
2
This balanced and objective reasoning is exactly why I subscribe to the New York Times. Thank You.
1
Republicans: We do not hate Trump; we disagree with and reject what he says and does. The majority of his words and actions characterize his poor judgment and lack of discipline, integrity, and decency. His words and actions in the Ukraine matter were dishonorable and disrespectful to both our public servants in the State Dept and our ally. It is clear to the discerning that his intent was self-serving and criminal. His words and actions are those of a lawless, amoral mob boss. History will not treat you kindly for your defense of them.
The US is disintegrating. My imagination fails to identify a realistic avenue for reuniting the increasingly disunited and mutually hostile US. Trump is an abject catalyst for this process. One day, hopefully sooner rather than later, he will be gone, back to his cheap glitz (and probably facing numerous lawsuits). But I strongly doubt healing is at hand after him.
The country is split apart, it is falling behind, and there is no way to put Humpty Dumpty back again.
1
If there was as much reliable testimony and hard evidence in a case where a president ordered a military invasion into a country to settle a personal vendetta with someone who lived in that country, not for national security, would that be "crime" worth impeaching him over? If American soldiers died in that invasion, would his personal motives for ordering the invasion go unchallenged? Would we wait a year or two to impeach him while American families grieved their lost loved ones? Listening to Republicans today, it appears the answer would be, Yes.
1
Although there is an ethical need to address President Trump's actions, the Impeachment will further his aim to be re-elected since the Senate will make a mockery of what the Congress so nobly attempted to do. I think we need to consider what a second term will look like and what issues will be addressed. The focus should be on keeping the Congress with a Democratic majority, and decreasing the number of Republicans in the Senate, I.e., Senators Collins, McConnell and Gephardt.
I’m relying upon Nature to get us out of this mess; will the stress of D. Trump’s impending impeachment, combined with advanced age, no exercise, obesity, a horrible diet, high blood pressure and a raging, impulsive, uncontrollable temper result in a debilitating stroke that invokes the 25th Amendment?
Thoughts and Prayers.
The July 25 phone call with Zelensky was just one of a months long effort by Trump to shake down Ukraine to get them to announce an investigation into the Bidens and Ukraine's debunked interference in the 2016 election. There is a ton of evidence besides that one (and now we know at least 2) phone calls.
1
Watching the Republican party become a Russian arm of propaganda and disinformation, and no member or former member of that party willing to name it as the domestic enemy it is, tells me that we are at the end of the great experiment.
I foresee a breakup by region, with blue states forming alliances so as not to further drain their coffers to support these domestic enemies who are hellbent on willful ignorance, science denial, xtionist end times fables and the rule of man over rule of law.
Republicans give us no choice: either bend til we break to their obscene rule, or break away and form regional alliances which strive to restore and reclaim the rule of law, good governance with fealty to the Constitution and working like mad to intervene in the climate emergency.
"To resist the pull of partisanship, Republicans and Democrats alike ought to ask themselves the same question: Would they put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House this way? "
The answer is a resounding YES by the Republicans and NO by the Democrats. But that is exactly the point!
The issue at hand is a political play by the Democrats which is why it carries no weight with the Republicans. Reverse the situation and you'll see the mirror image.
The Dems have searched and scoured for something to tag Trump with and they have failed. What a waste.
1
People, like myself, might rightfully ask what can be done about a rogue House? There is no impeachment for House members. However, their very short terms act as a kind of impeachment: reelection every 2 years. Let's "impeach" these rogue Republicans at the polls!
Why is it lawful under the rules of impeachment for Trump and McConnell to be collaborating over the rules of his senate trial?
Do we let defendants in our courts collaborate with the jury and judge over the parameters of their trials and the staging of their courtroom?
Democrats, time to call out the Republicans and Trump over this additional audacious example of twisted and immoral behavior.
1
They should impeach, but not send it to the Senate. Let that be a topic of conservation all the way to November 2020. It would amount to a de facto censure.
1
What we can be sure of is that Trump will get up every morning and flout the law until he is gone. And that his supporters will applaud his lawlessness. Playing with the Republic is dangerous.
What is trully astounding is the number of people who are indifferent to his actions and are concerned only about their 401 K. Or the number that simply dismiss this entire process as nothing more than partisans that hate him. Or those that think this is really a minor thing.
A great number of people seem not to either care or understand how his actions undermine the rule of law and even the idea of putting nation above party.
The real problem is that even after Trump is gone..this cancer of authoritarianism will live on and if unchecked will destroy the US form of government..
1
It is unconscionable that the Senate would choose party over the Constitution. Shame on Mitch McConnell, et al.
2
Who are we kidding, wondering how Ukraine would be handled if the President under investigation was named Obama or Clinton? Of course they wouldn't put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House this way - Democrats because they still stand for the constitution, Republicans because they only stand for their political party. If there is ever another Democrat in the White House (and that is a big if), you can be sure impeachment would only be one tan suit away.
Do Not Impeach! Reckless, feckless 100% partisan actions must stop, there will be no end to the use of this 'Constitutional' action (as recent history has informed, see Reid then McConnell); each party will use this solemn action without restraint. Let the voters decide in just eleven months, and/or act as a body whole and Censure.
This editorial is way too long, more than is necessary. The democrats will impeach Trump, the republicans will "pardon" him. And after all that, the word association will be: Trump, corruption, impeachment - fits him well.
Want to remove Mr Trump ..then get a worthy candidate and win votes.
1
House Democrats had no real choice but to begin impeachment proceedings against this president, if the balance of powers and rule of law were to mean anything in the future. Of course Trump won't be convicted by the Senate Republicans, which means that he can spend the rest of his first term in office running the dirtiest, most deceitful and most aggressive re-election campaign in our history. If low-blow tactics plus a hefty dose of Russian interference manage to turn the election in his favor, only one question will remain. As Trump privately vows to take his revenge on those who impeached him and anyone else who has annoyed him over the last three years, will the arrests of people like Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, George Soros and Hillary Clinton begin the day after the election or the day after the second inauguration?
The fact Trump would not or possibly could not mount a defense speaks volumes to his obvious abuse of power. His only hail-Mary play is that he will be exonerated in the Senate where he controls all the member through his bullying tactics.
Why don't the Dems just charge him with the crime of extortion? That's an actual crime. And it's what he did. People will understand that.
A French monarch said:
La loi c'est moi! Louie lost his head for those words. His wife, too.
Trump says: I am the Team. Everyone else is fired! Russia, find those emails.
In life and Court, Trump practices: delay, delay delay: deny, deny, deny; lie,lie,lie.
Might makes right!
If Trump stays in power and becomes re-elected, USA beware! Someone said: that nations deserve the rulers that they have. U.S. beware of legitimizing a monarchic or despotic type of regime.
