And one more thing about the ol' Trickster: As rotten as he was (and he most definitely was), he never tried to use the Presidency to increase his bank account, either by shilling for businesses he (or in his case, his friends) owned or by selling us down the river to what was then still the Soviet Union.
21
Trump seemed surprised when he found out the Ukrainian conversation was the basis for impeachment. Perhaps this is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I imagine he was thinking at that moment "but I've done so much worse than that ... I can't believe they're going to impeach me for this!"
55
"'To impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,' said Senator Lindsey Graham. In years to come Graham will be remembered, if at all, as an invertebrate politician who cowered before someone he once called a 'kook' and “unfit for office.'"
Lest we forget, it was a callow and self-righteous Lindsey Graham who was one of the thirteen House "managers" in the Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton. Weigh, for a moment, mr. trump's "perfect," "beautful," "nothing call" against whatever those thirteen managers mucked around for to take down Bill Clinton. There isn't a scale of justice to be found that would measure the conduct of those House managers in a favorable way. Lindsey Graham might well choose this time to be silent.
40
And just meditate and ruminate on the state of our reality...that
We, the People, are under the governance of this Sociopathic
Personality Disorder, who is, Himself, under the control of same Governance. No wonder, then, that we, the Public, are in a major State Of Confusion. Meanwhile, as part of the Sociopathic
symptomatology, he, our “President”, fully Enjoys being our Chronic Center Of Attention, and Lies freely, with full Propensity, in order to maintain his presence in the Oval Office.
7
...About forty-five percent of the American electorate enjoys watching, as their President smashes every social, economic and political norm, *and* commits a few crimes along the way...
And that’s the truth.
—
To these individuals, Donald Trump is a hero—a kind of, “freedom-fighter,” who represents all they stand for, all they desire and all they aspire to, but have heretofore been denied.
You just can’t argue with that.
—
If “the Donald,” were removed, no matter what way, from America’s great collective conscience, what would be left—on twitter, facebook, even in the mainstream media—to believe in and stake one’s future on? Not much of anything, really.
And that’s a huge, huge problem!
—
Donald Trump is still “news,” because he himself is still *new*, and so far, no one has come up with anything that seems to be any better.
—
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Rather, try and come up with a workable way to make American life more bearable—for *everybody*, and not just the chosen few.
5
Mr Egan, you hit the nail center on it head! Thanks
10
Our author forgot the egregious estate tax-dodging scheme perpetrated by the Trumps, including the corrupt sister-Judge, that was itemized and proven so well by the NYT.
19
This is so good I had to read it twice. Just... for the satisfaction.
It’s so affirming and fulfilling to find your personal opinion expressed with verve, wit, and above all meticulous deliberation by someone who knows more than you about the topic and whose career revolves around that expression.
Beautiful work, and thank you, Mr. Egan.
25
The analogy between Nixon and Trump is a strange one. To Nixon, the only thing that he did wrong was that he got caught. Trump doesn’t even think that he has done anything wrong.
19
Egan's column is absolutely spot-on.
When Trump is impeached he should consider it a Lifetime Achievement Award.
20
Timothy Egan: you are a brilliant writer. I look so forward to reading your thoughtful and moral musings.
17
Yes. You are right. But it will be a miracle if Trump get out of this mess and his name in the Ballot of 2020 Election. It appears he is BOXED this time.
4
Trump absolutely believes that if says or does something, it cannot be wrong or a crime. Hie entire life has reinforced this belief. He is the very antithesis of what a President should be. It's as if a President from Opposite World somehow entered our dimension and took office.
And this is why impeachment is not only necessary, but should've been launched months ago. While he and his lawyers - including the supposed Attorney General who is nothing more than a government-paid mouthpiece for Trump - might be able to tie all the Congressional subpoenas up for years and be able to keep Trump from being convicted in a court of law, there is far more latitude granted to Congress under the impeachment process. He will still fight every step of the way, but he will be compelled to cooperate.
While it's almost certain that his treasonous Republican enablers will refuse to convict him in the Senate, they will have to come out into the light and publicly support Trump and his cooperating with foreign actors to subvert our democracy, and the other illegal activities he's engaged in. And impeachment will uncover the heretofore covered-up evidence and witnesses, enabling all Americas to see just how corrupt this man is.
And it will send a message that Presidents aren't kings or emperors, that whatever they do or say is not divine law. I hope it's a message that his supporters finally understand.
14
The evidence is clear. Truth is the truth. The moment is now. Thank goodness the democrats are at last standing up to be counted. HT
17
A little caution please.
Democrats under Pelosi have shown no discipline, little that might pass for assertiveness let alone aggression, and nothing resembling unity or a level of conviction that might convince the skeptical they really are confronting a Constitutional Crisis.
Things are so bad that some of us think we won something just by getting into a game.
This must be an aggressive, comprehensive process run, as much as feasible, by hard-nosed interrogators.
Yes, boys, that means you'll have to pass on the free face time.
The many, many President wannabes have to demonstrate enough restraint not to pollute the process and not, any more than Pelosi already has (which is an unforgivable amount), to turn this into an obvious political circus.
We need this. Democrats need this, more than they apparently know. If they blow it they will have blown everything including the upcoming election.
So, take a breath.
4
Since Trump became president I have had a running debate with a neighbor who loves Trump. I asked her if she thought Trump should be impeached for soliciting dirt on his potential opponent from a foreign country. Her answer: "There's nothing wrong with that - that's what's called politics." I then asked if Obama should have been impeached for the same behavior. Her answer: "Absolutely. Obama should have been impeached for many things he did." "Such as?" I inquired. "Many things" she replied. And that sums up the reason why Trump maintains the support of his base no matter what the wrongdoing. I am eager to see if Republicans in the House and Senate share that sentiment. Will they give Trump a pass because they believe he is innocent or because he's the head of their party?
22
Maybe some of us are numb to lies since we have to swallow them daily in the form of advertising. Madison Avenue is just as guilty as Wall Street and politics when it comes to deception. We basically know that some restaurant or car rental or corn syrup is not the best in the world or even "world famous". So we listen and shut our ears and minds to most of what we hear.
Trump is just another one of these products. We only pay half attention to what he says. Sometimes, like out of a dream, when he lies I remember some opposite claim he made during his campaign when the media were force-feeding us his so-called rally speeches that were sold to us as news, even on progressive stations on TV.
It is sad that honesty is sacrificed to the "freedom of speech". It is a breech of Paul Grice's maxim of quality making communication almost impossible. For if we can't believe anything that is told us, what is the meaning of even bothering to communicate at all? Isn't that where our primate cousins are stuck, in that they may not even feel real empathy all the time so why bother talking even if you have vocal cords?
2
In our house, since Trump became the GOP’s candidate - BTW, the Republicans should no longer be called that, they ceased being anything ‘Grand’ when this occurred – we have subjected ourselves to constant coverage of the disaster that is your wanna-be-dictator. It has been stressful, but we have not been able to look away from the train wreck in hope that this day would arrive. Hallelujah – the time has come and I am certain that congress will do the right thing!
14
Why can't we just schedule the impeachment vote date right now? There's no need for the whistleblower to come forth or to access the now secret exact recording of the call. Who cares about the quid pro quo? Trump's White House already released the "favor." Trump already admits to making the request. Trump shot his gun in open daylight on the street. He admits doing it. There's really nothing else to do but get on with it.
13
I think Trump and Bill Clinton share something in common. They both used and imbalance of power to take what they wanted.
Clinton wanted sex with an intern. That she wanted to seduce him is beside the point. She was young and inexperienced and Clinton knew better. He thought he’d get away with it.
Trump used and an imbalance of power against a novice political leader in a small and not very powerful country to try to gain an ilegal advantage in the 2020 election. And then tried to cover it up. He was sure he’d get away with it.
Both men suffered from hubris. One was at least self reflective and didn’t do any great harm to the nation while he underwent his crisis. The other probably can’t pronounce hubris.
5
@Dave Wyman: Clinton was a fool concerning Lewinsky, but Lewinsky was very experienced and an adult, already having had an affair with an older married guy under her belt, and she bragged about being able to snare Bill Clinton to her friends, which she proceeded to do by showing her thong-clad buttocks to him, as she described it herself. Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have nothing in common but the fact they're both philandering males and POTUS at some time. Oh yes, and impeached, Clinton for lying about a consensual affair which didn't violate any laws, and Trump for breaking election finance law, committing what looks very much like treason, and covering up his trangressions.
12
People often wonder why there is so much corruption in the Third World. It happens because too many people put personal political or economic interests before the good of the country. This is what we are seeing now with the Right. Trump is giving them all they every wanted. All they have to do is look the other way when he is corrupt or criminal.
However, the Right just has to remember one thing. When you make a deal with the devil, the devil always wins in the end.
12
I have been reading one of Mr. Egan's books called "The Big Burn."
The book describes the culture and politics around 1910. The parallels are amazing between then and modern day America.
Most Americans are aware of Teddy Roosevelt's campaign again the monopolies of that era as well as is his conservation efforts.
But TR fought powerful politicians who were wildly corrupt and sought to rape the land for personal gain.
We see the same corruption and anti-environment forces at work today.
The obvious difference is that we don't have a TR in the Whitehouse. Instead we have a man of limitless corruption who is giving away the natural resources of America to corporations in order to buy votes - just as he is giving away American military aid in exchange for dirt on political opponents.
Mr. Egan is right. Trump truly has no idea he has done anything wrong. He is so corrupt and immoral that he believes self-dealing and use the US government to reap personal profit and power is absolutely fine. He has, after all, done it his whole life.
Obviously he must be impeached (regardless of the political consequences) but what is more disturbing to me is how the Right in this country no longer even pretends to put the good of the nation first.
As long as the GOP retains power, compliance with the Constitution is optional.
A frightening disgrace.
17
In the realm of fantasy that possibly should become reality, I imagine a new criterion for impeachment whose focus is the terribly corrupt and inhumane character of a president. The president has long been considered the "moral leader" of the nation. That being so, shouldn't deep, flagrant and consistent immorality (or amorality) be grounds for ejection? I think so.
3
He released the phone notes because they had Biden's name in them. That allows him and his henchmen to saturate the news with allegations about Biden and his son to undermine Biden's credibility and in effect make Biden just as "crooked" in the minds of voters as Trump is. So if voters end up with a choice between two crooks, they'll vote for a strong economy and protecting their tax cuts against Democratic "socialists."
4
When Trump actually shoots someone on Fifth Avenue Lindsay Graham will say there’s nothing there, the president was just fulfilling a campaign promise. He will probably add that it’s the president’s moral obligation to keep his promise to shoot the man and that those who criticize him are immoral.
10
When possible, I have asked Trump supporters if they would hire a man like him for any job. The blank stares or lame equivocations tell it all.
12
"... the Constitution can’t save itself."
Hear, hear. Truer words.
8
In my opinion, Trump is the leader of a cult of people brainwashed by right wing propaganda. Nothing he says or does will diminish their support for their dear leader. Or maybe, I’m brainwashed by left wing propaganda and can’t see the virtues of his actions. One thing that has happened in the era of Trump, is that objective reality doesn’t exist in the minds of many people.
5
Is this what is called 'running the Government like a business?'
God help us all!
8
The true enemy is the right-wing propaganda machine.
There is no right to yell fire in a crowded space.
The republican party is the party of McCarthy.
Slander and character assassination are tools used by Fascists.
The republican party is not Conservative, just stubborn.
The republican party are not a party of Faith; just the resentful chants of a Mob.
The republican party is not Christian; since they punish rather than forgive, suspect rather than welcome, and judge with contempt rather then use compassion to understand.
Stop the lying. We want our Country back.
14
I think part of the problem much of the country has when it comes to appreciating the danger of Trump is that they have never seen a person, at the presidential level, certainly, who lies at his scale- an unrelenting outpour with not a glimmer of shame. So, why not extend a modicum of trust?
But he is a thorough scoundrel. That's the kind of man he is. And they do not accept that at their peril.
9
Now the deep study of the reasons Trumps base is so determined to stay with him, ignore all that he does-is going to be an important one.
This clinical condition does not belong to him alone of course. It is our country that is afflicted. Is it terminal or can we get healed?
Do we need a team of lawyers? a psychiatrist? a oncologist? a priest? or a witch doctor?
OR a committed citizenry determined to save our country, our constitution, our freedom, our souls~
Stick together, support whomever gets the Demo cans nomination~ pull together now- or never.
5
Reading through comments on various news sites, the Trump supporters not only condone his law breaking, they see it as not having gone far enough. To them, a call to persecute any Democrat justifies any means. If their rabid leader and his sycophants claim that the call was to stop illegal activity by Biden, they will rabidly follow and support. It has become clear that Hillary was right - there are a basket of deplorables who can't tell right from wrong.
14
The Times op-Ed’s on impeachment would be more convincing, if its columnists hadn't said the exact same things before
What did Pence know and when did he know it? I'm hoping we have President Pelosi by the end of the year.
What the heck is Rudy Giuliani doing representing our State Dept. in Ukraine? That has to be investigated thoroughly (ahem, Mike Pompeo).
What other conversations have been put in the special classified computer system? Now it's being reported that both MBS's and Putin's conversations were put there. We have a right to know what is happening with that, ASAP.
He's a criminal and he has to go.
13
Why does Trump always look and sound like he is yelling at everybody?
5
Trump is a text book example of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Why the media never mentions this is haunting. Narcissists feel no empathy for others, don't respect the boundaries of civility and respect for others and skirt away from accountability every chance they get. If you want to understand who Trump is, google NPD and read up on it.
8
Trump is going to lose on 11-3-2020, badly.
4
If not impeachment NOW, then WHEN?
4
“To impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” said Senator Lindsey Graham. In years to come Graham will be remembered, if at all, as an invertebrate politician who cowered before someone he once called a “kook” and “unfit for office.”
Do you mean the same Lindsey Graham who, a little more than 20 years ago, said:
“You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role,” the politician said. “Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
That Lindsey Graham?
12
@John Leonard: My guess is that Putin has something over Lindsey Graham that he shared with Trump.
8
Mr Trump has turned the old dictum about Nixon on its head:
"It's not (just) the cover-up, it's the crime!"
Whereas Nixon (and later malefactors, especially Clinton) got into Washington hot water for their frantic and illegal efforts to cover things up, the cover up is so harebrained and incompetent in Trump's case that it should be secondary. After all, instead of continuing the cover up of the call to Ukraine, Mr Trump released the call notes (if not the transcript, which may well be even more damning). And they're terrible. It's absolutely obvious to anyone who's actually breathing that Trump was pressuring a foreign government to investigate his political rival.
Now, Trump's enablers in Washington have taken up the cry that "the whistle-blower report is hearsay"... they're trying to undermine criticism of the cover-up. But who cares about the cover-up when the underlying crime is grave, obvious, and admitted!
6
I thought the same thing, how could they release the transcript of the phone call between Trump and Zelensky. Was it stupidity, arrogance, a complete lack or morality, what? To think Trump either did not listen to his advisors, or worse, they saw nothing wrong with the conversation either and said, ‘ok, this will prove you did nothing wrong’. My god, what were they thinking?
So, Trump himself has delivered the ammunition for his own impeachment and is both furious and bewildered as to why congress is moving forward to remove him from office. This is how a sociopath reacts, let's hope your country sees that.
13
Until Trump's jaw dropping activities came to light, I considered Trump immoral, but not an actual, Benedict Arnold-type traitor. Now I'm not so sure.
Trump held back 400 million dollars in aid to Ukraine -- dollars earmarked for Ukraine's military, which is locked in a desperate struggle against Russia: you know, the country that acted to help Donald Trump get elected in 2016, and whose leader, Vladimir Putin, Trump has been unable to find a critical word about since he became president.
Could the two be linked? Donald Trump withheld nearly half a billion in aid to the country his old pal Vlad is fighting against. So, did Trump think, 'Why not kill two birds with one stone? Withhold funds to Ukraine unless they dig up dirt on Biden, and either way you win. Either they get dirt on Joe Biden and his son, or you service your debt to the Kremlin. Donald, you ARE a stable genius!'
Does helping an enemy to conquer your ally fit the legal parameters of treason? It is blatantly obvious that this was the threat implicit in Trump's 'deal' with Ukraine: do things his way or get plowed under by Russia -- the guys who helped get him elected.
I don't know if it counts as treason, but it sure does paint the picture of a despicable man.
8
A fish does not realize that it is surrounded by water. Water is simply the environment in which it exists. Trump was born into a world of lies, dirty dealings and selfish behavior. He cannot comprehend a moral and honest existence because he has never experienced it.