For over 200 years, the US has been the beacon of liberty, hope and truth for the entire world. The US Constitution is as sacred as Holy Script.
Do we Americans want to lose our vital values by continuing on the slippery slope wherein we are right now?
America, wake up, rise up, speak up. Let us continue to be that home of the free and the brave. Let us not become neither knaves or slaves or serfs once again.
The senate should ponder the huge importance of the challenge now before them and each member should be guided by honor, integrity and true love of our country when casting his vote. Blind loyalty is not true loyalty; but servitude.
3
What does high school social studies teach--if not revulsion at this glaring, deceitful trashing of the right to a fair vote?
What greater obstruction of Congress is there--than 100% refusal to produce relevant documents, to stonewall relevant witnesses, and to insult, slur and frighten those with the courage to tell the truth, under oath, to the American people?
This is what students FEEL as they witness this perversion of democracy:
"We condemn the initial deceit of the public, and the later lies and diversions by many to try to cover up, the obvious attempt to take away our right to a fair vote and process, and covert it by any President for his or her personal advantage.
We have been taught to think.
This is what we think."
1
When half the country opposes impeachment after televised hearings, conviction in the Senate would be illegitimate.
I relish and lust for a Trump success to punish those who voted for him with their destruction. Like the Republicans gloating remarks; "Elections have consequences".
This is all about a naked power grab and the influence of massive outside spending directed towards politicians. The Republicans by and large owe their very political existence to large corporate and financial interests, and there are no national boundaries where these large interests lie. In Donald Trump's case, there is another lane for financial corruption - criminal syndicates and oligarchs who are under the direct control of Vladimir Putin and other foreign nations (Saudi Arabia) each its own corrupt criminal enterprise.
Like your local city council, politicians can be bought. Trump's price is relatively small considering he trades ALL ethics and sworn solemn oaths for self-enrichment. The Trump sycophants who ride this grifting train, and the Republicans in the House and Senate who vociferously refused to mount a defense of the facts presented are even worse than Donald Trump. They've sold their soul to the Devil (Trump and Putin) believing their future lives will be insulated from any and all bad things which can arise in the future when history sheds their roles in this enterprise. These people are wrong to believe this.
Abject criminality and trashing Rule of Law are the steps towards societal chaos. Once events are put into motion, anarchy or totalitarian despot rule erases THE best final hope in the world. Once the Constitution is broken and thrown away, it can't be recovered in its form as evolved over 200 years.
We're in the early phases of a bitter civil war.
2
@Peter Vander Arend
The people trying to grab away power are Democrats. Trump already has power.
Think about that.
Americans have pled and bled to resist monarchies and dictators from before the drafting of our Constitution. In respect for thse who have made those sacrifices, we need to use the powers it invested in our elected representatives to identify, name and resist this latest tyrant.
"Republicans and Democrats ought to ask themselves the same question: Would they put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House this way?"
The answer is they would use much less to impeach a Democratic president. That is the history of the Clinton impeachment.
All the quotes from Republicans about that impeachment somehow have vanished into the history books, tapes, and newspaper articles.
The psychological projection is breathtaking, with House Republicans and Trump accusing Democrats of being Stalinesque and abusing the Constitution.
Conservatives cry that the government is overbearing, but are willing to succumb to Putin's weakening of our Republic.
Democrats are still behaving like adults. Republicans are hurling insults and disrupting legitimate proceedings, and Putin has to be happy that at last he has unraveled the United States, and he didn't need nukes to do it.
People who say there is no difference between the two parties are not paying attention. Republicans have no values. They are traitors. We must return to a functioning society. We cannot fail to confront our fellow citizens who support Trump. It is a crime, and Trump was caught red-handed.
1
All too true. But while removal by a lackey Senate is much in doubt, the American voters will have clear reason to do so. What remains to be seen is whether enough cheating and voter suppression will overcome desire for freedom from corruption.
While some may argue that this whole process has been a waste of time since the Senate will inevitably acquit trump, I would argue that it is never a waste of time to expose criminal activity in the White House and expose corrupt behavior by a corrupt administration. The articles of impeachment could have included violations of the emoluments clause, campaign finance violations through payments to trump’s porn star prostitutes, and obstruction of the Mueller investigation, not to mention the serial lying and poor behavior by a debased human being. The clauses may lead to new legislation further defining and limiting presidential powers and specifically defining impeachable behavior, but the best outcome will be the electoral process in 2020 and voting this corrupt administration from office. Alongside that, the elections need to vote republicans from office in the senate and give the Democrats control. Otherwise it will be another four years of watching the Republican political party stoop to new, lower heights and steal progress on vital legislative and judicial fronts including climate change, health care, foreign diplomacy, taxation, and the courts including the Supreme Court.
2
Democrats: It's our constitutional duty. Translation: It's pointless, and hurts our own election chances, but our blind hatred of all things Trump trumps all.
Let's take it a step further than asking what Republicans would do if this were a Democratic president. Republicans are as two faced as the day is long. No question about that. If, in a few years, a Democratic president behaves this way, they will go absolutely ballistic. But let's not look at it from a political viewpoint.....Republicans would never accept this from someone in their private life: Their wife's boss, their grandchild's teacher or coach, their pastor. I say no matter what happens....even if Trump runs the table, their acquiescence to him will come back to bite them. Voters are tired of always being behind the rich and powerful in getting their representatives' attention. Adding a misogynistic, racist, and hate filled man who mercilessly attacks his opponents will eventually take it's toll. The fact they no longer even cringe when he behaves the way he does says everything. Because then when your wife's boss grabs her, the first thing that will come to the boss' mind will be "What's the big deal? Get over it". Oh, I know that's different. Hypocricans should be the Republicans new name. They play the part so well.
For me there is no validity in arguments that say impeachment is too extreme, Trump announced in the 2016 campaign that he wanted Putin's help. Remember when Barr refused to let us see all the Mueller report since we 'could never investigate the president'. When it talks like a con man, hangs out with con men, brags of being a con man.....its a con man, do we get it yet? The next step for Dems is to state on TV for the record that if the Reps do not condemn Trump's behavior, then the Dems will solicit foreign powers to help in the 2020 election. Put it out on the table for everybody to look at. That's where we are, this is not about normal.
1
...which is why all Republicans up for re-election need to be voted out of office in 2020. Period.