Now he and his sycophantic cohort want us all to believe that this moral cesspool is normal and right.
9
Tim Egan calls it right. Our Tsar Trump is a sociopath and a stupid one. He's not clever enough to stop digging himself into a hole. He tweets our compulsive, paranoid messages all day to the point of embarrassment.
Groups of psychiatrists had signed letters about his unstable mental condition some time ago. He leaves our society no alternative but to take the steps to legally repudiate and vanquish him.
How about deportation as the best solution! What more apt punishment for his abuse of our once great democracy?
Send him and Wm. Barr to whatever dictatorship oligarchies that will take them---they'll fit right in to countries where power and wealth is concentrated at the top---even more than in the present USA.
Escort Trump, friends and lawyers with armed guards from Washington to a waiting plane, while crowds line the streets, feeling relief. An orchestra will play the National Anthem as they mount the steps and wave to their True Believer fans.
Broadcast this live on international TV, so the rest of the world can regain some confidence that the US means business in upholding democracy. And so Americans can regain that confidence.
4
“Trump himself is the smoking gun, as Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington State Democrat, said.”
Now that is wordsmithing.
Permit me to propose that the NYT sponsor a monthly contest for the best published brief comment on presidential politics and legal matters. The contest prize would be a one-year subscription to the NYT.
Of course, the monthly prize might be won by, say, Trump or Giuliani. They would then have the NYT delivered daily - to wherever their residence might be.
1
For those of us who have wondered why it has taken this long for people to realize the catastrophe of the Trump presidency, try this:
Tune in CNN, PBS, MSNBC and any number of news outlets other than FOX "News". Then switch to FOX and you suddenly feel that you are in an alternate universe. Democrats are "radicals" and "leftists". Anything other than FOX is fake news or the lamestream media. At the very least it's surreal and at most it's terrifying.
7
The title of the article says it all.
2
Well said!
1
"Neo-Nazis are very fine people, he said. The Nobel Peace Prize is rigged. The weather is what he says it is."
Trump's antics will go down in the history books as synonymous with insane tyranny. We can retired previous benchmarks: Caligula defeating Neptune while taking seashells as spoils of war, King Canute commanding the tide…
5
"... because he [trump] has spent his entire adult life skirting, mocking, ignoring or breaking the law."
Heck, Timothy, only Suckers and Rubes play by "the Rules."
4
Donald Trump is a person with little or no conscience (sociopath or psychopath).
4
An easy choice for some: a liar or a demo
It is amazing that his followers have nothing in common with him. Trump was born into the .001% rich and has lived completely different from the rest of us. Most horrible dictators in history like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc were not born rich but did have a line of lies to move people to do their bidding. Trump wants that, not take out the trash or do your homework.
3
Lindsey (R-Fainting Couch) Graham was one of the ringleaders who pushed the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about consensual sex. Now THAT was insane! The hypocrisy of Republicans is stunning.
7
Trump wants an apology, so here goes:
I apologize, Mr. President.
I’m sorry that you will be remembered as a failure, a corrupt cancer on the fabric of the USA.
I’m sorry that you have no idea the whole world is laughing at you and all the idiot brown nosers you surround yourself with.
I’m sorry Congress has not yet forced you to personally pay the millions you’ve stolen from US taxpayers through profiting from your office in violation of the constitution.
I’m sorry you choose to side with our enemies like Vladimir Putin, while discrediting US Intelligence, the FBI, etc. with paranoid deep state conspiracy theories.
I’m sorry the “fake” news media will not be offering an apology for not pretending the rants of an unhinged liar are actually the truth.
3
In this unfortunate Trumpian era we find ourselves in, where the truth is no longer the truth, the law is no longer the law, nothing becomes everything and treason becomes patriotism, we're simply allowing the basest of the base to continue aiding and abetting the criminal behavior that has already begun to destroy our democracy and will surely come to pass unless immediately challenged with the passion, perseverance and pragmatism to eradicate our greed, corruption and hypocrisy in order to determine our greater future.
Vote.
4
Can the NYT please, _please_ stop writing headlines that state the exact opposite of the truth and of what the article says?
Yes, I know: often, the irony seems so rich and so obvious that anyone would know that it's not what the article says. But actually no, that's not how news articles work, especially in internet-land. People scroll through their news feeds (or your home page!), see the title, and will usually believe what it says -- **because they should be able to trust a reputable news outlet's headlines like that.**
Yes, I know it's clickbaitier to write a headline that looks like it says "even the NYT agrees it's not a crime if the president does it!" And I know you need clicks, but your subscriptions are doing fine these days, and **you are sacrificing a clear representation of the truth for clicks.**
And, meanwhile, all these "we're so sophisticatedly ironic" headlines that are the exact opposite of the truth are usually _direct presentations of this heinous administration's fallacious arguments_ -- you showering Trump's lies with billions of dollars of free press once again, just like got him elected last time -- even when you know that most people will only read the headlines!
Stop. Try the straightforward truth in headlines, even in the opinion pieces.
And if it's yet another flashy Trump lie, try titles like "President Makes Additional Unfounded Allegation," over and over and over.
Honestly, if we could fix headlines, we could fix America.
5
My guess is that Trump knows that he is guilty and that releasing the information would create a storm. This is because Trump is a wrecker -- his businesses, his marriages, environmental regulations, even his own presidency, you name it -- and wreckers gotta wreck.
Whatever the results of this dark episode in American history, they are bound to further tear at the fabric of our politics and, by extension, society at large. And if it screws up the electoral plans of his putative allies in the Republican party, well, c'est la vie, Trump has rarely considered the consequences of his actions on others. Even better, it allows him to play the poor victim of others' imagined misdeeds. This is all grist for Trump's demented mill.
His master, Vladimir Putin, must be cackling with joy in his lair.
6
It's only been two days since Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry and Trump is already screaming in all-caps hourly on Twitter. He is amping up his vile rhetoric by intimating that the whistleblower should be executed. This on day two. His non-stop rage and vitriol are only going to escalate. By day 100, everyone, besides MAGA hat wearing true-believers, will just want the insanity and noise to end. At the polling booths in 2020, most undecided voters will wearily think to themselves, "Can I really take four more years of this?" and then vote for peace and quiet.
8
Still can't believe I'm living through this period of history. I wonder when the Republicans will finally wake up to reality.
5
I was in high school during the Watergate hearings. When I heard up the lockdown of the phone call, I immediately thought about the missing minutes of the tapes from the Nixon White House. The word coverup also came to mind clearly.
I grew up in Connecticut where our Republican Senator, Lowell Weicker who served on the Watergate Committee stood up for what was right for the country rather than defending the Nixon White House. We need Republicans to do that now.
11
Government "of the people, by the people, for the people." Donald Trump appears to have forgotten that he works for us. I know he's used to it being the other way around. Hard to change the mind-set of a 70 year old. Someone should help him understand this, or he may find out the hard way; perhaps too late.
3
I’ve been flipping channels between MSNBC and Fox News. They are parallel universes, where in one Trump is guilty as sin and in the other Biden is the bad guy, Trump the honest cop, and Schiff is flat out insane. I used to wonder how Trump could possibly maintain his support levels Obviously those people only change the channel to yet more conservative alternatives. Given that reality, I can only see the divisions growing deeper.
Kelly Anne Conway sure hit the nail on the head when she described “alternative facts.” Those used to be “lies,” just as “conservative” used to stand for a reasonably principled political ideology, not just the bigotry and hatred it now connotes. I want those words back.
8
"Trump sees this as no big deal.' He went further. He repeatedly described his call as perfect (and said that Pence's one or two conversations with the Ukraine president were also all perfect). Other adjectives he repeatedly applied to his phone call include wonderful, nice, beautiful. Trump said that Lindsey Graham was surprised that Trump could be so nice in a phone call.
There is an enormous cognitive disconnect at play here. Trump thought the call was a model of perfection while the rest of us see it as a mob boss's threats, particularly in the context of freezing nearly $400 in authorized military aid.
You have to wonder what the other call records hidden away under code word protection say, if Trump thought this was perfect.
9
You have to wonder what deals were made with Putin behind closed doors. We will never be sure we are getting a free and fair election in 2020 if Trump is on the ballot. I suspect the evidence will be overwhelming once it is all revealed and there may be more whistle blowers. One hopes that the Republicans will then act according to their oath of office.
6
So long to Trump and most of his inner circle. The call is just of the iceberg. Once his cronies are put under oath, they will all turn on each other, and that’s where the fun begins. Hopefully he drags the entire Republican Party down with him. I can’t wait to watch it all unfold.
7
Your comparison to Nixon got me thinking. What if the events that led to Nixon's resignation had occurred under Trump's reign with the same Congress and electorate we currently have. Does anyone think Trump would have resigned or if impeached, he would have been convicted by the Senate? Just a thought exercise to show low we have come.
5
Impeaching Trump can only have negative consequences for the Democrats if a large segment of the the U.S. voting population see nothing wrong with a president using military aid as a means to obtain damaging information about a political rival from a foreign power. If this is the case, then we truly are lost as a nation. I suppose the Democrats could then make a deal with their own foreign client (China?). I would bet that we would have Trump’s federal income tax returns and evidence of his criminal business dealings tout suite.
"As soon as he felt he could get away with his attempt to obstruct an investigation into Russian meddling — the day after Robert S. Mueller III testified to Congress — Trump urged Ukraine to meddle in an American election. This is not disputed, not by the words released from Trump’s own White House."
I agree Trump has no moral compass, no situational awareness and no normal boundaries to limit his ego.
However, the phone call, to many, did not "interfere with an election." Interfering with an election means you physically or electronically change votes or prevent people from voting.
Yes, the Dems should make it clear to independents and Republicans that this will be politically costly, but they are bound by DUTY and HONOR to defend the constitution.
That is a good suggestion to let those Dems in swing districts to be the face of impeachment - that will show the Repubs that the Dems are not considering the political fallout from this. They can then make the argument that they prize duty and honor before politics.
8
I was shocked when the white house released the memo of the phone conversation—call me naive or hopelessly moral—but that was proof of trump's self-serving law-breaking, his usurpation of Congressional appropriations for blatant political ends, his extortion of a needy ally against Russia, and his total disregard for the legal boundaries of his precious position. It felt like a signed confession.
11
Thanks to Tim Egan , I enjoy your work.
Unlike your colleague, Mr. Brooks, you do understand that zeitgeist comes from a genuine human condition; impeachment has to happen for the future to be a viable concept.
In plain speaking - Do the Right Thing, Mookie! - apologies to Spike.
Immorality has a face and is televised daily - he's just population the episodes and can't wait for scenes from next week's show.
5
Agreed. But give the voters more credit. Impeachment could be both good for the Constitution and the country and voters will demonstrate that at the polls in November 2020.
4
Great column, thank you. What you say about acquiescent Republican politicians is spot-on. They are co-conspirators with Trump and his more enthusiastic supporters in an unprecedented trashing of our democracy.
Wealthy men and a few wealthy women have for a long time now been spending big on developing anti-democratic infrastructure and initiatives in our country--see ALEC, the Federalist Society, "conservative" think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, or Fox News, Clear Channel, etc. They have worked hard to co-opt religiously conservative members of the middle class, mainly by getting judges appointed who oppose legal abortion. In this way, Republicans have had support for doing all manner of harmful things, from deregulating, deconstructing, and de-funding to trashing the environment to privatizing publicly funded entities (e.g. education) that benefited all of us--while slashing taxes on themselves and their ilk.
The puppetmeisters in this game are super-rich elites like the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, or Robert and Rebekah Mercer ... They want a government that represents their interests and no one else's--least of all the working poor and struggling middle class. Wake up, people.
19
Regarding Lindsay Graham and his fellow Trump sycophants- has anybody considered that there may be dirt about them being used as leverage, demanding their slavish loyalty? Are we all naive enough to not have considered that Russia hacked their emails as well? This may be the only explanation for Graham's 180 degree turnaround regarding Trump; his inexplicable defense of Trump, even in the face of this horrendous scandal seems positively insane. Perhaps his skeletons are being held in escrow as assurance of his absolute loyalty to Trump and (by association) Putin.
13
@dansworld23 Maybe.He might, anyway, now. To me it’s more likely that Graham fears losing his reelection bid.
3
@dansworld23 a very possible explanation for a lot things.
It's been clear to me from day one that Trump is amoral. What surprises me is that 40% of American voters either don't recognize his amorality or simply don't care about it if they do. It's hard to understand and many of us have read articles trying to explain this short circuit in American thinking. I personally think Trump embodies the long held and cherished American archetype of the trickster. This is the snake oil salesman, the grifter, the confidence man, the hustler, etc, etc. On a certain level we like them especially when their work doesn't come near us, and generally we try to avoid them. Unfortunately it's hard to avoid it when it's your face every day, wrecking the foundation of a country you love. The general opinion seems to be shifting towards support for impeachment, and that's a welcome and hopeful shift.
258
@Jim Sande
Problem is, a significant number of people in America no longer feel that they share a common purpose; something bigger than themselves. We are very divided between educated haves and poorly-educated have-nots, and I think the Internet really highlights and intensifies this. Revolutions start this way; sometimes with a positive outcome, and sometimes not.
We need to find a way to lift all boats, because what we've been doing isn't working.
20
@Susan - The Trump supporters that I know in my immediate neighborhood are white, educated, and have reasonable finances. We're talking about people in finance, the military, business owners, reasonably comfortable retirees. I would also add that most are very community minded, willing to lend a hand.
13
@Jim Sande: Exactly! These are the people the Trump political opponents are ignoring and these are the people who will reelect Trump. Trump's pollster are telling him majority of the educated as you described support him, hence he should not be bothered by the cacophony of the Washington Elites. Democrats should watch out or they will be stung again come 2020....
3
For Trump to characterize his phone conversation with the President of Ukraine as "perfectly fine and routine" underscores the problem with the bully-in-chief. What we have witnessed over 2 and a half years is a president who does not know what is appropriate. He continues to upend norms and ignore the checks and balances built into the government through our Constitution. This is the travesty. That Trump is allowed to continue to trample on the Constitution.
17
Trump meant it when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
To a person who believes that, this is nothing.
19
This comment, from a retired Psychiatrist with 40 years of
clinical practice, a Navy Medical Corps Vietnam Vet before that,
and a lifelong Democrat, is directed at Mr. Egan (whose columns I read and admire every two weeks) as well as the
many astute commenters:
Please obtain a paperback copy of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, Arlington VA, 2013 (Amazon has it)
and read, in the chapter on Personality Disorders, the following: General Diagnostic, Development, and Course--
pp.645-648. Then pp. 659-672 "Cluster B Personality Disorders--Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic".
You will find elements in each of these subtypes that remarkably define the lifelong toxic, and untreatable behavioral, psychosocial, and relational disorder of (fortunately for the rest of us) only a few humans including
the president. These persons may live with enormous internal anxiety but also are in the eye of the storm--their actions and transactions are projected outward to anyone who gets attracted or repelled by their magnetic force field.
10
It should be well-known that the Trump response, mentored by Roy Cohen, when caught in any wrongful or illegal act is deny, deny, deny, attack, attack, attack!
He’s been caught red-handed in an impeachable offense, so he blames the Democrats and media for his offenses. He claims the whistleblower is connected to “spies”, who used to be executed when we were “smarter”.
Will the Republicans keep enabling him at this point? Not if they have an ounce of ethics or courage left, but I won’t hold my breath. We saw the “talking points”.
11
Lindsey Graham's opinion on impeachment in 1999: "He doesn’t have to say ‘go lie for me.’ He doesn’t have to say ‘let’s obstruct justice’ for it to be a crime. You judge people on their conduct, not magic phrases." He's now fallen into this role of cartoonish buffoon by doing a complete reversal in the name of partisanship, pursuit of power, and placing the Republican party over the good of the nation.
I often think to myself that being a US senator must be the most fabulous job in the world because of the way many senators seem to sellout their integrity merely for the chance to keep that job at any cost.
16
It is very hard to get ones head around just how deep and wide is this river of lies, deceit, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, et.all that is this person who leads this nation.
The kind of propaganda machine that surrounds this Republican party will make it very difficult to get out of this cesspool.
It is a clinical state of some sort that normally would show any and all that this man is not fit for office, let alone any position of responsibility at all.
The river of propaganda that is headed our way, and by 'our' I mean ''sane people'' will dwarf the volume we experienced around the Mueller investigation.
Something very dark has taken place here. It will not be easy to get out of it. If we do not then we are all done for-at least as free people.
What we need is defections from the Republican Party. What we need is for the American people to demand our representatives do their job with real courage.