3
The Republican congressional delegation behaved like high stakes gamblers at an illegal dog fight last week... not serious participants in a debate about the presidency and the constitution. I'd wager that the majority of them has no idea or interest in what the founders actually thought or what the constitution actually says. And the few who might be educated in such matters don't seem to care. Even though this has been going on for some time now, it's still shocking. One is forced to conclude that they are a pack of spineless, unethical power grabbers who have no business in the US Capitol. Let's please VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!i
2
By his impeachment history will record that Trump is a criminal. True, he may be "exonerated" by the jury of the senate, dominated as it is by coconspirators and cowards. If so, we must dedicate ourselves to seeing that he loses the 2020 election, and hope that afterwards he will be jailed for his crimes against our democracy.
1
In a November 8, 2016 piece, Thomas Friedman wrote:
Quote:
Lesley Goldwasser, who came from Zimbabwe in the 1980s. Surveying our political scene a few years ago, Lesley remarked to me: “You Americans kick around your country like it’s a football. But it’s not a football. It’s a Fabergé egg. You can break it.”
Without pulling back from the edge of the cliff, our democracy will go over it and I'm not sure we can retrieve it. I fervently hope that the Senate will act as if it is an egg, knowing that our democracy will be hard to put back together again if it breaks.
2
Just like a parent caught with his hand in his child's' piggy bank, who then yells at the child for catching him when he should be sleeping; President Trump tries bluster and deflection of all criticism in the vain hope the public has a short attention span! Individual one's first mistake was judging everyone else by his own flawed standards and dubious intelligence. He has proved he is incapable of anything but corrupt reasoning.
What I fail to understand is the reaction of the Republican Senate. By their own vociferous and loud denials, their failure to protect and defend the Constitution and the People from this predator; the Senators are more complicit than Individual 1! Unfortunately, there is no remedy for that I'm aware of, other than at the ballot box.
1
Well said. The only treasonous actors in this drama are Republicans. One can only hope the American electorate holds them to account in November 2020.
3
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Too much power has been vested in too few. The more that Republicans (and others) submit to abusers of power, the more the abusers will abuse. Resisters to abuse of power have been caught off guard; their own attachments to convention and civility, their own attachments to power and blind faith in tradition, have enabled Trumpism.
Essentially nothing has been done to derail this immensely dangerous person, his sickening lies, projections and rhetoric, and the equally dangerous people he surrounds himself with.
While I applaud the impeachment track, like a thimbleful of water on a house fire, it seems destined to be symbolic rather than effective. Or worse. A weak reproach of an abuser will only enrage him.
Mr. Trump should not have been allowed to take office, Mr. Trump should have been removed from the Republican party primaries. But instead our leaders effectively ignored the clear dangers and said "give him a chance." That is beyond regrettable.
2
Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65 writes that the greatest danger inherent in the impeachment process was that the trial will be "regulated by the comparative strength of the parties rather than the real demonstrations of innocent or guilt ". He clearly anticipated the current situation. The mendacious corruption of Donald Trump and his craven congressional enablers may well be the most disgraceful political alliance in American political history. It makes impeachment a political imperative even though the result may validate Hamilton's biggest fear. The only potential benefit will be to expose and italicize the rancid, rotting ethical core at the heart of the Republican party.
3
@Don Shipp. ditto. you've summed it up succinctly, w/o further adieu. fantastic choice of words. thank you.
Trump has abused his power in every way conceivable. He uses his office to enrich himself and his family, he encourages others to flout legal demands, he obstructs justice, he maintains a constant stream of fraud and deception, he invites interference in our elections and corrupts the process, he abuses the pardon power, he interferes in military discipline, he bribes porn stars to keep them silent and defames teenaged girls who happen to campaign for the environment, his charity was an illegal scam -- the real question is not "should he be impeached," but "why should he remain in office?" And the answer is the unspeakable corruption of Mitch McConnell, who has already promised to violate his own oath of office by working to acquit and exonerate Trump instead of maintaining even making a pretense of an honest process, and of other Congressional Republicans. And the very worst of it is, TRUMP WILL CONTINUE TO VIOLATE EVERY NORM OF HONORABLE GOVERNMENT AS LONG AS HE IS IN OFFICE. He is incapable of change. I have contacted all of my representatives to express my concern over the harm to our nation, and I hope that everyone else will do the same.
3
It doesn't take a genius to figure out the President leveraged whatever power and connections he possessed as a candidate to invite foreign interference in the 2016 election (RUSSIA, ARE YOU LISTENING?). After assuming power, he did it again with the Ukraine, using Congress appropriated funds to Ukraine's military to force that country to investigate the man he perceived as his political rival. There's plenty of time left before November 2020 for more dirty deeds from the White House and his Russophile-Republican enablers. For shame on them all. History will remember.
3
Trump's ineligibility for the White House is crystal clear.
It is really stunning to watch the Democrats wasting so much precious time and resources on impeaching President Trump when they know that it will not succeed in the Senate. Their aim is simply to taint Trump with having broken the law. The Democrats want to make sure the American people do not elect Trump again. So it is all about the next election. Their focus is on bringing Trump down instead of succeeding in impeaching Trump.
There is a much bigger reason for tainting Trump with the fact of being not only impeachable but totally unfit for the White House. Trump is breaking laws practically every now and then. It is crystal clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that Trump has an emotionally challenged brain. His sick brain is ineligible for even the office of a small-town mayor.
Trump's base knows this problem but he is the only Republican leader who is talking their talk and walking their walk. So they have no choice but to stick with him.
Just imagine if the Democrats instead of trying for an impossible impeachment had gone after proving that Trump is insane to rule from the White House.
They can do this in a very dramatic way. All they need to do is issue a show-cause notice to Trump's doctor who gave him a clean bill of health to prove how Trump's health is sound. In case the doctor refuses to respond then the doctor needs to be sued. Trump's emotionally challenged behavior is begging for such action.
What should have happened, if the impeachment process is SO critical to US democracy, is anyone who refused to appear after being subpoenaed, and given forewarning of jail time, but secondary opportunity to attend before House of Reps, arrests be ordered and implemented. Don't oversell the impeachment urgency and then let the cronies continue to conspire.
1
Can the House impeach but not refer the matter to the Senate for trial? McConnell and Senate Republicans have given a clear indication of what the outcome of such a trial would be. Why put us through that? A trial with a foregone conclusion does nothing but bestow upon the President the opportunity to crow that he has been vindicated.
3
@Carol yes and if the matter is not referred to the Senate he can NEVER be pardoned. And he has to run as an impeached President. Something I can live with.
Before all the Clinton haters reply, Clinton was charged with perjury for lying about a sexual relationship. He DID NOT ask Russia or anyone for help in his re-election. It is so not the same.
And yes, I hate Trump but that’s for the ballot box. Impeachment is about his oath of office.
2
There is only one legitimate basis for a Senator to announce now that she or he will vote against impeachment: that Senator must have concluded, based solely on the evidence presented in the House, that Trump’s conduct does not merit impeachment. In other words, a Senator who announces now that she or he will vote against impeachment is saying that even if everything presented in the House is true, an impeachment is still not warranted. In other words, there is no case to rebut. That is pretty hard to envision. But as a matter of simple logic, any Senators who announces now that she or he will vote against impeachment is saying exactly that.
1
Great idea. But the FBI employees who engaged in wrongdoing as detailed in the Inspector General’s Report should be disciplined and/or prosecuted as well. The fact they misled the FISA court is a serious problem. Keep in mind this type of action could be taken against any citizen at the pleasure of the FBI. That is not acceptable.
Where is your editorial on this aspect of the situation?
1
@T Smith
Like so much in the defensive playbook, irrelevant to the case at hand.
1
It would be helpful if a clearer distinction was made in coverage between division over policy differences (the role of elections) and fitness for duty (the role of impeachment).
A republic can disagree on policy and thrive for centuries, but a people who legitimize abuse of power are on the fast track to fascism.
3
@Randall exactly my response to people who say I am for impeachment because I hate Trump. Nope, the hatred is for the ballot box. Impeachment is to keep us from becoming a full fledged banana republic.
"By stonewalling as no previous president has...."
Let's not fall into the spurious argument that everything a president does establishes a precedent. The offense is in preventing Congressional investigation, not in breaking ground.
What happens if Donald continues violating the laws even more egregiously? Does he get away with it?
It's hard to imagine the House would impeach him again. But not to do so really does establish precedent.
3
I am deeply worried for this country. I'm not a religious person by any means, but I've been praying for the future of this democracy for much of 2019. If our President is exonerated by a complicit G.O.P. majority in the Senate, it won't be long before Putin steps in to crush what is left of our Republic. After all, Trump has been Putin's puppet since he rode down that gilded escalator in Trump Tower to announce his presidential campaign.
The stakes are high. Our democracy is in danger, and if the Senate refuses to act, then we have officially reached the point of no return.
3
It is a fact that Trump invited foreign (Russian) interference in the 2016 elections, and according to intelligence experts he was obliged. It seems no small coincidence that Trump’s phone call with Zelensky came a day after Muehler’s testimony, which weakly portrayed the gravity of the Trump campaign’s 2016 activities with respect to foreign interference. Although it is purely speculative, it would not surprise me if Trump felt empowered to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election. As the Judiciary Committee put forward, Trump’s behavior with respect to requested Ukraine interference suggests that we are in the midst of an ongoing activity with dire constitutional implications, and must be stopped now. We cannot wait til November 2020. Future presidential candidates must not think that such behavior is permissible.
Although Trump will likely win in a Senate trial, both he and the Republicans will be chastened by impeachment alone (why does McConnell not want witnesses called in the trial?). The country and our representatives must “do the right thing.”
5
@TimothyG: Rudy is writing a report to Trump about the latest dirt he cooked up in Ukraine even as we write here.
I am a 73 year old New Yorker who has lived through Watergate etc. Trump makes the all time poorly rated Presidents like:Filmore,Grant,Harding and Nixon look like giants! Those who defend Trump will pay for it as history rates them!
6
Yes!
But what happens if The Senate acquits? After the Civil War despite the death & blood shed a clear Constitutional victor was in control of Federal governance or administration. Rights & property (excluding slaves) of the losers were restored and so forth.
What’s different now is that Constitutional compliance would remain obscured under GOP frauds performed in plain view I.e. election integrity etc..
What would if tomorrow drivers decided generally to exceed speed limits because they felt like it? Would the gov. hire more cops, impound cars, eliminate posted speed limits & so forth? Or what if a majority of The People refused to pay any Federal Income Taxes and then some argued before The Courts to do so upholds unconstitutional officials and actions?
The GOP has been very successful in its efforts to undermine The Nation. But the bigger question is what is their end game? Private member privileges via Chaos.
3
@Samuel Owen: Watch what they do, because everything they say is lies. The end game is to break up the US on its own structural vestiges of slavery.
1
@Steve Bolger
I agree. Yet they forget with the majority of Americans supporting The USC is what allows The GOP to operate. If Americans lose faith in their Constitutional welfare, then “those false emperors will have no clothes or coverage.” Lincoln never ever recognized the Jefferson Davis presidency or The Confederacy as a separate sovereign nation!
I believe good persons are more powerful than bullies. But also have more patience too. Yet patience also has a limit.
1
Looking forward to receiving a list of the "Democrat" who vote against this bill. It will make a difference to those of us who work for the grassroots.
5
Yes, Trump will be impeached but not removed from office, and the Dems will have fired their one and only arrow .. the only remedy there is for unconstitutional conduct on the part of a president.
Trump will be unchained .. what's left to constrain him? Combine that with the very high likelihood that he will be re-elected given a full employment economy .. means there is more despair to come for quite awhile.
5
@JH lawlessness invites more lawlessness...on all sides. Trump is going to need to have the National Guard on speed-dial. If he wins a second term, the 1960’s are going to look quaint by comparison.
4
@Dudesworth
And, man will turn against man .. till man exists no more?
@JH maybe not that but definitely if Trump is in office. I think we’re all in for a bumpy ride, how’s that?
There are thousands of the Presidents co-conspirators. The impeachment process is a starting point to find the crack necessary to reveal those involved--persuading them as first-hand witnesses to talk. As in the case of Al Capone, the accountant supplied the crack as a material witness, thus the same applies in the case of Trump.
The Supreme Court may force Trumps accountants to release his (tax) records and accounting records. Then another impeachment proceeding can commence. The names involved in the Trump cover-up and obstruction may be revealed. Nothing is ever over.
@Dennis the fact he will not release his personal finances even though orders by a few courts means he has a lot to hide. With time this will all be uncovered. It just astounds me so many in this country feels what he does is ok.
3
@Dennis: The Constitutional prohibition of faith based legislation does absolutely nothing to discourage religious fanatics with idolatrous demands from perpetual usurpation of freedom from religion.
Should the Senate fail to convict Trump, the will have redefined Justice in America as such:
1) A person needs to plan, plot or conspire to commit a crime to be indicted or convicted
2) While committing the crime the person must announce and name the crime to the victim or witnesses to be convicted
3) Failure to successfully complete a crime prevents a person from indictment or conviction; attempted crimes are not crimes any longer
4) A person must admit to committing a crime in order to be indicted or convicted.
The US is going down a slippery road towards a cliff if it allows these new standards for investigating, indicting and convicting criminals. It is unclear whether the Republican Party intends to apply this approach to justice to criminals who are not white men, billionaires and hold political office. My sense is they won't because they never have in the past. And that takes us to two of the core issues at hand in this impeachment: 1) equality of law and justice - how does the law apply equally to everyone in society? 2) Is anybody above the law and the US Constitution?