Free people or not?
12
@bluecairn/2.0: I have worried since the fifth grade about losing freedom and what that would mean (I'll be 68 soon, so I've thought about this a long time). I'm truly terrified of a N. Korean or Russian government or Chile or Argentina where people 'disappear' for writing anti-Trumpista commentary. We must not fear our government and what it will do to us if we do not support it. No free and fair elections, no trust, surveillance. It truly scares me.
2
Recently, one of my friends, in explanation (defense) of the Republican congressmen and Senators who stay silent about Trump's corruption, said to me "this is the way it works, don't you understand?" Meaning, I guess, politics.
As if my 50-something self just fell to Earth from the sky today.
If this is the way "it" works, I want no part of it. This is a thoroughly corrupt administration, the worst in my lifetime.
We watched Nixon lie, obstruct and eventually leave the office in disgrace. We have watched Trump, in day-by-day painful detail, lie, obstruct and cheat his way to the White House. I can't wait for the day when he slinks off back to NYC.
I fully support the Impeachment process.
15
"Trump sees this as no big deal because he’s always gotten away with his many transgressions, floating above the law in a padded world of privilege and prevarication. From trying to prevent black tenants from renting the apartments owned by his family, to his stiffing of contractors, cabinetmakers, drivers and others who worked for him, to defrauding students at a phony university, Trump’s life is a biography of scam and scofflaw."
Trump in two sentences -- a thoroughly rotten person without conscience, decency or even a whiff of integrity.
15
To echo the President's most ardent supporters:
SEND HIM BACK! SEND HIM BACK!
4
love this piece ! - erik from netherlands.
5
Mr. Egan has hit the nail squarely on the head. The impeachment investigations need to be equally clear and concise.
6
Lindsey Graham was once of the opinion that covering up a consensual affair was deserving of impeachment. Today he watches a president bribe a foreign government with funds appropriated by his own congressional body for dirt on his possible election opponent and he sees no problem. The difference? The incredible multi-generational hypocrisy of the GOP as established by Reagan, nurtured by Gingrich, husbanded by Rove, and appropriated by Trump. No Republican is worth two spits. Do not expect them to come around as the Nixon Republicans did. As Mr Egan says, this is a different group, one which has been brought up to put self and party above country. The United States will cease to exist as we know it if Trump gets re-elected. Impeachment or not, enough American voters have to appreciate that fact for our democracy's survival.
33
I really believe that the majority of Trump supporters (the average joes, not the moneyed interests) just like to be entertained. They remember Trump from his TV show, they like to see someone giving the 'finger' to others, especially those who do not think as they do. More importantly, many Americans are quite ignorant of our country's history, its politics, civics lessons in general and can tell you who's in line on Dancing with the Stars before they can give a cogent answer to a civics question.
For 20/20 it's got to be ABT (anybody but Trump) or we're doomed.
20
I found the timeline published in the NYT very helpful to figure out the likely scenario.
Apparently Trump spent hours during the Mueller investigation on the phone late at night with Guiliani, Hannity and other conspiracy kooks who encouraged him in this Ukrainian extortion plot. When Trump suggested it to advisers like Lindsey Graham, Barr, Pompeo, and maybe even Pence, they gently suggested that it would be unwise and/or illegal. But undeterred, Trump decided to proceed with only Guiliani as his ally and operative. Guiliani tried to get the State Department involved. Pompeo wanted no part of it, but not wanting to risk Trump's ire by refusing completely, Pompeo punted it to Volker (a volunteer) and Sondland to try to deal with it. They talked to an aide of Zelensky (I imagine this conversation was along the lines of "Tell Zelensky to stay out of this Biden investigation"). When Zelensky didn't immediately jump into the conspiracy, Trump put a hold on the aid. Zelensky HAD to talk to Trump to get the funds he needed for defense. After agreeing ahead of time to talk and help with the Biden opp research, Zelensky gets the call from Trump.
Immediately after the call, WH staff informed Barr and Pompeo that the call they had discouraged had actually occurred. A scramble ensued to hide the transcript and cover for the crime committed by the president.
And then the whistleblower blew up the whole plot and cover up.
25
Yipppppeeeee. Thank you Whistleblower. We folks outside your borders, America, now have hope. There are many of us. And we have been waiting anxiously for three long years.
281
@Susan: You say 'apparently' Trump talked to people like Pompeo and Graham. I hadn't heard that. Where did you get that info?
1
@Veronica Brown We have been anxious too... and are still anxious. But at least we have drawn a line in the sand and are standing our ground! God willing!
Kings do not have to abide by any laws. This is what Trump's supporters want, not a president but a king. It's too difficult to roll back civil rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental protections, and most of all institute a system of minority rule in a truly democratic society.
14
I think Trump supporters, as has been mentioned many times, are angry, alienated, usually not well educated, and would feel more comfortable in a country dominated by a dictator who they think shares their prejudices and fears and is basically on their side. They seem to be more satisfied with a king who can just give orders and bend the world to his will (and their prejudices) without all that slow, rigged democracy. But considered more deeply, they want a Big Daddy who will protect his “family” from an outside world too threatening and confusing to face alone. This may be the reason many of these same supporters are so adamant about unrestricted gun rights. And believe angels move among us, and reject science. The train has ,eft the station and they are left screaming on the platform. Their only hope now is a powerful boss like Trump or the Rapture, both of which they believe they deserve because of their innate superiority.
2
One line used by Trump supporters is that they want to see Congress "doing its job" and passing bills to help Americans, not "waste time" on impeachment. They do not know - or do not care to know- that the Democratic House has been doing this along and McConnell has been refusing to let the over 400 bills passed by the House even come up for discussion in the Senate.. Democrats and the press must remind people every day that if there is no legislation passed by the Senate, this is solely the fault of McConnell's "graveyard" tactics. Also the press must stop tidying up Trump's remarks so that they seem to make sense. Quote him verbatim and at length. Let everyone see how just how incoherent he is.
25
Interesting current op-eds by Egan (impeachment is the only choice) and Brooks (impeachment is a mistake as 20+ GOP senators will not vote to impeach and this process/result will embolden Trump). As a moderate Democrat I often find Brook’s assessments/views well conceived and enlightening. In this case I believe both Egan & Brooks are correct in their assessments. However, to borrow a book title from James Comey, there is a “higher loyalty” in play here. With this egregious violation of the Constitution & democratic norms, Trump MUST be held to account. The courageous decision by the whistleblower (as well as freshmen Democrats in swing districts) demands further investigation/action on the part of Congress. Yes, most/all GOP senators will hew the party line and fall in behind their corrupt leader, but this doesn’t excuse the opposition for not holding Trump to account. Democrats may pay a price for this focus on impeachment (as Brooks points out), but there is no other true, ethical, choice.
17
During my years as a commercial loan officer it was important for me to be careful about facts. A prior bankruptcy in a loan application was a huge red flag. Six bankruptcies would have been "Please leave our office."
Plenty of business people, domestic and foreign, seem to have uses for a shady businessman with a talent for burning creditors. We should have never expected President Trump to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He will only look out for himself.
360
@Ralph
Well white people alwawys get the benefit of the doubt from banks. Wall Street/ banks were responsible for the 2008 recession not minorities and not one of those hedge fund managers went to prison
However the racism in this country is so deep that white folks hate white women and minorities, they would take a con man draft dodger over a qualified white woman, Hillary was the genius, didnt have to like her but she would of been a great president vs what we have now a traitor to the country
19
But he got the yokels in a few key Electoral states to buy his grift, so that’s something. Something you could learn at Trump University. Trump is the Barnum of presidents.
22
@Ralph
"Protect and Defend" the Constitution? Trump misread (or misheard); he sold it, ages ago. It paid for .003 Border Wall miles. Worth every penny!
MAGA!
What's next?
Who needs a Grand Canyon?
9
Thank You!
5
This country has an enormous blind spot when it comes to cultural norms about the behavior of white men (and I am one). The myth is that white guys are the good guys; their concerns are the right concerns; their behavior and violence are justified; they're smarter, more deserving of being in control, etc. Guess who came up with these cultural "norms"?
7
As they say, the goose is definitely cooked.
Time to consider tendering your resignation, Mr. Trump, as you have no outs left.
Nice to know you, now, please do the country and the planet a favor and pack your bags and head to wherever it is you need to hide until this all blows over and you can consider the next phase of what life you have left.
Time to make America truly great, again.
10
Trump believes nothing is wrong unless you get caught. It's hard for him to cook up a defense because he thinks making someone an offer they can't refuse is perfectly ok. He was making a deal, some of his people realized it wasn't permitted so they hid the records of this "routine" chat on a highly classified server.
If he was capable of apologizing, he could say he didn't know any better, and the Democrats would really be in a spot.
5
@JR He is acting the way he learned having been a New York City real estate tycoon. He is the product of his environment, the teaching of the mob on how to succeed in an enormous, restless city. It doesn't matter there how you get things done, only that you do.
And he reminds me of a little boy caught stealing candy in a convenience store by a policeman and pointing to an old lady buying Seltzer water saying: "She made me do it!"
My bigger issue in all of this -- and there are a lot of big issues -- is that Trump has so little understanding of right and wrong that he insinuated to American officials at the UN that the whistleblower and those who assisted him (all of whom were other American officials, of course) were "spies and you know what we used to do with spies." The insinuation, of course, is that they should be executed as traitors.
I want the media to ask every single Republican senator to comment on that outrageous speech on the record.
They should have to either denounce it and the other wrongdoing to which Trump has basically admitted or, if they do not, they should have to run on it.
There is no excuse for Trump's suggesting a whistleblower be killed, especially when all of this is over his so-called "perfect call." It is outrageous, dangerous, despotic, and potentially damaging for the future of whistleblowers and our country.
17
You might be frightened when you learn how many Republican Senators think it would be a good practice to execute anyone who does not offer sufficient loyalty to their party.
1
The Republican Senators WILL vote to remove Trump from office. One day after the filing deadline for a primary challenge.
2
I have found myself wondering these days, why, both the GOP and Mr. T and his administration remain so cocky and certain there will be no recompense. Might it be, that like 2016, the fix is already in with Moscow and there's nothing at all we can do about it?
I hope this isn't the case. But this imposter-populist's most important advisor, Steve Bannon, was quoted as having said that the goal was "to blow up the administrative state." (He later changed the language to "deconstruct the administrative state.")
That appears to be exactly what they have done to our Republic.
What now? What of his accomplices in high places? His corrupt attorney general. His obsequious V.P. His salivating Secretary of State?
I think impeachment is the only recourse for anyone with a smidge of integrity. But after that? How does this end?
Marylouise Markle
10
Meanwhile, our entire government has been subverted and restructured in the image of corporate Republican control.
How do we ever correct all of the damage done by these corrupt government people??
9
Great piece, thank you.
4
Timothy says: “This could be one of those cases where the right thing to do by the country is not the best thing to do politically.”
Maybe, maybe not.
The right thing to do is get Trump out of office. Most probably by voting him out. If impeachment makes that goal harder to achieve, it is not the right thing to do for anyone.
1
I’ve been ruminating on how to get more people to vote. How about a national lottery for civics knowledge-tested voters (Citizens) who would be entered into a national lottery when their votes are cast? One qualified vote = one chance at a monetary prize might even tip the scales against voter suppression systems. Hate may motivate the minority, but money appeals to most.
1
I'm currently reading Harry Potter with my kids. Book 5 gets dark. The Ministry is trying to pretend Voldemort isn't back. It recruits students and others to silence, ridicule and punish those who disagree. It uses the media to spin lies and call truth-seekers crazy. There is no doubt the Ministry is acting badly. But there's also no doubt that Harry is the good guy in these novels. It is remarkable to me that in the real world there are people who lack the clarity to know who the bad guy is, and would rather align with the Dark Lord.
9
Trump senses his advantage. His impeachment inquiry will take publicity away from the Democratic primary candidates and give him a platform for attacking the liberal media, the Democratic party, and Washington to increase his following.
Plus, like you, I don't think he has any notion of what the law is, and doesn't seem to even care. He also knows that he is an illegitimate President because he knows that the Russian government's communications centers,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/politics/russians-indicted-mueller-election-interference.html,
used Russian government funded employees to create propaganda to precisely target their created messages to effectively spread propaganda unfavorable to Candidate Clinton and favorable to candidate Trump on Facebook, and other social media sites.
Incredibly, even though our intelligence agencies and the media knew that the Russians and maybe other foreign interests unfairly influenced the election BEFORE the Inauguration the existing U.S. government did nothing to stop the Inauguration, even though in N.C., the state eventually rerun a Congressional election.
Coupling the Russian tampering with the deceit involving his personal philandering, and tax fraud was enough for me to decide that this President should have not been sworn-in until all of these matters were cleared up.
The GOP rhetoric that really concerns me: they claim that the President was democratically elected when he lost by 3 million votes.
9
Bill Bernbach, the legendary advertising man, famously said, “We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget we can create them.” Which is to say, what the mass public thinks is not an absolute. People respond to good leadership and are in fact inspired by it – and doing the right thing to hold a lawless president to account is just such an expression of leadership. The real political risk for the Democrats would have been to do nothing in the face of Trump's corruption.
9
Trump brazens it out because he is literally clueless about ethics. He believes he is infallible. He believes he is always right. He believes that because he did not say the very words "quid pro quo" that the phone call memo is just fine. He believes he can skate by even though everyone (and President Zelensky) can tell what he was implying by asking for a "favor."
We need to separate out the president's personal lawyers from the White House lawyers who are tasked with protecting the presidency, not the person. We need the White House lawyers to protect us from a clueless megalomaniac with a distant relationship with ethics, morality and the truth. Let Rudy Giuliani try to protect the person even while he's a co-conspirator in the crime.
8
I wish this writer wouldn't use John Kasich as an example for anything. As governor of Ohio he proudly destroyed Planned Parenthood, hurting innocent women.
11
I have not given up on the republican party.
I think there is a real possibility that at the very end of the impeachment, they will take the opportunity (after much horse trading) to rid themselves of this pest of a President.
They can of course blame democrats for starting it and insist President Pence is an excellent replacement.
It also bears repeating that the Ukraine-hacked-the DNC storyline is Putin's narrative. This was Pence and Barr and Trump doing Putin's bidding in plain sight. And it will be Moscow Mitch, with his new $200mm aluminum plant in KY paid for by Putin's pet oligarch, that will allow the narrative and this corrupt administration to stain our country.
16
@Andy
A pet oligarch that Moscow Mitch personally removed the sanctions on.
1
Until now, Egan says, Trump has spent his life "floating above the law in a padded world." I suggest that he spend the rest of his life in a padded world: A room in a mental hospital.
Witness, "I think I'd get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things...if they gave them out fairly."
7
Democrats need to be v-e-r-y careful about this.
Just as Harry Reid changed filibuster rules which prompted the Republicans shortly after to use those changes to install 2 Supreme Court justices, here too the next Democrat President might face impeachment on similarly thin charges.
@Tuco
Thin? Bribing a foreign government with congressionally appropriated funds is not thin. Covering up a consensual affair, now THAT'S thin. Republican hypocrisy knows no bounds. But don't worry. After this travesty Democrats will be running the country for a long, long time.
8
@Tuco. Thin?? Agh.
1
@Tuco
The Ukraine charges at the root of this impeachment are not "thin." This a classic case for impeachment, and Democrats, like it or not, have to impeach. If the Senate fails to conduct a trial or fails to convict Mr. Trump, then history and many voters will hold senators to account. History likely will treat House Democrats very well. They at last did the right and only thing they could do. They are holding a corrupt president to account.
1
Let the truth be known... were it not for his privilege and 100s of millions of inherited wealth and the good fortune that follows such, Donald Trump would be a 75 year old failure fired from every job he ever worked and living in some family members basement if they'd have him. Without the silver spoon we would never be witnessing this... what Mr. Egan has wrong is that most sociopaths still have to manage living amongst us "but their instinct for survival is strong enough to send a red alert" but not the Donald, he never had to even develop the "red alert".
11
I worry about how anxious he's become since he learned of the inquiry.
He's often been characterized as "unhinged" along with other severe neurotic problems by lay persons and by mental health professionals (they have not diagnosed him following any in-person assessment).
Given his being threatened with possible removal and potential criminal prosecution once out of office, are there any limits to what he may do to divert attention from his problems? Is there any way to place obstacles to his access to nuclear codes, for example? Just sayin...
2
Pramila Jayapal is right. Trump is the smoking gun, and his election and Presidency have exposed the broken system.
And its not just our constitutional system, its every system, its our civilization. As Bob Dylan said, "Everything's broken."
The way the Democrats proceed in impeaching Trump will go a long way towards determining if its an effective strategy. And frankly I'm not sure they can pull it off. There have been plenty of other criminals who've held executive and legislative offices in cities and states, and of course ala Balzac and Mario Puzo, "behind every fortune, a crime".
It's not just that Trump has brought corporate lawlessness into the Presidency, it's that he thinks its a positive.
He flaunts it, and it's not just his casual criminality that's on trial, its his monumental arrogance. In a era without privacy, where everything's in the open, he makes us physically ill and I don't think he gets that. His audacity is his political strength, but his obtuseness is his political weakness and in the course of forensically exposing his criminality, the Democrats have to expose his obtuseness as well. This means no Cory Booker shouting about he's Spartacus—and thank God Joe Biden's not in the Senate. We're talking cool and forensic prosecution without showboating. . . Right.
And then we'll have an election where the people get to make up their mind. If the Democrats don't blow it, they'll win. But given their track record, the odds have to be against it.
4
I adore my husband more than life & equally with my cats, but he believes Trump.
I asked him point blank how that could be & his answer? Because Fox News said he was innocent. Because Trump said he was innocent.
The problem with so many Trump supporters, even as smart and intelligent as they are (and my husband is a really, really smart guy, just a dummy when it comes to politics) is they ONLY read Fox News.
Granted, I am devoted to the NYT and read the Washington Post and other political news sources, but at least I read OTHER sources and don't rely solely on just one.
As one very astute commenter stated, "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts."
Blind trust and blind faith are a dangerous duo when the end result could and will hurt the country and democracy in particular.
I truly don't know how to combat that kind of twisted, screwy mindset.
My husband & I have been married for very long time. This is the first time in all those years in which we are oceans apart.
I keep thinking come November 2020, we will cancel out each other's vote. In the meantime, it's hitting the pavement in hopes of registering a ton of voters before next year's election.
In the meantime, Mr. Egan is right "Republicans are all in with Trump. It’s trickle-up politics: the based is debased, backed by right-wing media."
The moment the word "Trump" is mentioned in our home, our blind cat meows and then walks away . . . into the door. Even he can't get away soon enough.
489
@Marge Keller - oh gosh, Marge. That must be so difficult. My husband loathes Trump, perhaps even more than I do. You have always been so clear in expressing your thinking regarding Trump’s misdeeds. I cannot imagine what your husband’s mindset is.
This shows again that Trump’s election has had consequences far beyond politics. Relationships - friendships and familial - have been irreparably damaged over disagreements about Trump. Hopefully, your dear husband eventually comes to his senses. I, for one, find loyalty to Trump absolutely incomprehensible. I live on a different PLANET from Trump’s followers. You’re a better, more loving wife than I could ever be.
139
@Kathryn
Thank you for your very kind and supportive comment.
In a nutshell, we respectfully agree to disagree when it comes to that topic. We both agree that our 38+ year old marriage "trumps" anything and everything else.
Whenever I am typing a comment at home, he walks past and gently nudges me and asks if I am blasting "his president' and without missing a beat, I reply, "every chance I get."
In all seriousness, I do know that I have gotten his attention when it comes to certain environmental issues. We both share a passion for preserving and helping the planet. He just hasn't put it together yet that "his president" is pushing climate change farther towards the cliff with each one EPA rollback he signs off on.
I think his biggest draw and "attraction" to Trump was this guy's straight talk and the fact that he was not a politician. I gently remind him that just because Trump is not a politician does not mean that exonerates him from breaking the law or misinterpreting the law.
At the end of the day, I feel the weight of other blinded and misguided Republications more than my husband. He loves animals, and has a deep fondness and love for dogs and cats that have been abused and/or abandoned. All of our pets have either been strays, dumps or shelter animals.
As long as he holds a rich and deep sense of wanting to save them all, I know he has a good heart, a loving heart, and a kind heart.
It's his brain that needs some adjusting.
103
@Marge Keller I have a similar problem with my parents. I don't even know what to do with them anymore. Trump is literally damaging our family.
93
"This could be one of those cases where the right thing to do by the country is not the best thing to do politically."
This is a sad measure of just how deluded a large percentage of the electorate has become: they'll vote against politicians who do the right thing for the country - and mindlessly vote for politicians who damage it.
4
Here, clever as it sounds, Trump is actually not "his own smoking gun," for there is no need to make an inference. The evidence shows him firing the gun.
4
Well said. ( Of course, if Trump Didn't release the transcript we could've gone to town criticizing that too!)
i totally agree with this article. you know he is always talking about records being broken. i think that Pelosi will be vindicated in the long run with the impeachment process. Trump will be convicted in the house and the Senate and then i hope will be convicted for criminal charges. the democrats had no choice with this matter. He had to be stopped. everything that Trump said about his enemies or rivals etc will come back on him, lock him up!
5
Tim, you are so good at expressing clearly and directly what so many of us think and feel. Thank you.
7
I'm tired of hearing the argument that impeachment will benefit this president - as in this will motivate his base to come out and vote.
So what? His base, such as it is, will most certainly come out to vote for him in 2020 - that was true before the event of the past week so, in that matter, nothing has changed.
But remember, his base hasn't grown and most certainly won't grow any larger over the next 13 months. In 2016 he was astonishingly lucky, winning three critical states by less than 80,000 votes *combined* in an election that saw almost 45% of eligible voters sit on their hands and stay home. So let his base get *riled up* (as if they aren't already constantly barking at the moon) - they are outnumbered and as the saying goes, lightning doesn't strike the same place twice.
Here`s something that McConnel might want to consider: if impeached by the house and convicted in the senate, Trump is out, gone, kaput. He will be ineligible to run for and hold any office. Trumpism will be done. And where will his base go? They certainly aren't going to go vote for the Green Party. So their option will be to stay with the GOP, while many on the fringe of Trumpism will crawl back under the rocks they slithered out from under.
Trump is mentally unfit and a criminal. Impeach.
17
After 2 years of "no collusion" in the Mueller Russia probe, what does Trump do -- the day after Mueller reports to Congress? Trump calls up the Ukraine President and starts "colluding," and uses taxpayers' $400 million to extort him too, for good measure.
8
Yes, yes...and it is COLLUSION, likely just like he practiced with Putin in 2016 before there were multiple sycophants standing around taking notes.
6
i discount your entire message when you engage is intentional mistatements of facts "Neo-Nazis are very fine people, he said." that was never said - and the columnist knows it - and repeats it. What he said was still questionable to many, but inventing a narrative to sell a normally strong case, does no good to the case.
No doubt people will report what Rep Schiff "parodied" in his hearing as Trumps words as well. I used to think the NYTime was above such tactics - it seems Trump has ruined an icon.
@Paul
You’re right Paul, the words Neo-Nazi should have been in quotes or parentheses. But in spite of that, I don’t think the meaning was measurably changed. And I was disappointed to read about Re Schiff’s sarcastic comments. This is not a time or topic for sarcasm or parody.
You are correct. What trump said was that there were some fine people on both sides, referring to the protesters at the rally. The fact is, there are no fine white nationalists and Neo-Nazis. None. Zero.
6
@Sharon Salzberg
But Trump thinks there are...
7
Bravo, Mr. Egan. Bravo.
3
Trump has crossed his Rudy-Con.
SAD.
9
Nixon: If the President does it, it's not illegal.
Trump: If I do it, it's not illegal, immoral, illogical, indefensible, insane or inept.
Time to clean (the White) House. The stench is overpowering and shames America and Americans.
12
Timothy Egan has had the same experiences most Democrats have had with Republicans on the subject of Donald Trump’s behavior.
Apparently, when it comes to Republicans, a crime committed by Donald Trump simply does not exist.
It is like the classic line about beauty – all in the eyes of the beholder. In Republican eyes, Donald Trump is a forceful, creative and decisive leader. He does not, in their estimation, commit crimes – or so they say publicly.
Democrats have the old-fashioned notion that crime has an objective existence. Whether a particular act is a crime or not does not depend upon who committed the act, as long as the actor is an adult with some workable intelligence.
For these reasons, along with deathly fear (on the part of G.O.P. politicians facing re-election) and greed (on the part of lobbyists trying to get no-bid military contracts for their clients), Republicans see no evil done by President Trump.
Until those attitudes change, Republicans will have to put up with a hero in the White House with the mood swings, tantrums and needs for immediate gratification usually seen only in a 3-year-old.
Unfortunately, Republicans are not the only Americans who suffer from Trump crimes. We Democrats are the targets of Mr. Trump, but we don’t have to endure the humiliation of smiling in silence like a Republican. We fight back.
7
Trump and his apologists call to mind Dylan's lyrics from the perfectly titled song Idiot Wind:
Now everything's a little upside down
As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good
You'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom
3
Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if I was crazy. Butit’s not me.
2
I could be wrong, but this Ukraine Cover-up, seems to be a genuine tipping point.
Look back at Nixon, pre-tape exposure, and the country was hugely against impeachment and the GOP was in lock step.
Then the the tapes, then Goldwater and others went to the white house and told him he had to go.
May not happen exactly the same way this time around. More likely that Trump resigns and proclaims himself the greatest thing ever and pardons himself.
The current episode tells us is that there are concerned citizen patriots who will do, and are doing the right thing to expose this.
Every dam break starts with the first drop and trickle, then the floodgates open.
Trump has always been foolish about the level of scrutiny in being POTUS, and about the incredible breadth and and depth of that scrutiny.
Yes, he has evaded more than anyone, but rather than wiping his brow and laying low, he doubles down.
It is that very doubling down arrogance and impulsive foolishness which is ensnaring him now. I am truly hopeful others will step forward soon with more info.
Nothing would be better than to see this monstrosity removed from office.
9
Trump is exactly who he has always been, a personality disordered wannabe mob boss. Now explain Bill Barr, who enables Trump at every step.
19
@Amelia misogynistic, obsequious, amoral... Wormtongue as played by Fred Flintstone
6
All of those silent Republican Senators & congresspeople took an oath of office to defend the constitution. The corruption & criminal behavior of lunatic in the oval office is in plain sight, in broad daylight, with the Ukraine debacle. Those Rs who are paid by taxpayers and sworn to uphold the constitution need to be reminded of the oath they swore.
6
The title of this piece is misleading. Sarcasm doesn't play well here.
Read David Brooks’ article. You’re helping Trump.
@Rowdy Burns
Brooks is a scared GOP apologist. Trump goes down in 2020, one way or another.
5
Well-written!
1
Trump is a narcissistic sociopath. But, the Republican Party mirrors him in their dealings. They have become bent on gaming the system to their advantage and duping their base with false information. Most of the Americans who elected Trump won’t see facts about his misdeeds, but opinion and hearsay from Conservative pundits. It’s a sad time in the United States.
9
The Trump Mafia Crime Family.
Period.
7
The mirror image the Times presents of this whole fiasco is breathtaking.
Unfortunate headline.
The two bit Queens mobster has been breaking the law since before he was legal. It is fitting that should end his corrupt life in prison , broke, and fearing the company of others.
11
Bingo.
1
His legal hero is Roy Cohn that’s enough to disqualify anyone.
9
trump was schooled by cohn who taught him to never back down. he was raised to commit crimes and hire lawyers willing to help him skirt laws.
8
L'etat? C'est classy.
1
It’s even worse than all this. Imagine what trump is capable of if he loses the 2020 election. He will have two whole months to seek revenge against the world, with special focus on America, including both public and private American citizens. He already possesses classified information. As does his family and his political appointees. What do you think he will do with his knowledge? Will he keep our secrets?
I’m not an expert, but having dealt with two sociopaths up close and personal, I’ve learned that hell hath no fury like a sociopath scorned. His lust for revenge has already been publicly demonstrated, repeatedly. If he’s not removed from office, I’m afraid we ain’t seen nothing yet.
5
The republicans have all kissed trump’s ring and bowed before him in an oath fealty, there is no turning back now...
But there never was... from the moment trump was allowed into their party it ceased to be anything more than trump’s mob...It’s vestigial legitimacy was stripped away to serve the agendas of those who paid to get trump into office.
They knew who he was, they were not unaware of his nature and backers, they were not blind to the damage he would most likely inflict on this nation.
They were okay with it as long as they got to stay in power.
It wasn’t party over nation, it was personal interest over nation.
To call them republicans or even conservatives is a joke at this point.
It is a shame to see what the party of Abraham Lincoln has become, to see it reduced to this sniveling cowardly lot, grubbing for whatever riches they can grab before it all falls apart.
To see them look brazenly into cameras and repeat their hollow lies is to see the hollow soulless shells of those who’ve thrown away their humanity for power and money.
They chose their path, they all decided to ride the coattails of their idiot king, now let them ride those coattails to hell.
7
Good morning, Mr. Egan. As a 73 year old man, I have served my country as a vietnam vet, paid all my taxes, and educated my kids. I love this country! And, I agree whole heartedly with you. Our beloved country is at a turning point. There is not one shred of "good"in this man. He does what he does for himself. No One Else. He tantalizes his base who see democrats as people who want to steal a country and give it brown, lgbtq, or liberal Americans. we need to "make America great again" (is a great motto that has been weaponized.commercialized, and upheld as a middle finger to many Americans) Thank you! thank you! thank you! BTW - Mr McConnell is in this as well. I for one will vote as blue as the sky in 2020 and every election to come.
16
Trump may be brazen in his self-defense and mudslinging now. But it is obvious that he never thought his criminal behavior re Ukraine and Biden would ever see the light of day. After the whistleblower told his boss about what he had learned and the boss passed the allegations up the chain of command, the Department of Justice sat on the information. The White House improperly had the word-for-word record of the telephone call hidden in a restricted computer folder meant for classified reports -- even though there was nothing classifiable in the call. And then the Justice Department told the official overseeing the whistleblower complaint he was not obliged to turn it over to Congress as ostensibly required by statute. It was only after the press found out about the whistleblowing that a campaign to smear the whistleblower, the Democrats and the news media was rolled out assisted by GOP members of Congress and the Trumpistas at Fox News and right-wing social media.
6
I absolutely agree that those seven freshman should be right front and center, with at least at much fanfare as the Mercury 7.
They did good; one thinks of “life, fortunes, and sacred honor.”
4
"If Donald Trump Does It, It's Not a Crime"
This is very similar to a statement that Kellyanne Conway made during a television interview early on in Trump's presidency when she was asked about Trump engaging in behavior that was not "presidential." Her response? "Well, Trump is the President so his behavior is presidential"
8
That a man like Donald Trump with his background of scandals, refusing to show his tax returns, is loose with the truth and governs our Country on Twitter and those who still would vote for him is beyond my understanding. Because he has been voted as the President of the United States does not mean he should be beyond the law. Shame on us who allow him to do this to our Country and shame on those who we vote into Congress of letting this happen to our Country.
12
It is praiseworthy that Democrats from close run districts are involved, If doing the right thing could cost them their seats. LBJ knew that the Civil Rights Act could cost Democrats and he still went ahead....And indeed Democrats have lost the South to this day! Fulbright was willing to oppose LBJ on Vietnam.
Cannot say I’ll be surprised if no Republican not retiring next votes to convict. Showed in ACA vote (except McCain) Kavanaugh vote. The scared sheep go along in fear of a primary challenge!
3
@Steven Chinn McCain's thumb would have achieved nothing on the ACA vote without two Republican women, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voting likewise, before him . Women never get the credit they deserve.
And here I thought Trump's supporters were the "real Americans." You know, the ones who loved their country, its flag and constitution, revered its democratic traditions, and would turn on treasonous politicians in an instant. Welcoming, even inviting, foreign interference in our elections? I guess that only bothers liberal, socialist, "enemies of the people" like me.
13
I am not sure why they do it, but PBS had Kellyanne Conway on the news last night, perhaps for comic relief. She emphatically denied that the call had anything to do with the election, and she used as proof that the election was not mentioned in the call.
Well that is correct. Trump did not say "I'd like you to help me get reelected."
So she and her allies can be so literal, but then go on to spew a bunch of nonsense and false statements about father and son Biden. "$50,000" $50,000" Oh that was Jim Jordan. as if a sum of money is a sufficient indictment.
6
On the contrary, I think Donald John Trump knows perfectly well that sitting in the Oval Office and trying to trade military aid for dirt is a problem, even if he is the one doing it. No, what he meant when he characterized the call as "beautiful" and "perfect" was that he meticulously observed the linguistic rules observed by all gangsters to avoid declarative requests or threats, and a lifetime of legal advice from the likes of Roy Cohn leads him to believe that he didn't incriminate himself.