Americans have some thinking to do about our justice system. The time is now because Trump and the GOP are redefining the standards and rules for the worse. If we set precedents that politicians are above abuses of power -- which corporate leaders are fired for every day -- then what becomes of justice? Does it become a race to the bottom, where powerful folks have their own set of rules?
5
@Jack Smith Excellent analysis!
1
Judging from the comments made here it seems that most did not watch the hearings. For those who did listen to the few witnesses who were brave enough or cared enough about our government to testify, there can be no doubt that the President should be impeached. He has thumbed his nose at our Constitution and placed himself above the laws of our country. If he's not impeached AND removed then we might as well not even pretend that we have a democracy.
9
@Kathleen: This has never been other than a pretend democracy. There is no rational basis for any vote to matter any more than any other in a federal election, and the experience of voting should be the same for all. We live in the wreckage of a psychotic scheme of optional liberty to enslave at the state level.
The House can impeach Trump again and again and they SHOULD do so if he's elected in 2020 no matter what else happens!
Why aren't Democrats taking this to the courts immediately and FORCING Bolton, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Barr and others to testify even as this 2-article impeachment moves forward?! Maybe they should have arrested a few of them which Congress has the power to do. It's likely the only thing the Trump White House would understand. Of course any court decision will probably be appealed, and probably all the way to the Supreme Court, which takes a lot of time. And even if the courts compel testimony, they can still claim "executive privilege" repeatedly on question after question. But Democrats should get this issue of ignoring subpoenas during an official impeachment resolved for future presidents. Also the issue of obstructing the Congress on its oversight authority MUST be reaffirmed by the courts, preferable the US Supreme Court so that it becomes 100% established that the Congress is a co-equal branch of government. McConnel and Barr are making the presidency into a monarchy.
7
I would add that it leaves the defense of the Constitution to the House of Representatives and the American people, upon which the sovereignty of this country rests. People, write to your Representatives. Write to your Senators. Maybe, just maybe, the sentiments of the people will count more than money. How many Senators and Representatives are taking positions on their support base, whether it is popular vote or campaign contributors. We seem to have reached the juncture when Parliament asserted its authority over James II, who used regulation to substitute to laws passed by Parliament. The most grievous offense, in my opinion, is Trump's obstruction of Congress. Are Republicans going allow to it pass by minimizing its importance?
4
I am amazed at the number of folks who suggest we should use the ballot box to remove Mr. Trump or that his actions described in the articles of impeachment do not really justify removal from office. If it were Mr. Obama whose name were on the documents, would they be clamoring for impeachment now? If Mr. Trump were an employee at any Fortune 500 company and asked a foreign competitor to get some dirt on a domestic rival in exchange for.say, a promised dinner with some famous athlete, would that employee get fired? In a heartbeat. How about promoting his personal business (Mar-A-Lago) on ‘company’ (e.g., presidential) time? That’s a firing offense in most companies. How about divulging company secrets (US intelligence) to employees (Foreign government officials) of competitors? Cause for firing. The list goes on.... in short, if you or I could get fired for doing what Mr. Trump does, then he should get fired too...and we shouldn’t be waiting for his annual performance review (election) to take action.
6
As an independent, what strikes me is how political this process has become. And I wonder if this was not Trump, but Obama, would we still be going through this impeachment or give him a public slap on the wrist. Hey, I want Trump out too but it seems that the impeachment process is largely because so many hate him.
161
Impeachment is, by its very nature, a political process, there's no way around that fact.
Unlike Trump, Obama carried out the duties of his office with dignity and gravitas.
603
@Mark If Obama had done this, he would be in jail now.
395
@Mark and with good reason
53
The Democrats should have subpoenaed Bolton, Pompeo and Mulvaney. Their haste is driven by politics not logic which undermines their case.
171
@mrice250 , yeah, it’s unfortunate that Trump barred them from testifying. It doesn’t really help when obstructions is the main charge, does it?
172
@mrice250
They did subpoena Pompeo and Mulvaney. They didn't comply. The only reason they also didn't issue one for Bolton is that he would have forced an extended court fight.
176
@mrice250 -- The Democrats' "haste" is driven not by politics, but rather by (A) the fact that they have enough facts about Trump's criminal actions to proceed with impeachment, and (B) their justified concern that, if Trump is not impeached (and removed from office), he likely would break more laws in the last year of his term.
116
We have a better way to remove President Trump from office. It's called an election in 2020.
275
@Alex He's being impeached for trying to cheat in the 2020 election. Should we let him proceed, unchecked, and continue breaking the rules for a fair election?
Surely impeachment is warranted.
509
@Alex
The best way to remove trump is impeachment. He has committed offenses against the Constitution. He should not be allowed to be on the ballot. trump does not belong in the Presidency. He sees it as a toy store just for him.
281
@Alex . A year is a long time to give unbounded power to one person. The amount of damage that can be done is incalculable.
260
Mitch McConnell going to the White House to get directions on how he should hold impeachment hearings in the Senate, should make all Americans pause and think about what this represents. Our congressional representatives have fallen down a rabbit hole of such extreme partisanship devoid of their responsibility to uphold the Constitution that it is now up to the American voters to bring them in line through our votes. What is ironic is that this impeachment process has come about to ensure that our voting system remains untainted to allow us to do just that. Those who don't champion this fight, to maintain our right of elections that are free from outside interference, make it clear they have chosen "my party" over the American people at any cost.
5
I am not convinced that the House has the goods on Trump. He clearly pressured Ukraine and has stonewalled Congress. Nixon was a good citizen by comparison. In that impeachment process, the Democrats took their time and finally got the goods on Nixon when the Oval Office taping system was revealed by Alexander Butterfield in testimony. They had the goods and direct audio evidence.
That has not happened with Trump. No gotcha moment that will put an end to this appalling presidency. I fear that this will lead to an acquittal, and we will see an empowered Trump reelected.
If there is not enough time to do this correctly, then censure may be the only immediate way to send a strong message. It's a bad option but so is a weak case leading to an acquittal.
As a Trump supporter, I can say that most of us breathed a sigh of relief when the House decided to move ahead with impeachment. The smart move would have been censure, or possibly coming up with some sort of an agenda. With impeachment, we get a united and well funded Republican party, an increase in likelihood in retaking the House in 2020, and a stable of Democrat Presidential hopefuls desperately trying to get traction on anything prior to the Fall.
The impeachment charges are flimsy, simply not supported by fact, and therefore not a threat to the President.
1
So, the House votes to impeach the President. The Senate conducts a trial. The Republican majority in the Senate guarantees an acquittal. Trump glories in an affirmation of his innocence. What then?