What he doesn't get is that gangster-speak is not a secret language. We all get it, and that is going to do him in.
9
Trump's been offering up quid that isn't his to offer for quo he has no business receiving his entire life. No wonder he thought his call was perfect.
5
I agree with every word of this op-ed, and applaud its timeliness, effectiveness, and clear-eyed message.
On a tangent, however, I'd like to briefly discuss one of its statements:
"From trying to prevent black tenants from renting the apartments owned by his family ... "
That, unfortunately, was a common practice in 20th-century America, which, of course, was ethically wrong, but had a financially plausible foundation upon which to stand: Many white Americans did not want to live with minorities nearby; "white flight" proved that.
Businessmen, realtors, home-builders, apartment owners, etc., saw that. It wasn't science, but it got their attention. These guys wanted to make money, not change the world, so they made it difficult, if not impossible, for residential areas to "go brown," when they could.
Trump, Inc., got on that train. In Mafiaese, you could say that it was "business, not personal."
Nonetheless, Donald has just about every negative ethical trait that exists.
My point is that there was a lot of that going around back then, and probably today. In that regard, Trump was one among many.
Just wanted to shine a little light in that dark corner. And now having done so, I think, let me say that Donald John Trump is a terrible man and a terrible president. He should have never been president for even an hour, but better late than never, his impeachment is long overdue. We can suffer only so much and only for so long.
2
Although no one can know what wheels are turning inside of Trump's mind, this is not the entire story, or even the majority of it. The brazen, vile acts of the Trump Administration are not the work of a single deranged person. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have chosen to do the wrong thing over and over for personal profit over the good of the nation. One can only wonder how so many people seem to have been raised by wolves without a moral code or a patriotic backbone.
7
I remember during the 2016 presidential campiagn, one of the arguments for putting Trump in the White House was that if he ran the country the way he ran his businesses, we would all be better off. Well, the call to Zelensky is a perfect example of the way Trump ran his businesses. The horse trading, the veiled threats, skirting the law, and then lying about it all ... this is Trump-World in miniature. May we now please, please, please give up on the pipe dream that a businessman belongs in the Oval Office?
10
The Sun King, Louis XIV, is reputed to have asserted "L'Etat, c'est moi" - the state, it is me. His sycophants claimed that "the King can do no wrong" and so was beyond the law. He wanted France to be rich, powerful and respected, but had no interest in the well-being of its people.
Any of this sound familiar?
The bad news: Louis died despised, but it took another century before the revolution swept aside the ancien regime. We must try to do better...
6
Trump easily fit in with the GOP Golden Rule #1: If the Republicans do it, it's okay. If the Democrats do it, it's bad and wrong.
Along with other GOP rules such as :
The more guns the better.
The Properity Gospel: It is your fault if you can not afford the benefits of society which include health care, housing, education, justice and equality, etc.
Women and people of color must know their place.
Free and fair elections are passe.
It's a long list.
Trump just slipped into place in this republican world outlook and the GOP are all in. All of them embrace total hypocrisy and the holier than thou attitude that they know better than us.
The Trump GOP will have no problem arguing that Trump did NO wrong, that asking foreign governments to participate in our elections is all for the good. Any "concern" in the Oval Office today is simply how they will present this to the people, not that there was any wrongdoing.
8
As a sociopath myself, I am ashamed to include Trump as one.
It is important to note that sociopathy merely means color blindness with regard to your actions effect on others. No alarm goes off --- without conditioning. It is a treatable condition: it starts in childhood where you learn what behaviors are acceptable responses. (People at work think I am a good listener because I listen to them complain without comment: I don't have any real sympathy I just know what the right responses are.) Sociopaths are necessary because we take emotion out of decision-making: we serve a purpose.
Where Donald Trump fails is that he had no one to rap his knuckles when he did something inappropriate. Sociopaths need conditioning when growing up. He obviously had none of that. He doesn't really know he's doing anything wrong because he was a spoiled, neglected child: he grew up into an adult child sociopath --- which is a very bad condition to bring into manhood.
6
Deny, Deny, Deny. That has been the mantra of Republican pols since Nixon. Something evil happened to the party of Lincoln, then. The grand old party morphed into the party of broken laws, broken faith, and broken dreams.
Trump is the exemplar for aspiring Modern Republicans. What irony he is a 'Country Club Republican'.
Turn them out of office, every last one.
Vote Blue, No Matter Who!!
5
"I didn't do it. It wouldn't have been wrong if I did do it. I did it. So what? It was about Corruption. The Europeans made me do it. It was a beautiful call: That's an awful nice country, Zelensky, It would be a shame if anything happened to it. My BFF in Moscow. Just sayin. If your president does it, it's not a crime. If Barr does it, he works for your president. Biden did it. Why can't Donald J. Trump? Your PRESIDENT. Senior White House aides are saying you have no idea how bad the actual phone calls were. Donald Trump says the whole thing is a hoax, a witch hunt, a nothing-burger.
[Lots of Republicans are telling Democrats what to do here. Thanks, fellas, but no thanks. What are we supposed to do? Let Trump subvert the 2020 election? How is that letting the people decide. Good grief.]
8
I'm sure that in Trump's warped mind, of course Vice President Biden is guilty of withholding aid and forcing the ouster of Ukraine's then prosecutor general in order to keep his son out of trouble. Of course. Because if Trump was in Biden's shoes, that is exactly what he would have done.
5
This is so ridiculous as to be laughable. If only this were a bad movie, but no, this is actually happening. The Trump mafioso clan is ruling America and the laws of the land are being ignored. Mitch McConnell is complicit in the ignorance of the laws by those who were elected to enforce the laws. Republicans that still sit in the House and Senate are rallying around the Trump banner and have formed a guard to protect the boss.
The people that voted for Trump can be excused for being duped once. If they make the same mistake a second time then they are just as guilty as Trump. The nation needs to be careful about the decisions that they make. Think carefully before you vote in November 2020. Your future depends on it.
8
Apparently using the logic and argument of Mr. Egan, if Joe and Hunter Biden do it, it is not a crime, and if Bill and Hillary Clinton do anything it is not a crime. Perhaps Mr. Egan can go back to the keyboard and make another attempt at nonsense. Mr. Egan also knowingly provided false information in this column making him suspect of his own morality question. Read the full transcript from Charlotte not the media edited one. One can only wonder how low Mr. Egan will go.
Apparently if Timothy Egan does it, it’s not a crime either.
1
Thank you for naming the mentality of the Trump base that is caught up in his corruption that tries to making lawlessness policy while corporate power (the real destroyer of democracy and freedom) is running wild. Now is the time to address the misguided, lawless, unfit leadership in our oval office. Not only should there be an impeachment, there should also be pursuit of the 25th amendment. Trump is mentally unfit for office. We are in a fight for our civil order. It requires a one-two punch.
3
At least we won’t have to listen anymore to endless refrains of “no collusion.”. Now it’s “collusion, but no quid pro quo.”
2
Right. So because Trump is clumsy we should forgive all the GRAFT paid to young Biden by Ukraine and China.
@Robert L Smalser: "Trump is clumsy"? He's a criminal. How blind can you be?
5
I think you are referring here to Paul Manafort who is currently serving a prison sentence. He was in deep in Ukraine financial corruption. Hunter Biden was not. There is no evidence to support that claim whatsoever.
6
It is truly frightening that we now live in a world where a corrupt President of the United States has a cult following that is utterly convicted that it is against the laws of physics for him to do anything wrong or immoral.
7
@Htb It has all the markings of a cult with no de-programmer in sight.
He's the "most presidential president ever" except for Abe. Wow. Whatever drugs he's on are not helping anyone.
2
I think Mr. Eagan’s piece is excellent. Thank you for it. Also important to emphasize is our apparent vulnerability to both propaganda (mainly from right wing radio) and conspiracy theories. Both are huge factors in the “barely enough” support this lunatic in the White House maintains, seemingly detached from verifiable reality.
I’d ask anyone with self-respect, aspiring to live a life with freedom of thought and personal integrity, to reflect carefully on what they’re being told, and to decide if they really want to be buying it. Not talking about “sides” here. I’m talking about what’s being consumed to nourish the mind.
The gist of Trump’s infamous July 25 phone call derives simply from his lack of mental acuity, his inability to reason critically when it comes to every self-serving conspiracy that presents itself. The dude is unstable and just can’t help himself. But does this mean you too — Senator, farmer, suburbanite, average American — want to follow down that same degrading rathole of falsehoods and fabrications?
I’m astounded and almost despondent at the lack of intellectual integrity and honest reflection. We’ve got to be better than this.
7
This just about says it all.
thank you!
1
In the movie Animal House, there is a scene when the Dean of Faber College is asking the Mayor of the town to hold a parade in the town. It reminds me of this situation, especially trump's subtlety, and goes like this:
Mayor Carmine De Pasto : If you want this year's homecoming parade in my town, you have to pay for it.
Dean Vernon Wormer : Carmine, I don't think it's right that you should extort money from the college.
Mayor Carmine De Pasto : Look, these parades you throw are very expensive. You using my police, my sanitation people, and my Oldsmobiles free of charge. So, if you mention extortion again, I'll have your legs broken.
4
The people that released the transcript are of the same mind as those that watched Trump ascend the stairs of Air Force One with toilet paper dangling from his shoe. They hate him and wish to see him humiliated.
Oh, that there were more people who would let Trump “be Trump” and watch him dangle in the wind. Examine the list of people who dared disagree with Trump. They either left or were fired. I’m sure they are breathing sighs of relief, knowing they are at a distance from this sham of a President.
Woe be unto those who stick with him out of some warped sense of loyalty. They will leave a legacy of disgrace.
2
The moderator at the Atlantic Festival asked Nancy Pelosi if Donald knew right from wrong.
She answered, he's accountable.
Good answer, Miss Nancy.
5
Trump obviously did see his Urkaine call as a "nothing." Otherwise, he wouldn't have been dumb enough to allow so many people to sit in on the call. But Trump is right about the call being "perfect." It was a perfect example of him using the Office of the President for his own personal gain.
6
The Evolution of American Politics over 50 years :
'The American people have right to know if their President is a crook'
- 37th President of the United States, 1974
'So what if I am a crook ?!'
- 45th President of the United States, 2019
9
Can’t blame him for believing he can just declare moral bankruptcy and walking from this one too...he’s done it his entire miserable life.
5
As long as there are pervasive powerful right wing propaganda machine like Fox News/Breitbart that mercilessly spread lies to takes advantage of peoples fear and prejudices, there will be "suckers born every minute".... Trump counts on this and exploits it with even greater fervor. There are three kinds of voters that back Trump: racists and bigots, the uninformed and low information voters, and the white Evangelists for whom political power and defeating Roe v. Wade overcomes every other Christian value. These extremist groups form the core of today's Republican Party.
Despite Trump's obvious criminality, he receives undying support from the Republican leadership. In light of their continuing betrayal of our nation, no real American can continue to support the Republican Party which has lost its way under the control of a few wealthy owners that care nothing about democracy. Power and greed is all that matters to them as the GOP tramples upon the Constitution of the United States. Trump is a symbol of the disgrace of the Republican Party and Mitch McConnell is their ever-scheming henchman. Impeach Trump and get out the vote against these Republican traitors. We need a Blue Tsunami to cleanse our government of GOP corruption.
3
Trump knows corruption when he thinks other people are doing it, so he knows it's a big deal. This is all Roy Cohen who taught him how power works. Right now, there is a far-right fascist party in control of the government, and an ineffective "opposition" party who, at this point, is just along for the ride. We have just about reached full authoritarianism. If there is an election, it's going to either get really ugly or just be really sad.
Beautiful!
Mr. Egan has perfectly portrayed and summed up the personality and machinations of Mr. Trump and his minions in Congress who sit around silently while we go through this constitutional reckoning.
Well, it needs to be done, this upholding of the nation's lawful approach to governance, regardless of whether it's convenient or advantageous to those who voraciously cling to their personal power at the terrible cost of damage to basic democratic principles.
2
Republicans are in essence saying that they don’t want checks and balances or the rule of law.
When you look at how the rich have benefited from this over the years, it becomes obvious why.
Their defense of the unlawful behavior of Donald Trump is distinctly un-American.
8
That Democrats could lose the election in 2020 because they stood up for decency and against Trump corruption as Mr. Cohen suggests is the real tragedy here. That so much of our electorate has bought into the trashing of ordinary norms in the form of Donald Trump speaks to the down fall of our country as a civilized place. trump's enablers need to ponder the quote, What does it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but lose their soul. Perhaps like Trump they have made this choice already and do not even recognize its loss.
6
Our founders were right to doubt "the people" could govern themselves. There was distrust of political parties as well since they were susceptible to the self-interest of the elected. Throw in corporations and big money and you have our current mess. The only way to begin untangling this existential knot is to get big money out of politics. That's just a first step, but an essential one. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening without a massive uprising that leads to overwhelming pressure from the fickle governed.
1
@just Robert Sorry Mr. Egan for getting your name mixed up with Mr. Cohen, but you are both great writers so perhaps I may be forgiven.
Presumably, in the business world, President Trump was surrounded by enablers; or at least people who only agreed with him. Now the GOP has taken that rolle, as well as the right wing media. I listen to a right wing AM radio station during the morning commute, and the party line is that the Ukraine call is a nothing-burger, overblown by the fake news media. They cite the nothing-burger of the Russia investigation as a precedent, when in fact it was a something-burger that the GOP-controlled Senate ignored. They view this nothing-burger as the deep state response as to the failure of the first nothing-burger.
So, we have the GOP view of the world on one hand, and the view of the world that we've known as the norm for democracy for a century or more on the other. The two views are going to go head to head. Mr. Trump's base will stubbornly hold their positive view of him. They will not budge. They will likely be energized by what they view as (to use one of Mr. Trump's favorite adjectives) a disgraceful attack on The President.
Impeachment is fraught with peril. It will go nowhere in the Senate. What I hope it might do is shed light on Mr. Trump in a way that will move the complacent from their neutrality to see what's at stake. And at least history will look back and say that the Democrats were willing to draw a line in the sand, even knowing how easily such lines can be blown away in the wind.
7
One of the true highlights of my week is when Timothy Egan's column is published. I feel fortunate that he is writing at a time when I'm of an age when I can appreciate how good he is. Today's column is a case in point. Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks wrote, "Good writing is difficult because to write well, you have to think straight, and thinking straight is never easy." Exhibit A is what we hear when we listen to conversations, which tend to go from A to R and then back to B, then to L and V. Egan is so skilled in taking a large, complex topic and thinking it through, processing it for us lucky readers and presenting it in a compelling, engaging and persuasive way, one that makes it easy for us to follow.
7
Perhaps this Trump's behavior is normal in the real estate industry. Hopefully not and even in that part of the business world he is an outlier when it comes to corrupt behavior. Certainly his behavior is way over the line in the White House. It is consistent with the behavior of a dictator, not the president of a constitutional liberal democracy. Other than supporting the Second Amendment his base doesn't seem to care much about the Constitution and would certainly like to get rid of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Regardless of what happens to Trump this country is in major trouble because tens of millions of Americans follow far right wing media which presents an alternative reality to cover up the truth. Cover-up is now a basic principle of the Republican Party.
8
@Bob, I sometimes wonder whether his base would also like to get rid of the First Amendment. Then I remember that it also applies to their right to denigrate anyone with whom they don't agree.
3
Another excellent, extremely well written piece by Mr. Egan. These are the kinds of trying times that bring out the best in honest broker outlets like the Times. Keep up the good work! (We're all going to need it)
11
Laws are like zeroes in math, they are meaningless unless added to something of value.
The voting citizens of the world, and those soon to be eligible to vote, better wake up.
The character of a candidate matters, as evidenced by our present day, around the world.
For many of the powerful & the privileged, rules are meant to broken or bent to one’s benefit and followed only by “little people”.
We must vote for candidates who have exhibited respect for law and for a constitution (or equivalent).
7
One more violation upon a life of shady and illegal transactions. This time, “though”, he’s President and the law can’t be bought so readily. The investigation process needs to be clean, professional and thorough. That means Chairman Schiff hires professional counsel to conduct the interrogation. Committee members can’t be seen running to TV with flamboyant statements nor appear mean or personal. This is an issue of national urgency.
As for VP Biden, he’s wounded, not only by this new development, but his own campaign. At some point, he may have to do the patriotic sacrifice of his life and move on. Where he to become the nominee, then chances of losing the election increase exponentially.
7
Spot on. Trump’s confused behavior at his recent press conference suggested he could not comprehend why people were saying he did something wrong. But not all of his minions can assert a sociopathic personality defense. Thank goodness there was one whistleblower, but why haven’t there been more?
13
I think we should stop suggesting that Trump supporters in high places should reflect on how history will judge their actions. (A) These people don't care about history, don't think historically, and have little regard for traditions of free speech and good faith. (B) Most Americans don't think historically. If history mattered, a party that was responsible for Watergate would not have found stunning electoral success a scant six years after the scandal broke. Anti-union workers have forgotten what unions gave the country, and gun fondlers have no wish to understand what a "well-regulated militia" entails.
A lot of cultural pressures work against deep and long-range reflection. The press pushes us to keep up with the latest Tweet or Instagram post. Trump has been very good at fostering day-to-day amnesia. When the GOP is finally rid of Trump, its members will act as though he never existed, and they will likely succeed.
8
Exactly, the Democrats are doing this for the country. They have placed country over party, a trait not exhibited by the Republicans in years.
12
Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Washington State Democrat, had the comment of the week; her political instincts are extraordinary. In contrast is fellow Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, from the 5th District. In an email to constituents this week, McMorris Rodgers promised to opine on the impeachment issue after reviewing more “facts.” But, despite publication of the phone call transcript and the whistle blower complaint, we still have heard nothing from her, which is not surprising given her track record of Trump World silence.
5
When Nixon originally said that, there were far more Americans capable of apprehending objective reality. However, in the post-fact, post-truth world that we live in, Trump supporters reserve the right to chose their own reality. With a plutocracy friendly SCOTUS, a Mitch McConnell run Senate that takes its marching orders from the lobbyists of billionaires, and a population of Trump supporters who have been fully en-trained in Trump's pathologically fluid universe, it's hard to envision current circumstances going in any direction similar to that of Nixon.
6
Most people around the World believe that laws are written for the other people---this could be non Western, non-White and so on, and that is the World order as they know it. However, here comes Trump and validates the 'hidden' World order day in and day out; the problem is even if there is impeachment and Trump is removed, the rest of the World will not change its steadfast opinion of the West.
1
What Mr. Egan writes in this piece needed to written. And he did it well.
10
Trump does what he wants to and gets away with it because of the weakness of the opposition. The Dems in every case against Trump including the 2 attempts to "get" Kavanaugh have been ill prepared and hysterical. Let's hope a dogged... determined Dem pol steps up... well prepared with vetted witnesses and a top notch staff to lead the charge... or this will sadly end where all other charges against Trump have ended... as a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
There are probably many "Presidents of the United States" in Bellevue whose delusions are no longer endangering themselves or others thanks to their confinement.
Tragically, someone whose life-long mental state would surely have qualified him for Bellevue was instead able to actually materialize his delusion and got himself elected president where he continues to this day as a clear and present danger to us all.
That Trump has been able to express his madness from the highest office in the world of course should never have happened. The fact that he somehow slipped through suggests to me that your electoral security needs to be tightened not only with respect to prospective voters but especially with respect to prospective candidates.
Those who are as demonstrably crazy as Trump should get appropriate mental health assistance rather than be allowed to run. Just saying.
If your country is considering background checks for those who wish to own guns, perhaps background checks for those who wish to be president should also be considered.
15
Best summation of the rot in #45, and danger to our Nation, I've read. Thanks and congrats.
8
The Presidential oath of office:
":—"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
For a man who believes that his greatest gift is the gift of gab and he can talk himself out of any situation, the ability to lie with a straight face is one of his key tools to success. Trump may be the most skilled liar in history, and oaths mean nothing to him, and putting his hand on a Bible means nothing as long as the Bible does not burst into flame.
5
Exactly right, Mr. Egan, compounded by the fact that his base base and his Senate sycophants believe it too. The resistance to morality and to reason of the former and the moral cowardice of the latter enable his moral insensitivity and moral blindness, to combine with his power as President to cause and allow moral cruelty. As you pointed out, the problem is not uncovering his misdeeds, which have long been in plain sight and hearing. The problem is getting Republicans to care about them -- especially low Republicans in high places who condone high crimes and misdemeanors.
9
What you forget to mention is that Trump can only get away with what he is doing, because 45% of voters - 45%!!! - have no problem with his high crimes and misdemeanors.
THAT is the real problem, not Trump.
And that problem cannot be solved by impeachment. It cannot even be solved by the next election.
How to repair the social fabric of the country and restore a sense of responsibility for the environment, the planet, the Constitution which made this country the greatest, and our neighbors, that is what we have to find a solution for.
Then Trump will disappear on his own.
But for that, I see no answers, not even a hint of a path of how to get there.
Do you, Tim?
9
I just finished watching “Chernobyl”. Add it to the Caligula episodes of “I, Claudius” as perfect metaphors for the decline of American civilization.
6
You have stated what many I know have; is Trump a blatant liar or just believes all the completely false things he says. I have long voted for the latter, and I think those who do his bidding know it too. His lifelong track record of doing and saying whatever he wants things to be instead of what they really are has reshaped his neural networks to make those words and actions not jut true but importantly true. The lack of consequences have squeezed out any drops of empathy and humanity that may have accidentally lodged in him. Above all his reality TV persona entered the mix to convince him of his omnipotence, and our misfortune is that he is the ultimate snake oil salesman who has been able to peddle his miracle cure to a willing, want to believe audience. And to the courtiers who ride on his coattails.
6
Trump’s constant reshaping of his neural networks allow him to never feel “shame” for his behavior. Whatever offenses he commits are immediately cushioned in bubble wrap of oblivion.
The overreach of the Republicans has been going on bigly, especially since Reagan.
Since that time Republicans have been deconstructing America, enriching themselves and their rich donors.
Reagan said that government FOR the people was bad, and recreated government FOR the rich.
This has been bleeding the country to death.
Corrupt Republicans have continually worked against the country to benefit themselves.
Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, Steve Mnuchin, Bill Barr, and so many other Republicans have betrayed the trust of the American People.
They think that no one will stop them.
Hopefully this will ultimately lead to a return to “government of, by, and FOR the People.
18
To all supporters of Mr. Trump with little children or grandchildren: Do you teach them to lie and then figure out how to get away with it? I can never and will never impart these immoral lessons to my students, nieces and nephews. How can you?
8
Timothy,
You can characterize and blame Trump all you want; but he is nothing more than the creature our political economic system allowed.
It is We, the People who voted him in; allowed the Republicans to gerrymander, and corrupt, and break laws, and commit treason for personal self-gain. Who created the situation that enabled white nationalism to take over and spread its ugliness across the land. Who allowed our Justice Department and Supreme Court to become mere lackeys of this corrupt regime.
It’s on us, not him. Our laziness to accept every smear made against democracy as Alternative Truth. Our hesitation to act in the face of an impending, annihilating global catastrophe. Our willingness to be entertained by the clowns running this show, here and abroad, for the sake of clicks and sheer, passive entertainment. Our eagerness to battle, middle school style, in social media, thinking we’re accomplishing something.
No, Trump is more symptom than cause.
If we can’t vote him out in a very few months, it says something deeply disturbing, and final, about who we really are, underneath all the rhetoric of freedom and democracy.
We are being displayed to the world as the deep hypocrites we really are; and the world is taking close note.
Purging Trump will not be enough.
9
Trump is also the best con man this country has ever seen.
1
If I was smarter about these things, I'd engineer an effort on Google to have anyone who googles "sycophant" to end up on Graham's (the preacher and the politician!) page(s). I'd probably do it for "toady" as well.
4
Trump's claim that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his supporters wouldn't leave him reminds me of the abusive husband who taunts his wife by reminding her that no matter what he does to her, she will never leave him. Underlying this assertion is the idea, either verbalized or implied, that she is too stupid or messed up to get out on her own and away from him.
Republican Members of Congress and voters are still not to the point of getting themselves out of this relationship. They continue buying into what (little) benefit this "president" provides for them, and don't see their role in putting an end to his unlawful, unethical behavior. Some of them are so deeply in denial that they don't see anything wrong.
What has happened with the whistleblower is the equivalent of the neighbors living next door to the abusive spouse and his wife having heard enough and calling the cops. They will enter the home, remove the wife, and get her to help - hopefully. They will punish the spouse IF the wife presses charges.
Republicans in Congress need to extricate themselves from their blind fealty to Trump, and they can do it with a vote - or go down with the ship. Some of his supporters will never awaken from their denial of the damage Trump has done to our country.
4
What does it say about the people of the United States when,after overwhelming evidence of criminality, Trump was elected and stsill has the support of millions of people?
7
"How could they release this ?" Egan asks.
Some people say GOPers are afraid of their base and won't do a thing to impeach this Republican President; they want Dems to do the dirty work, and deliberately let such a document out, coincidentally timed for when 45* was out of town.
This is a repeat of almost exactly 11 years ago, in Sept. 2008 during the financial melt-down, when not a single House GOP'er would vote for a financial package to save the economy (under their own GOP'er prez), and the NYTimes reported that the Master of the Universe Treasury Sec. Paulson literally got down on one knee in front of Nancy Pelosi in the Capitol, begging her to please please please pass the Dems' plan despite not a single GOPer vote:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/business/26bailout.html
There is a pattern to behavior of GOPers in office.
7
Every time Lindsay Graham opens his mouth, John McCain—Graham’s once and former mentor and someone who embodied true patriotism—must role over in his grave.
2
Please reread your “ Pelosi is wrong to impeach now” pick a side and defend it.
2
Since I’ve never been on corporate surveillance platforms like Facebook, nor watched FoxNews voluntarily, it’s bewildering to me what these toxic entities have wrought. My husband and I witnessed his extended family succumb to these propaganda machines over the past twenty years, and all of them have become venomous strangers to us. Even the children, indoctrinated by attending a megachurch’s “school” or services seven days a week, have never been out of their echo chamber.
Like LGBTQ people who had to remain closeted throughout history, there are legions more racists than we knew about who were similarly suppressed. Alarmingly, fundamental religious belief is a common denominator of bigotry, as I learned growing up in a Baptist/Confederate town. I fear our society will continue to regress until we bring back the Fairness Doctrine, if it’s not already too late. Biblical truth and post-fact news have divided our population into concerned citizens and spiteful, brainwashed sheeple.
Nancy MacLean’s book Democracy in Chains explains how the Oligarchs have been engineering this second Gilded Age since the last one. Jill Lepore’s These Truths, a one-volume political history of our nation, shows how this evil thinking is a thread that runs through every era, from our original sin of slavery to the unrepentant present.
420
@Alice Smith That is an excellent book. I've read it twice. Very enlightening to those who are befuddled by the present state of politics in the U.S. This all has been a long time coming.
16
@Alice Smith unfortunately you have to understand that only a few of us even remember what the fairness doctrine was and as long as fox and rush are around it won’t be coming back
12
@Alice Smith
I agree that Jill LePore's book is excellent. It is unusual to find a history book that is such a page turner. These Truths covers the good and bad in our American history (and there's a lot more of the bad than I realized). The effects of slavery, misogyny, poverty, and division -- to name a few -- have remained with us in one form or another from our nation's beginning to the present day.
12
As a federal appellate attorney I expected Trump to at least try to conceal what he was doing in his phone call. It shows how brazen he is. Further, I've only seen conversations like this before in reading the transcripts of phone call made by leaders of organized crime.
Trump's latest criminality has made it impossible not to have an impeachment inquiry, yet the story is surprisingly less about Trump than the GOP and his base, which protect and enable him.
The GOP is a right-wing Authoritarian Party controlling the Senate, the Judiciary, and the Executive. Mitch McConnell, its leader, stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama, refused to stop foreign election tampering, and promised to quash impeachment and make sure a trial is never held.
Trump's massive base loves him for his lawlessness. They have contempt for the US Constitution precisely because it exists to limit the power of someone like Trump. They only care about winning at any cost. It is why they don't care that Trump subverted the upcoming 2020 elections. Trump's base wants him to do whatever he desires to maintain power, as they hate liberal democracy and representative democracy.
The process is rigged in Trump's favor, meaning he can't lose. Republicans will back Trump no matter what. They hold a Senate majority with 53 Senate despite representing only 18 percent of Americans. However, because of this GOP authoritarianism, not in spite of it, impeachment is now necessary, no matter how perilous.
777
@Robert B
Well said.
We need to brace ourselves because 2020 is going to show our identity as a country. If, by following the laws, rules, and mores of our country are seen as causes for the people to reject the Democratic Party then we as a nation are lost.
72
@Robert B Good points but tRump's approval in recent poll was 37%. Not massive.
29
@Robert B - I also think that the larger problem is Trump's base. They seem to be happy to abandon democracy in order to follow a dictator, as long as it's their dictator.
99
A truly great essay by Mr. Egan! although I would not be so pessimistic in predicting that the impeachment would lead to Trump's 2nd term. I believe that Trump will be impeached in 2019 and then voted out in 2020, along with his enablers in the Senate.
4
We must always remember that millions of Americans support Trump now and will continue to support him no matter what he may do, so long as he carries out the program they support.
They do not care if he extorts Ukraine to fabricate dirt on a potential rival so long as he appoints ultra conservative Federalist Society judges and justices.
They do not care if he enriches himself and his family with public funds so long as he restricts the number of immigrants.
They do not care if he destroys the government so long as he supports white supremacists and the Second Amendment.
They do not care if he runs up record-breaking deficits so long as he advances their cause of an Evangelical America.
And if Trump is impeached and removed from office, or if he (narrowly) loses the election they will turn their support to the next person who will advance these goals.
1085
@John Graybeard
John, while I agree with the vast majority of what you say, I believe that although many of his supporters may condone the crime, they may draw the line at the cover-up. TBD.
27
@DB I wish I could believe you, but his supporters did not care about the hush payments, or about the campaign coordination with Russia, or about ten examples of blatant obstruction of justice, or about 12,000 lies while in office. Why would they care now? Trump and Hannity are telling them that this is a hoax and a witch hunt, and they are apparently incapable of discerning truth. As long as FOX News pays Hannity millions of dollars to be a shill for Trump, and his audience laps up the propaganda, the supporters will remain faithful.
151
@DB I wish that were the case, but in my conversations with Trump supporters, this is all a construct of the media and their support isn’t diminished.
The same people swear he’s doing a fantastic job, especially with China “because you can’t trust the Chinese, they’re liars.”
Ok, then.
89
“To impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, who prosecuted WJC for lying about a private matter, NOT withholding congressionally approved funds from an ally for a political favor.
Translation - He has done much worse, so why this?
Because the evidence is public and simple to understand.
Which Mr. Graham surely understands and fears.
11
@Open-minded Scientist. John McCain is spinning in his grave so badly because his friend Lindsay Graham turned out to be such a jerk.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump famously said that he could shoot someone on 5th Ave. and it would not cost him the support of his followers. At the time, most people probably thought he was joking. By now, however, it should be clear that the president was simply expressing confidence that he would never face the consequences of his misdeeds. We are about to find out if his confidence was warranted.
920
@James Lee - He was joking.
I don't think he has joked about anything in his life. Everything he says is clearly testing the waters, testing the limits, to see how far he can do. When he get's push back he falls back on "come on, I was joking" but if there is no push back he goes forward. Proving it wasn't a joke.
164
@James Lee
That's why having the tax returns is the only thing that matters. Just like Al Capone.
48
@James Lee
Except that with his very base base they would assume he had shot someone on 5th Ave who is one of those bleeding heart "libruls" and of course it would be OK.
But if he murders the agriculture economy of the mid west they might not like it so much.
27
Bravo, Mr. Egan. You got it exactly right.
39
TE, you have stated it well as have the following comments. Suffice it to say it is simply SOP (standard operating procedure) for the "stable genius." He has no concept of honesty or truth.
19
Well put. Thank you.
17
Trump has always been an unindicted and unconvicted crook his entire life, always enjoying the privilege of hiding comfortably behind a wealthy wall of his daddy's lawyers, accountants and doctors to paper over his business lies, tax dodging and draft-dodging lies.
The fact that 40% of the nation blindly supports this spoiled rotten scofflaw and his award-winning amorality and immorality is what's stupifying, especially the ones pretending to be 'Christians'.
What's apparent is that 40% of Americans are simply corrupt, oblivious to their own hypocrisy, selfishness and complete lack of character.
And many Americans as well are simply hypnotized and stupidified by wealth in others, assuming that a large bank account coincides with a large IQ.
As a moral human, it's important to do the right in life, and that includes telling the truth, supporter other truth-tellers, avoiding hypocrisy, helping the weak, the poor and the abused ...and fighting corruption in all forms.
The Republican Party has telegraphed its soul to America in the Frankenstein Presidency of Donald Trump.