Trump will feel free to continue the very behaviors that got him impeached in the first place. He will probably behave even worse. Congress will be helpless to counteract Trump. What can be done?
The House can vote for impeachment but can delay sending the articles on to the Senate. Let the President and Senate sweat out a waiting period. That may curb Trump's excesses.
2
Washington, DC has three Monarchs: Donald Trump, MItch McConnell, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Each has a vise-like grip over the people they lead. Speaker Pelosi has served her country with distinction and honor for decades and clearly means well. She wants what is best for all of us. However, her delay in supporting impeachment at the outset was a costly error in judgment. President Trump is unlikely to be removed from office. His removal would be more likely if White House staff and Cabinet officials had been mandated by the Courts to testify before the House. Had the filing of legal briefs been done at an earlier and more timely way - the courts might have adjudicated by now that White House and Cabinet leaders do so. -- That three elected officials have the power and authority to determine the outcome and fate of the future of America - seems to go against one core principle of Democracy - that power and authority not be concentrated in the hands of one or two or three people.
It is clear that the power and financial gains of being a Representative or Senator are far more influential to our officials than any sense of duty to an oath to defend the Constitution. The result is we the people must remove the corruption in the 2020 election. Trump promised to drain the swamp and instead replaced it with his own brand of swamp, worse than what it replaced. Voting in 2020 is our duty to the Constitution. Don’t fail your country, vote! Then press to remove the effluence of money and for term limits.
2
Both Graham and McConnell tell us in advance that they plan to conduct a sham and rigged trial. But a sham trial will not exonerate Trump and will instead let the conviction in the House stand.
I would like to see the House adopt a resolution stating that: (1) The trial was a sham, (2) Trump is not exonerated by a sham proceeding, and (3) Because Trump is not exonerated, he is no longer a legitimate President and should not be recognized as such.
4
@Morgan
Agree with everything, except he NEVER was a legitimate "president".
In fact he's never won a legitimate election to anything in his entire live. Therefore he cannot be RE-elected, only possibly (and God forbid) elected for the first time in 2002.
I'd vote for Vladimir Putin himself before I'd vote for this dangerous clown!
1
In 2014, 806,000 voters in Kentucky voted to return Mitch McConnell to the U.S. Senate.
McConnell has worked for years as an obstructionist and someone who violates U.S. Constitutional procedural rules in order to force wins or blocks by the G.O.P.
McConnell is shredding our Constitution as we watch, including openly insisting the impeachment process will fail and that he is coordinating his attempt to run the impeachment in Trump's favor with the White House.
If we the people have no opportunity to consider misbehavior by the president, no opportunity to put the president on trial and if necessary remove him from office when there is evidence he has sold out influence on our elections to a foreign power - then democracy is dead in this country.
Trump cannot carry this off without McConnell's cooperation and leverage.
There needs to be an investigation into how McConnell is profiting from selling out the United States of America.
One man is breaking our government and it isn't Donald Trump. Without McConnell's interference in the process, there's a possibility Donald Trump would be convicted and removed from office.
6
Since Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham have already announced that the Senate will declare Trump innocent no matter what the evidence, the jury is rigged and the fix is in. Instead of two articles of impeachment, there should have been 20 listing all of Trump's crimes and misdemeanors. That would be a permanent record of his presidency and an incentive for Congress to stiffen laws on corruption, self-dealing, collusion with hostile foreign powers and other presidential misbehavior.
5
I agree, impeach him, please.
As a Trump supporter I am sure this impeachment will guarantee the reelection of the President, which he deserves.
And once again we will have the left to thank for our victory.
1
@deerhuntindave
So it's ok with you that the president violates, extremely, the US Constitution and bribes a head of foreign state with US Taxpayer monies and the ask, publicly another foreign country to violate our laws and do the same?
Real simple question.
If you answer truthfully great. but if you throw out some unequal example from the past as part of your answer then I know that you have no consideration for our constitution and are ok with a authoritarian government lead by incompetent lawbreakers ; one that is a self admitted sexual assaulter, draft dodger and tax scheme finances hider.
Or you will do what all Trump defenders do, just never answer the question asked of them.
1
We all know the corrupt GOP has abdicated its role of providing a legislative "checks and balances" function and they are not just low level Trump employs who are terrified of their boss. Real Profiles in Courage. I already miss McCain. Everyone is so craven and spineless.
Mitch will continue stuffing the courts and he will not impeach Trump. The only way that might happen is a secret ballot. So we have no option but to vote him and the GOP out. They are going to have to restructure themselves and their positions if they ever want to have American voters trust them again. Otherwise we may have a new opposition party that needs to be formed.
5
Anyone watching the proceedings led by Mr Nadler and Mr Schiff had to recognize that it was unfair and partisan, one sided and setup to limit the ability of the President to respond. The result is deep skepticism by a large part of our citizenry of the validity of the claims against the President. Scrupulous fairness was called for, it was not delivered.
1
@Lem
Schiff and Nadler have done an excellent and fair inquiry and judicial group hearings. It's the Republicans that have attacked the key, honorable witnesses and Fox News, who coaches the Repubs has publicly claimed these honorable witnesses are anything but.
And how about those subpoenas? Trump has much to hide be it his taxes, his connections to Russia or these efforts to extort Ukraine.
3
@Lem You must not be aware of the Clinton impeachment. Partisan maybe? And Clinton personally testified, gave Congress documents they requested, and did not prevent anyone in the White House from testifying. The only legitimate criticism that Republicans can make of the Trump impeachment is that in accordance with GOP values, Clinton was stupid not to pay-off the women he had extra-marital affairs with to try to silence them like Trump does. Now, if Trump could just write checks to pay-off the 3,000+ contractors he's stiffed for work they did for him.
By declaring before the Senate trial to say he will acquit is an attempt to delegitimise this particular impeachment. But this actually delegitimises the Constitution itself. Technically that may not be treason but in my view it is worse than a single act of treason. This Mitch action betrays the whole IDEA of the United States. The Democrat slogan should be
"WORSE THAN TREASON".
5
If Trump wins re election ( it is possible) what will he do to secure his legacy? Second terms are always interesting. With Trump is it possible he will finally pivot? Could that be his end game? Use the unchecked power he has assumed and fix healthcare and immigration. Given his insecurities and vanity he'll want to be remembered as a good guy...right?
1
All effort must focus on getting out the vote. Democratic candidates should pool monies to fund get out the vote activities, teams to scrutinize every voter thrown off the voter roles, man polls to make democrats in red states don't fear just being there. Plan rides for those who can't get to polling places. Everyone needs to walk off their job for just the time it takes to vote.
Instead of red hats, blue ones that just say VOTE! Tee shirts, prints too. Hawaiian Shirts, weave it in denim and make ourselves walking voter turn out machines. It's not who wins, it's that SOMEONE wins.