Amorality, immorality, unregulated oligarchic greed, corruption and proud white male spite is the Republican order of the day.
Putin's corrupt Kremlin and oligarchic mafia that has long made Russia a struggling backwater state has a spiritual doppelganger in modern Russian-Republicanism and the Grand Old Power party.
Honest Trump supporters should lower their American flags...and raise the Russian one.
116
@Socrates
Absolutely true on all counts.
Trump and his base are anti American in their values.
The Republican establishment is always working against American values to benefit themselves.
This is a disgusting betrayal, because you think that you can get away with it.
8
@Socrates
as always, good response. I do find the term "honest Trump supporters" to be an oxymoron.
8
@Socrates
Trump is today's Jim Jones.
His supporters are only too eager to drink the Kool Aid.
4
Cpl. Bonespurs has never loved this country. He is enamored of despots, tyrants and dictators. I predict that if he is the Republican candidate next year, and is defeated, he will not leave peacefully. They will have to drag him out of the back door and his fingernails will leave drag marks on the jamb. And, conversely, if this impeachment hearing turn into proceedings, he will quit.
14
I carefully read the article. It failed to mention any SPECIFIC law that Trump broke. Hence, it is fluff.
"Trump urged Ukraine to meddle in an American election"
That is a lie. Trump urged the Ukraine to help investigate....wait for it.... COLLUSION!
Russian collusion is bad....right?
1
@George Orwell: You might want to refer to Charlie Savage's article in the NYT titled "How the Impeachment Process Works". Here's a tidbit:
"The term “high crimes and misdemeanors” came out of the British common law tradition: it was the sort of offense that Parliament cited in removing crown officials for centuries. Essentially, it means an abuse of power by a high-level public official. This does not necessarily have to be a violation of an ordinary criminal statute.
:
"In 1788, as supporters of the Constitution were urging states to ratify the document, Alexander Hamilton described impeachable crimes in one of the Federalist Papers as 'those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated POLITICAL, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.'"
You're welcome.
22
@George Orwell I can only say in response: Amazing.
1
@George Orwell Is lawbreaking the standard now? Not corruption, not self-dealing, not an utter lack of ethics? We have certainly lowered the bar for a leader of the most powerful nation on earth.
4
Usual business in America .
1
The Republicans have no choice but to close ranks around Trump, even in light of the very clear evidence provided in Trump's phone call to the Ukrainian President.
The GOP in Congress know that their fate is inexorably tied to Trump. If they turn on him, if they convict him and remove him from office, Trump's supporters will go crazy. The 2020 election would be a bloodbath. GOP who don't support Trump will be voted out of office by landslide proportions. There is not a single Republican who is willing to risk his office, his perks, or his power in order to do the right thing.
Trump is a cancer upon this country, and he needs to be removed from office. The Republicans KNOW this. They also know that if they impeach and convict him, they are DONE as a political party. So they will once again put party over country. It is sheer survival instinct.
They KNOW Trump is a thug. They've ALWAYS known that. They knew it from the moment he descended that escalator in Trump Tower and called Mexicans "rapists." But they thought they could "control" him, "manage" him, and corral his worst impulses. The Ukrainian phone call showed just how WRONG they were. You cannot "manage" a train-wreck. Trump is the walking, talking epitome of chaos and criminality. But it's too late for the GOP to back away from Trump. They'll ride this Viking funeral-ship right to the bitter end.
The next couple months will be naked political warfare in this country. Buckle up and hang on tight.
40
And call them by their name, not their brand. They don't deserve the presumption of grandeur you keep lavishing on them.
3
@Jack Connolly
The German businessmen who supported Hitler thought they could control him, too. Millions died and the nation was left a shambles. But quite a number of those corporate heads prospered from the use of slave labor during the 3rd Reich and never suffered any real consequences after the war either.
4
Trump has committed multiple "high crimes and misdemeanors" and should be impeached.
One might ask, however, whether these misdeeds were implicitly countenanced by the voters (albeit a minority of them) and by Trump's party. Every person who voted for Trump, and the party that nominated him, knew full well that he was an inveterate, constant liar, that he was a con man and grifter, and that he would put his interests first and foremost above those of any other person or institution, including the USA. They also knew of his infidelities, cheating, bankruptcies, frauds, reckless and evil statements, grotesque lies and fantasies, boasting and exaggerations, his cynical birtherism, and even his assaults. They knew of his unhinged, narcissistic mental condition.
You don't change the spots on a cheetah. We may rid our government of the stench of a miscreant like Trump, but it will be harder to clear our collective consciences of the fact that we knowingly put him into power. The rot goes far deeper than Trump. If you doubt this, just consider Barr, McConnell, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Ross, McCarthy, Graham, Nunes, Ryan, his Chiefs of Staff and communications staff, his cabinet members generally (past and present), and his many apologists. An ugly, ugly picture.
25
Trump is a system of decay, truth decay. Sycophant men and women in Congress enable him to exist. They do so because they fear the voting booth wrath of the racist, sexist, homophobic, religiously obsessed, science denying crazies that placed them in office. Calling upon the President, or Congress or voters to preserve "the integrity of our nation" is a complete and utter waste of time. Wake up. The problem is us!
15
I am still trying to figure out if Trump really thinks he said nothing wrong in his phone call with the Ukrainian president or if he knows right from wrong but still thinks he can lie his way out of it. Those around him obviously know he broke the law, hence the cover-up. Trump's assertion that "only an idiot would say something inappropriate" in a phone call heard by others may be the answer.
15
@Christy He knows, from the trouble that ensued, that he did something he needs to make go away. There is no "wrong" in his metal "vocabulary," other than the wrong he senses when his ego is threatened.
3
Every Republican officeholder should be beaten over the head, given that the nature of sociopath Trump has been obvious from the start, yet they never spoke up!
6
"Trump sees this as no big deal because he’s always gotten away with his many transgressions, floating above the law in a padded world of privilege and prevarication." Nailed it!
Trump has no functioning conscience, and as we can see (if we so choose), he goes beyond mere conceit and self-absorption and does serious damage wherever he goes (businesses, marriages, his "charity work," the presidency…), leaving wreckage, destruction, chaos, hurt and suffering in his wake. It's a game to him. He wins; everyone else loses. Ha! Trump gets his power fix.
It gets worse. As Egan says, Trump delights in getting away with what he does. Trump is a high risk-taker. Basically, there is nothing much going on intellectually or certainly spiritually inside Trump's corroded mind, except his delusions, psychopathy, and grandiosity.
And what gives him a kick, like any card-carrying con artist, is duping stupid people (that is all of us) and seeing what he can get away with. There is a feedback loop to all this that pumps him up and keeps motivating him to fly ever closer to the sun. Has he arrived yet? Ask the Mitch McConnell and the GOP.
We are living in the Age of Addiction: Some people are hooked on opioids, Donald J. Trump is hooked on himself.
And, even more scary, some voters are totally hooked on Donald Trump.
32
This needs to be shouted day-in and day-out:
“What the GOP donors, operatives, and elected elites want is not a Constitutional republic but a Putin-style oligarchic kleptocracy fronted by a lying demagogic “President for Life” running a fake, Reality TV “democracy“.”
Trump is a stooge.
14
Biden-Kasich unity ticket 2020!
4
We are almost 3 years too late with this move towards impeachment. Didn’t our mob boss-in-chief evidence identical behavior to that which is on view in his phone call to Zelensky when the bloom was hardly off the first days of the rose of his administration? Remember how he approached James Comey and ‘asked’ him if he couldn’t see his way towards dropping the FBI investigation of the treasonous National Security Adviser Michael Flynn? In other words, there is nothing at all new in the illegal activity of one DJT. It is high time to be rid of this rubbish in our White House.
17
Well put.
5
..."The Constitution can't save itself", nicely said; as it is based on the will of the people to hold it true. These are treacherous times where a diabolically unhinged 'president' has been able to swallow up, to engulf, the entire republican party, and an adoring non-thinking emotionally-wrapped up 'base'...into doing his mafia-like business of trampling on the constitution and the rule of law, all to satisfy his sick ego...and go on enriching himself at our expense. But, to your point, that Trumps never knew any different behavior but the cheating on others, by a choked off conscience that has become 'oblivious to know' right from wrong, fact from fiction, his lying as his only way to interpret reality and the truth according to his needs and whims. This is a mentally deranged individual, in need of urgent help...by removing him from an office that has always been far too big for his little head. This man-child is a lost case...but a remedy is being sought as we speak, impeachment, to stop his brutal and cruel regime of pluto-kleptocrats. It's high time to restore the trust in our democratic institutions; however long it may take, it's worth it!
5
Correction...if any Trump supporter does it, it's not a crime. FreeDumb is the highest value for the Trump supporters. They want to be able to do what Trump is doing. That is their fantasy. Total freeDumb to do whatever they want...break any law they want, and tear the constitution into little pieces.
So, Trump knows he will not lose any support here. His base would do exactly the same thing if they could. His base is totally and completely fine with foreign interference with the election. I have no doubt that Trump's base would be fine if Trump decided to declare himself president for life and forgo all future elections. Elections are for losers. And besides...the base believes that all of the people who vote against Trump are illegals, or should be treated as such. So, what's the point of even holding elections?
Wake up, little Suzy, wake up. 40% of the US voting population does not believe in democracy. They want a right wing dictatorship...and they want it now. How do we hold the country together with that much dead weight praying for the apocalypse? 40% of the population is ready to burn this country down if they don't get exactly what they want. This impeachment inquiry is just the opening skirmish in what promises to be a nasty war.
19
The pinnacle of arrogance.
2
If you are raised by crooks, it is very likely that you will act like a crook. I doubt seriously that DJT's mother ever threatened to wash out his mouth with soap or DJT's father ever told him that a spanking at school would mean another one at home. Many folks of my generation were raised with these rubrics and understand what DJT cannot. Poor Donald. Poor USA!
3
"He has spent his entire adult life skirting, mocking, ignoring or breaking the law." And he has unbelievably always emerged unscathed. His removal from office by bipartisan vote is the sole means to finally put an end to his "winning" track record. If Congress cannot agree to do so, they should all be held shamefully accountable for abetting in the fracturing of the tenets of our Constitution and making a mockery of our democracy. This is not just another of Mr. Trump's shady business deals of over forty years we are talking about. It is the future of a nation.
16
The bigger concern is not that Trump is a life-long criminal (duh!) but that the Republican party has spent decades convincing many Americans that all politicians are criminals and that this behavior is ubiquitous, expected, and normal. Do if Donald Trump does it, it may be a crime, but who cares?
3
Mr. Egan isn't exaggerating when he writes: "Trump’s life is a biography of scam and scofflaw."
To understand what he's talking about, read David Cay Johnston's book "The Making Of Donald Trump." Mr. Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize winner and sometimes writes op-eds for NYT.
I read it in 2016 as Donald was about to be nominated. It's jaw-dropping, and I knew exactly what we were getting. In a twisted sort of way, he hasn't disappointed.
16
"Let them [the seven freshman Democrats from vulnerable districts who penned an op-ed supporting impeachment] be the face of the Democratic Party during impeachment.' Agreed.
I spend so much time stuck in my anger about this presidency that I get disconnected from the heartbreaking nature of the damage he's doing. This column was a beautifully written reminder of what's at stake here. Thank you.
21
It's not just that he's a congenital law-breaker. His law-breaking has the full support of the law-makers in his own party. And the attorneys---the ATTORNEYS---in his administration are covering up his law-breaking.
14
I’m convinced that Trump actively sought impeachment as a new episode of his “reality show.” It “excuses” him from doing anything about gun violence- he as much as said so yesterday. And it enables him to show off how he can manipulate the stock market (by the way, is anyone looking into that?)
5
"How could they release this?" Indeed. It was obviously a issue to Trump aides who tried to cover it up. (The whistleblower uncovered it.) Trump himself knew that people were listening to his conversation and said, in part, "...Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate..."
Mr. Egan's column is clear and believable to a point, blaming a vacant spot where Trump's moral compass ought to be.
Yet Trump said himself, "dumb". There is something intellectually missing in a mob boss who either didn't understand why there was a Mueller investigation or forgot about it a day or two after Mueller testimony to Congress.
This isn't just lack of moral compass. What about Alzheimer's or dementia or some other mental condition. Trump can't remember from one day to the next what he said and chronically denies saying things that are recorded on multiple news clips. That also is "dumb."
A comment that shows up periodically in public columns, Trump isn't merely morally off the rails, there is something seriously missing upstairs. Utter amorality alone cannot explain the incredible stupidity and "dumb" illegal behavior in a monitored phone call.
11
Trump announced that he would seek to have the next G7 meeting held at his Miami golf resort. Could there be a clearer, in your face, example of Trump attempting to use his office to enrich himself and his family? For Trump, America is no different than some third world country where corruption is a way of life and where the people expect their president to use his office to enrich himself and his family. The tragedy is that millions of Americans, including the Republicans in Congress, now appear to find this acceptable in our country, at least so long as a Republican is president.
33
Indeed, this is a very slippery slope. We are getting to the point where anything this man does is legit as far as his base is concerned. Will the republicans senators see through this, ever?
6
Richard Nixon famously said "If the President does it it's not illegal." Many Republican pols, judges, and pundits have been pushing the concept of the Imperial Presidency.The theory that a President cannot be indicted while in office, a interpretation of the Constitution not openly stated, has some legitimate arguments behind it although I don't agree with them. It is not law, it is simply the practice of the Justice department currently. The Trump lawyers have stretched this theory into the absurd notion that a President can't be investigated while in office. This is a open invitation for Presidential corruption. President Trump hears these arguments and goes game on,anything goes. We must put a stop to this horrible theory if we want to live in a democratic republic rather then banana republic.
13
The redacted memo released by Trump admitting to basically extorting a foreign country into digging up dirt or, if need be, creating some to interfere in the 2020 election against Trump's presumed opponent was an incredible example of the Imperial Presidency and how completely this lawless POTUS assumes the rule of law and the Constitution itself doe not apply to him.
Even Nixon did not have this warped an ego. Various points also make it clear that Trump has no concept of what is in the Constitution. He expects the courts to be able to rule against Impeachment, says that Nancy Pelosi is no longer Speaker (presumably because she dared oppose him and dared to begin the investigation.) This TV reality star President thinks he can just rewrite the script and everybody will obey him..maybe by saying "democracy...you're fired."
5
By now it should be clear that we're dealing with a person who has no moral compass or the ability to discern right from wrong, which is not exactly the qualities one may wish to have in a sitting U.S. President.
That's what makes the current situation so alarming.
Not only has Donald Trump ignored the Constitution and reached out to a foreign government (AGAIN!) for help in winning the election -- but he sees absolutely nothing wrong with doing it.
In fact, his presidency has been characterized by a series of acts and tweets that fall outside the realm of respectability not only for his office, but for the entire country.
And just for the record. That "nothing call" and then his threats to essentially take down the whistleblower as some kind of a "spy" is quite worrisome.
Not only because he comes across as some kind of a Mafia-thug complete Rudy Giuliani acting as his off-the-leash attack dog, but because he's posing a grave threat to our country's national security in doing so.
It's bad enough that Mitch McConnell and a lockstep Republican Senate are remaining inactive by covering for him, but the fact that the Attorney General and Justice Department are also looking the other way is a serious indictment of just how much trouble we're in.
It's going to take more than only Democrats to right this course.
We're going down fast.
10
All the naysayers don't see the positive consequences of impeachment because they haven't happened yet....Our elected officials will be vindicated and respected for standing up for what is right. The GOP senate will be forced to go on record defending this evil, evil man.
7
Well and truly said, Tim.
Richard Ben Veniste, the Watergate prosecutor, a serious man of fine intellect and moderated tone, captured the difference between Trump and Nixon the other day... paraphrasing, "At least Nixon was ashamed... Trump has no sense of shame."
His surprise at the reaction reflects his lack of any moral compass.
8
Tim - You are on the money. Certainly, DJT is a full blown sociopath and more. But what is most disturbing is the failure of the general populace to recognize the gravity of the situation (recent polls re impeachment). This, it appears, is what we have become. Nancy Pelosi is a hero in my book. Frankly, I doubt we would make it to the next election had she had not drawn the line. The "meh" response to the Mueller report was an enabler and now this. She had no choice.
5
Back in the '90s, the Republicans went to war and spent millions of dollars trying to take down Bill Clinton over a sexual liaison with an intern. It was political theater of the most pathetic kind and blew up in their face because they misread the public's appetite for impeachment.
Now we have a transcript of the President trying to shake down the newly-elected president of a country involved in a shadow war with Russia, basically saying, "you play ball, or you're not going to get our money."