2
History will not speak well of Republicans when our grandchildren study the Trump impeachment. However, if Trump is re-elected, he may order that historians must be licensed and edited by the new White House Cabinet Secretary of History and Re-education.
6
The GOP has shown it can play the long game with gerrymandering and the stacking of the courts to push it´s agenda. Yet in terms of protecting the Constitution and our shared planet, they look only to the next quarterly stock report. If the Senate lets Trump slide on this, it won´t take a scholar to detect the tipping point for the demise of our democracy. Future eighth graders, if public education even exists, will learn about this event while living the grave consequences with hindsight.
5
The ambivalence of prominent Americans, leading Democrats and respected news organizations like The New York Times on the timing and scope of the impeachment of Donald Trump has cast a shadow over the process. A pessimism and fatalist resignation to failure has taken hold.
For those of us who urged a more aggressive challenge to the Trump betrayal of the nation from the start, this editorial is welcomed, but it should have appeared four or five months ago.
The delay in getting the process moving and, then, the foolish decision to limit the scope of the Articles of Impeachment are attributable to a number of Democratic leaders, but none more than Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has been a wonderful Speaker of the House, and we are lucky to have her. Nancy Pelosi, however, has been dead wrong about hesitating to push forward faster against Donald Trump.
We should have pressed harder and earlier in the courts to obtain evidence which Trump and William Barr have wrongfully withheld. Whether it is too late now or not, Democrats should demand the effort be made.
History and duty demand a better fight. Moreover, we cannot expect voters to turn out in droves in November 2020 for a party so paralyzed by indecision.
6
@sdw agreed. But I don’t think any of our leaders have acted swiftly enough, at any point with Trump.
The Republican Party should have expelled him from the 2016 primaries for his incivility, known corruption and lack of experience. The Democratic Party should not have passed the torch pretending he was normal, saying “give him a chance,” while knowing he was a corrupt, divisive conman.
Everyone essentially ignored the obvious forest of red flags and yes impeachment came as a whimper rather than a bang.
And so we have an autocratic/ fascistic leader and an increasingly fascistic party and country. Weak resistance historically fails against corruption, bullying, grabs for power.
1
It is critical to impeach now, then send it to the Senate. The GOP is gaslighting America on a massive scale in order to maintain power from a minority position. They will swear an oath to be impartial in the Senate hearing, and break that oath the very next minute. The GOP has been totally corrupted by oligarch money; they need to be mercilessly exposed so that all American come to see them as they are. Then votes every one of them out of office. Let a new, principled conservative movement emerge from the ashes.
4
@DB
Is oligarch money that is running the republican party better or worse than the wall street money that is currently running the democrat party?
"Roger Maris is still unjustly remembered today for the asterisk casting doubt on his record of 61 home runs in a 162 game season -- an asterisk that was never officially entered into the record books."
With the steroid use and all, the home run record has lost all meaning.
Same way, Trump impeachment will be meaningless.
If anything, it will be remembered for the corrupt House Democrats who did the impeaching.
Oh, Marris is remembered for his arm and his MVP.
2
Impeach Trump. And then move on.
The Senate does not matter.
Republicans do know they are wrong,
but servitude is better.
1
Outside of impeachment, the only thing Democrats could do to further boost Trump’d chances of re-election, is nominate any one of the five totally unqualified persons presently in the lead for the nomination.
If Democrats want to unseat Trump, stop the nonsense and nominate Bloomberg or someone else who has actually accomplished something.
Otherwise, all they are doing is whining.
How much must a republic tolerate, before it is corrupted entirely? From the beginning of when he took office, Trump has continued to violate his oath of office. Democrats have remained patient throughout those misdeeds, until it became unbearable. When he showed complete disregard to the constitution, to subvert and corrupt free and fair elections by calling on foreign governments to investigate on a political rival. This has a very chilling effect on our democracy. Perhaps hunter Biden is no innocent man. But why chose to investigate him in 2019, only after it became apparent Joe Biden was the most likely Democratic front runner. If Trump is not impeached and made an example to any future president that hopes to aspire to the same standard, GOD HELP AMERICA!
We might as well discard the constitution, discard our wonderful history that fought tyrannical cal rule, and welcome an American Monarchy. God bless the King? I hope and pray Not! WE MUST IMPEACH. IT IS A CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY!
2
Actually Abuse of Public Office IS a crime under US Annotated Code and does in fact qualify in this scenario, as does Campaign Finance Felonies, a conspiracy with Guiliani and Trump's other personal attorneys to violate the Logan Act, outside of Official Protocols and channels to conduct an investigation NOt based on criminal evidence, through a US prosecutors office THEN DOJ, THEN and ONLY then through State Department and Foreign Justice Ministry, NOWHERE does either countries leaders fall into that. By Trump and Guiliani coopting that illegal criminal Conspiracy ALSO a crime, into official Government foreign policy and using State Department and White House personnel, it becomes a conspiracy against the United States(different status than criminal conspiracy, far more egregious), the attempted extortion still qualifies as a crime-because if you get caught in a bank robbery and don't get away with the money you still committed the crime. Falsification of government records placing a NON classified information call on a Classified Server and official White house stickers on the Guiliani dossier delivered to the State department totals more than enough criminal violations for the Conspiracy statutes. And we haven't even started with tampering with evidence, witnesses, obstruction of Justice, Contempt of Congress, Obstruction of Congress, threats against US Congress members, military and national security service members ALL violations of Criminal Code.
3
Given the litany of violations of his oath of office including the recent behavior with Ukraine, the POTUS must be impeached if only to to preserve the authority of the legislative branch and the Constitution. His contempt of Congress is monstrous and his disregard of the law in his quid pro quo antic is inexcusable. He knew he was doing wrong when he locked up the phone records and hired Rudy to circumvent duly appointed federal employees at State and DOD. For the GOP to condone this lawlessness is doubly violative of the oath of office and the role of lawmakers. There is no honor here but submission to the lure of power and greed. I fear this is the end of the American experiment.
4
If we hold dear the principles of our Constitution and the rule of law Donald Trump must be impeached. From the outset this man has proven many times to be unfit, unqualified, and now dangerous; he is dangerous to our Democracy.
However, the devastating reality is that there are members of Congress who are enabling Trump and defending his lawlessness. How can one explain this to their kids that not only the President of the United States, but members of Congress also are blatantly and willingly lying to defend a man who has done impeachable acts?
Congress is guilty on many levels. It used to be unthinkable that a body of men and woman who swore an oath to the Constitution, who were put in office to uphold the laws of the land, could be such deviants, but here we are; lawmakers publicly defending impeachable acts, defending a man over our Constitution.
We learned a long time ago that Trump's oath means nothing to him. He never intended to be the man to lead the country and do what is good for America. He has been in this for himself, his businesses and his insatiable ego.
3
Former judge Kenneth Starr had audacity to publicly states on Fox TV, that Trump hates corruption and that is why he reacted on Ukraine.
First, who is to make a measurable qualification and establish the level of corruption in one country? For example, can we all agree that Ukraine is less corrupt than Saudi Arabia? If not, why?
Second, how many large corrupt companies or corrupt individuals are operating in Ukraine, that Mr. Trump had publicly named in his crusade?
We only heard of one: Burisma.
And why is that?
Because, his actions have nothing to do with Ukraine corruption, but to politically harm Biden, his democratic rival.
2
Watch McConnell and Graham hold up their right hands and "so swear them God" to render "impartial justice" with solemn expressions, as though that oath has any meaning to them whatsoever. Just like Trump, who was in violation of the Emoluments Clause at the moment he was inaugurated, with no intention of abiding by it. Why bother with the pretense of an oath for this charade?
1
"For now, that leaves the defense of the Constitution, and the Republic, to the House of Representatives."
You mean the Democrats. I've been studying fascism for decades, and I never dreamed I would see a political party bring it to fruition in America, land that I love. I have compiled over 40 ways that Trump is like other fascists. My favorite is when Democrats didn't applaud for some of the things he said in a State of the Union Address, he accused them of treason. If re-elected, Trump will go mad with revenge for being justifiably impeached. Our freedom is hanging in the balance, fellow patriots. Vote.
3
I'm sure you use the term "digging up dirt on a political rival" because it is a simple phrase that anyone can understand. But this wording plays into the hands of those that defend Trump on the basis of his supposed interest in fighting corruption.
Nothing I have heard has suggested Trump was interested in digging up any kind of dirt; he didn't want an investigation, just an *announcement* of an investigation. Why? Because of its propaganda value in his campaign against Biden. Trump almost certainly doesn't want an actual investigation, because he knows it won't find any dirt - as the actual investigation of Burisma already established.
Please stop saying Trump wanted someone to "dig up dirt" - he just wanted propaganda he could use to smear his rival.
2
I told anyone who would listen that if the Dems win the House in ‘18, they would move to impeach Trump.
This is precisely why you can’t give the Democrats power.
They must pay for their tyranny.
1
Trump by then could destroy our entire government structure. He has plans for us that do not include democratic processes or a constitution.
2
He violated the Consitution.
How simple is that?
3
Democracy depends on adherence to the both the letter and the spirit of the constitution. This president fails to appreciate the sacredness of his office and the rule of law that he has sworn to uphold. Instead, he places himself above the law and flaunts his disdain for the American constitution and for the balance of power our forefathers created to protect our way of life. Donald Trump must be fairly tried in the Senate as is required by law and the Senators must judge his conduct according to the standards set by the constitution. Anything less than that is clearly corruption, pure and simple.
3
Only the Democrats can pull defeat from the jaws of victory in 2020, like this. Impeachment will fail in the Senate.
And in case anyone has not noticed, polls show the majority of voters are against impeachment in all five swing states; FL, OH, WI, MI, PA. And this is before the Senate takes up impeachment.
When Trump wins in 2020, this bad tactical move will be one of the main reasons why.... Dems failed to trust the people to do the job themselves and in the swing states, they will pay the price.
The Repubs wont impeach (will they even hold a trial?) and they have the final word because they run the Senate. A good editorial but at the same time it dances around this major point.
1
The fact that people believe this President hasn’t done anything wrong and will be re-elected is truly frightening. Orwell was standard fare, as was Civics (Social Studies). Not any more evidently. Orwell wrote a lot, but based on his most famous work, here’s Orwell 101: Gut nuance in language and hobble teaching facts. Now look at your smart tv.
Another round with Trump and he’ll only be 40 years off.
1
It appeared from it's headline that this editorial was going to take a stand on impeachment, instead it created a crescendo of supporting facts for impeachment that fell flat. It's already known that the ball is in the House's court. What readers of The Times need from this editorial is to know where the editorial board stands on impeachment. As for the Senate, if the House does impeach and the Senate acquits, the reputation of the Republican Party of Trump won't be "worth a warm bucket of spit" as FDR vice president John Nance Garner once colorfully desecribed the vice presidency.
1
Impeachment without conviction in the Senate will be nothing more than a slap on the wrist to Trump.
At the very least, impeachment should affect shame on Mr. Trump; but, he is manifestly not capable of feeling shame. It will, thus, have no meaning to him, nor will it have its intended impact on his behavior.
I also wonder why there is no law preventing an impeached officeholder from ever holding office again. Is it not a violation of the public trust? And, if it is, how can we ever trust again someone of Mr. Trump's character that has shows no remorse, no acceptance of the outcome, no capacity for redemption?
An example of an abuse of power that is not a crime: A president could announce on the first day of his term that he would spend all his time playing golf and sitting on his bed in his bathrobe writing vile personal tweets against people he doesn't like. No government business would be conducted and he would essentially be on a paid, four-year vacation. (Trump has done this on a smaller scale.) A crime? No. An abuse (dereliction) of duty? Absolutely.
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Is it just me, or do others feel that Mitch McConnell has way too much power? Why no stories about his sidetracking numerous bills passed by the House?
I wasn't allowed to vote in his last election, were you? Why does he have the last say so on so many issues? Why?
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In the Senate trial. are Republicans going to argue that extortion, bribery and obstruction are “family values?”
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Yes to all of this. Even Graham knows what's up. But he
is so incredibly cynical that he is willing to help us slide into
dictatorship. His Buddy John is trying to roll over in his grave.
And the rest, with some Dems, are also playing minor Machiavelli. I say minor because Niccolo influenced history
with dangerously credible reasoning, not workable lies.
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NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF DENIAL. If you want to see the power of denial in action, just observe the actions and statements of the GOPpers, who say that Trump has done nothing wrong--broken no laws. The take the tawdry, pusillanimous position that ignores the requirement of those who hold elected office at any level, avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Clearly they have no use for any ethical or moral standards, though the GOPpers are some of the biggest moral scolds around. So long as none of their criticism applies to their own actions. Beyond that, Trump's mental functioning is severely impaired: he cannot read; he cannot write; he cannot remember information. He refuses daily security briefings, stating that he does not wish to hear the same words repeated to him. He cannot construct context or narrative in his mind. Trump shuts himself away, alone, in the Oval Office, where he watches Fox News. So it's likely that most of the GOPpers' policies are based on Fox. Now if only Monica would service Trump the way she'd seviced Clinton, the GOPpers would take action. They only impeach for BJ's. And that's saying quite a mouthful.
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