And what do we hear from the Republicans? Silence or spin, mostly. Some even claimed to have not had to chance to read the whistleblower complaint yesterday when pressed by reporters. Nine pages of one of the most consequential documents in recent history, and they haven't had time to read it.It boggles the mind how conservatives have mastered the art of deception and prevarication to such a degree that the lies just roll effortlessly off their tongues.
I don't see how the Dems can botch this one, but then again, I didn't see how they could lose to Trump in 2016 either. The Republican Party and anyone who backed Trump will be radioactive for decades. Let's roll.
9
The title of the op-Ed is an actual Constitutional issue about to be tested.
Michelle Goldberg writes that he impeachment inquiry is our last defense against Presidential lawlessness. It is also a test of the limits of Presidential lawfulness: the arrogant power grab exercised by this President is advocated as rightful exercise of Presidential power. Trump himself has bellowed that the “beautiful “ Article 2 means he can do anything.
AG Barr has been a decades long proponent of the so called unitary executive theory, so that Trump may in fact be policeman, judge and jury of his own conduct. Trump’s blanket defiance of Congressional subpoenas, thwarting oversight, is not merely a Trump tactic; it is the strategy Barr has argued is the divine right of Presidents because he reads the Constitution as mandating that the President can do no wrong. Nixon said that if the President does it, it is not illegal; Barr has written the amicus brief in support of that proposition. He opposed Iran-Contra hearings and backed the subsequent pardons; you can’t say he hasn’t been consistent....but Manafort and Flynn’s pardons are not yet politically expedient.
Barr no doubt sees the Ukraine affair, including the retaining of the Rogue Rudy, as within the President’s broad power to conduct foreign policy as he sees fit.
If this inquiry does not end the “unitary” theory maybe it will disgrace it’s leading advocate, and Congress may rightfully reclaim the powers it has ceded to Presidents.
5
Explore the timeline that coincides with Trump, Guiliani and the Ukraine with Barr's appointment as Attorney General Feb. 14, 2019. The swift closure of the Muellar report was done before Flynn, who is creating havoc in the courts, was sentenced. Gates was not sentenced and the trial of Roger Stone loomed in the future. All three are Trump allies and Barr holds their fate in his hands.. Barr successfully deceived the public regarding the Muellar report while Trump and Guiliani were doing ground work for 2020 election interference. Guiliani and Barr should be disbarred. Trump is the puppeteer while they are the marionettes who know better
2
A Narcissistic Personality is someone whose "balloon" of highest ego must be inflated by constant "supplies" of praise and self-praise. Other than lack of empathy -- serious in itself -- the narcissist may not be harmful to others. "Sociopath" and "psychopath" are colloquial terms, not psychiatric diagnoses. The diagnostic category that complements the president's Narcissism and mirrors his attitudes and behaviors is Antisocial Personality Disorder. Essentially -- heartlessness, criminality, impulsivity. Look it up.
5
I sure hope that we can finally scrutinize Mitch McConnell while we are draining the swamp.
9
It is no exaggeration to say that Donald Trump is the most ethically challenged individual to ever occupy the Oval Office. Trump is and always has been morally bankrupt, as bankrupt as his casinos.
11
"...when you're a star, they let you."
Take the same exact fact pattern and change one word...Change 'Trump' to 'Obama' and then imagine where the nation would be at this minute. The docility and excuse-making of the GOP Stepford Wives is disgusting. A once great party has fallen out of consideration for office in all places and positions.
5
I've been telling people this ever since he announced his candidacy. As a New Yorker it's always been clear to me who he is; a fraud, a cheat, a predator, a jerk, a gaudy classless reject from the a 1980's episode of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and possibly the worst kind of person to be entrusted with the presidency. A lot of the super rich drive under the influence of entitlement but Donald Trump makes them most of them look like stone cold sober temperance teetotallers. I think Mr. Egan gets it slightly wrong though, when he writes that Trump is oblivious to boundaries. I believe he knows full well where the boundaries are and thrives on the thrill of transgression. It gives the rush of power he's an addict to. It's a bump better than Adderal. But yesterday he was cowed and weak, feebly muttering in desperate pleas to the Democrats about gun security and infrastructure. His cover is blown, he knows it and so do his fans. Only the willfully blind will "believe" his "believe me"s from here on out.
9
Well said, sir. It is beyond comprehension that so many still support and defend this crook.
11
This guy, who should never be named, is appealing to those, gasp, millions simply because they love lawlessness, or their rosy version of no constitution, no taxes, no government.
Those millions are not evil, or even deplorable, they’re just American fans. Fans of another civil war. Fans of theocracy. Fans of xenophobia. To them, no-to-be-named is the embodiment of myriad fantasies about power, sex, celebrity, vengeance, and money. Doing a mob-boss extortion with Ukraine is simply expected, and praiseworthy.
Can’t impeach them all. Maybe educate, but that’s going to be a very long process, and we may not have the time before the Great Democratic Experiment withers away.
3
Of course it isn't a crime if Trump does it. Trump is God. Just ask Him.
3
As always, Mr. Egan goes right to the heart of the matter. But I do wish that he, and others, would remember that, above all, the President is a liar. When he says the Ukrainian phone call was "a nothing call" and demands an apology from his enemies. he isn't revealing ignorance of the difference between right and wrong. He is merely lying.
5
How do Trump's fans across the US become so very frozen in their beliefs about him? I have yet to read or see any real understanding of this process. How do the Republican Senators like Lindsay Graham come to stand glued to him?
130
They are a cult, hence impenetrable to truth.
78
@EKB Their beliefs have not always been frozen. I have personally witnessed how a high ranked retired military officer friend of mine went from "never Trump" during the 2016 nominations to justifying most of Trump's positions today. It's both tragic and comical to hear him come up with the sophistry needed to square this with still wanting to seem like an honorable person.
Supporting Trump has become the litmus test of being a real Republican. It's scary.
84
@EKB -You answered your question about Lindsay Graham with the first question -- Mr. Graham will say whatever Trump's supporters want to hear. Just as he used to say whatever McCain's supporters want to hear. Makes no difference to him that one of those men was honorable and the other is transparently a con-man.
69
Amen, brother. These are the times that reveal the true character of our citizens and our leaders, and they have found us. To ignore Trump's blatant subversion of our democracy and electoral process is simply to encourage him to do even worse. If we do nothing, we will have no confidence that the results of the next election are valid, as they will have been tainted even more egregiously than those of 2016. Speaker Pelosi has waited for the right moment and the right issue to move forward. It is up to us to support this effort to finally hold Trump accountable even if it does not result in his removal from office until 2021. Call your representatives and have their backs on this. Let's go.
4
Since Dems in the House found the courage to initiate impeachment inquiry, Dems and Independents in the country must remember this and support them at the polls come November. I’m tired of hearing that doing the right thing may lead to a bad result. We CAN avoid that!
15
Kathleen, you're right and nobody can afford to sit out the 2020 election. With gerrymandering + making it very difficult to vote in red states, people who care about the law and see through this corrupt President need to do whatever it takes to vote.
1
"Beautiful" call. That's a symptom. So is this: "heavily populated," which is how he described that same call just last week.
3
So true, no recognition of boundaries equates to no expectations of accountability. Should be very interesting from here on in watching him learn that even he is subject to standards and law. To think it only took seventy some years to sink in if indeed it has or does.
3
Donald was at the center of a fortuitous moment in history....a convergence of events involving political change, media change, voter attitudes, and cultural torment.
But he couldn't embrace his incredible good fortune because of what Timothy Egan explains so insightfully here.
Donald has no boundaries and that is the definition of self destructive.
4
Call it disinhibition, which is a symptom.
Mr. Egan, you should talk to your colleague, David Brooks. If there is anything to the notion that punishment has a deterrent effect (it doesn't always), the only way to stop Trump from enlisting foreign countries to interfere with our democratic process is to remove him from office, or at least try to. If this were a company with a board of directors, Trump would be suspended without pay pending an investigation. Because we can't do that or issue a temporary restraining order forbidding Trump from entering the White House, impeachment is the only choice. But I'm not convinced there aren't enough Senators who may vote to convict. Romney, Sasse, Gardner, Collins? If those 4 vote to impeach, Trump is gone. And if Pence is demonstrated to be involved, it may only take three as he might be forbidden from casting the tying vote.
6
@cjp I am in total agreement with your points, but unfortunately, you are incorrect about the 4 Republican Senators being enough the convict Trump. It takes a 2/3 vote of the Senate (67 votes) to convict at impeached president.
4
@cjp
I was shocked by David Brooks piece. Blinded by his Cartesian logic? I fear his thinking reflects much of America.
1
@cjp I don’t know how you got the idea that Gardener might have a spine. He doesn’t. He is nothing but just another Trumpian camp follower with not a single functional brain cell outside the reptilian brain.
2
This is not the first Fortunate Son in recent memory who managed to leave a trail of bad business decisions behind but was bailed out by papa's money, and then was put into the office of President even while losing the vote.
George W. Bush also blazed a trail through his life of failed businesses (oil company, baseball team, etc.), that required his fiscally more sensible father's cash to bail him out while leaving others to clean up the mess left behind.
The joke's on us for letting these two men, clearly unfit to handle the biggest job on earth, to even get close to the Oval Office.
26
@Entera I am not and never was a fan of George W. Bush. I don't think he was a great President or even a good one. But he at least he seemed to mostly be an honest person with some integrity. The same cannot be said of Trump. Trump is deplorable.
6
@Michigan Girl My comment was about his history of Daddy bailing out his disastrous business decisions. However, I'm wondering where the integrity was when he LIED about weapons of mass destruction, and got us into the most disastrous military action we've done in our history, one that has already dwarfed Vietnam in it's repercussions.
4
There is not a word or a thought in this essay that is not spot on.
I have heard a few pundits say this phone call is enough to impeach the so called man in the White House, and it is. Except the more articles of impeachment that are presented, with solid facts to back them up, the more voters and republicans are going to see impeachment as the only course.
Senators might vote against one or two articles but feel compelled to vote for one. And that is enough.
If voters cannot see the danger that t rump and his republican party present to our democracy, our republic, and the health of our world, then we don't deserve a democracy.
And it is going to be up to the 4th Estate to make sure that voters do see the facts, and are aware of the dangers, and vote to oust republicans from all levels of government.
After all, it is your Nation and your democracy too.
23
I wholeheartedly agree, except for the slight nod to the narrative that impeachment is politically damaging to Democrats in 2020. Nixon was rightfully threatened with impeachment, resigned, and then Carter was the next elected President. Clinton was wrongfully impeached for lying about an affair, acquitted, and Republicans lost big in the next election. Trump has violated his oath and desecrated the office of President. Impeachment is just and warranted. It was a long time ago. I think it is safe to say most people don’t want impeachment, but I also believe that Democrats know it must be done and want our elected officials to conduct oversight and hold the executive branch accountable. That was a big part of the 2018 mandate. Doing the right thing by calling out dishonesty and corruption and holding those who violate the public trust accountable must be considered admirable and appropriate. If not, our experiment in democracy has already failed.
34
@Sandy I agree. This isn't the Clinton impeachment and suspect more than a few Republicans are going to cave to pressure and support impeachment.
3
It won't make any difference if the house votes for impeachment since McConnell will not bring it to a vote in the senate. Just like he stood in Garland's nomination the power of the government is in the hands of the power behind the throne. The trump family is amassing millions of dollars but unfortunately the democrats are not learned in alley fighting. The only chance the democrats have is getting behind the people running for the senate and governor races . Like Ukraine we voted a comic into our presidency like a foirm of entertainment. But the issues have gotten too serious to laugh about, global warming, gun control, the situation in the Middle East. Why doesn't the Republican Party get serious about these issues. That what doesn't kill you makes the 1% richer.
9
Bill Barr, our super cop, sees nothing Trump does as a problem. Whatever Trump has said or done is all clear with the head of our Justice Department. No on can question Trump as long as he is the president. We can't even investigate him. This will come back to haunt the Republicans but not before serious damage is done to most of our governmental agencies. Barr is making a mockery of our office of the president and he will help Trump take us all down with them.
17
@Paul Raffeld The US is a banana republic now. Barr would not recuse himself when he is part of an accusation. This is also impeachable. They put wimpering whining sex abuser Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court - my outrage is his history as a part of the Ken Starr mob plus his obvious lack of judicial temperament and coherence. They are destructive to the US these republicans, McConnell/Chao are as corrupt as any Russian or Chinese oligarchs.
1
The outcome of this could well be that both Trump and Biden lose their bids to represent their party in the election of 2020. We could well end up with Mitt vs Elizabeth as our choice.
I am not a big fans of Mitt and absolutely am a fan of Liz, wouldn't certainly be refreshing to have a POTUS that we can trust - who's every impulse is not somehow harmful to some of us?
6
@bobbybow, Mitt is a phony, had a tepid response, which because it was the only one is overrated. I'm from MA, no Mitt, another 1%er with no empathy.
1
Recommended reading for David Brooks, whose recent column is tantamount to suggesting an abuse victim should not come forward because the odds of conviction are low:
"The Democrats were left with no choice. Even if it costs them the presidency, they can no longer be blind to their constitutional responsibility. This could be one of those cases where the right thing to do by the country is not the best thing to do politically."
103
I want to see every Republican who still supports Trump and is against Impeachment called out. I want names and faces, not just of the ones we hear about all the time, like Graham, Nunes, Meadows, but every last one. If they run down a hall to escape the press, I want the press to follow them and I want to see it on TV. If they say they haven't had time to read the transcript or the complaint, I want the media to ask them, "Why not? Isn't it important to you?" I want every last one of them hounded and exposed.
241
@JB
And I want them to have to vote their conscious for all the world to see.
10
Like most folks too busy with life issues, I'll keep an eye on this worrisome thing, but I don't have the luxury to let it consume my time and attention. However, some media have been claiming the destruction of the country and our values since the 2016 election and this latest will be discounted by many as more of the same, unless you can be clear why this is different from all the other 'death of democracy' and 'shredding of the Constitution' claims made like a constant drumbeat over the previous 3 years. Many of the comments here read with such gleeful undertones, they come across as ecstatic the President may have been caught betraying ...something and violating ... something. It's really off-putting.
3
@Seethegrey
We are all busy with life issues, but it is important to take/make time to read the complaint. It is really revealing and trustworthy, as has been shown in the last 24 hours. Also specific, not just "something."
It's not a good time to say "it's really off-putting." This is the real deal time to pay attention.
22
You live in Montana, a state with outsized power. I guess you can afford to be sanguine about all this. I live in California -- one of several disenfranchised, underrepresented states. We put great energy into being informed about this disaster of an administration because we have no power to bring change in 2020.
31
@Seethegrey. Mr. Trump has been caught betraying his oath of office, the Constitution, and the security of the American people. This is demonstrated not only in this particular phone call, but in the cover-up as well.
This is more than "something."
25
Mr. Egan is correct: the Constitution cannot save itself. Only when the principles set forth in the Constitution--the rule of law, checks and balances, solemn oaths--live in the hearts of American leaders; or when the people of this nation decide to oust those who demonstrate that they are unguided by those principles--will the Constitution prevail.
It is now abundantly evident that adherence to the Constitution and laws of the United States no longer exists for the vast majority of Republicans holding high office. So the final check is us. Those who put party above duty, who enable Trump's lawlessness, who seek to distract their fellow citizens from the criminal enterprise that the White House has obviously become--have to be defeated at the polls.
There is nothing wrong about sharp political disagreements. They have existed as long as has the Republic. But when political leaders ignore and encourage lawlessness, the mere existence of the U.S. Constitution will not protect us.
Only when its principles guide the American public will our nation survive as a democratically ruled republic.
63
I read the Republican talking points that were mistakenly sent to Democrats in Congress. I also tuned into Fox last night to get a break from mainstream commentary. I didn’t linger on Fox since I’d read their script earlier in the day.
27
@JALH just noted your comment that you tuned into Fox to 'get a break from mainstream commentary". Do you not consider Fox mainstream'? As the only network many, many Americans tune into, Fox seems to me to pretty much fit into that category.
You say I am cheap. I say I am frugal. You say I am weak, I say I am compassionate. You say I am aggressive. I say I am enthusiastic.
Trump says, I can do no wrong. His supporters say, The POTUS can do no wrong. We say, DJT does wrong every day. * DST says I had a great conversation. Lovely. * We say you betrayed your country. DJT says catch me if you can. The AG says not if I can help it. * We say throw the bum in jail.
Points of view. Different. People will defend the position they hold. It's a shame that millions of Americans forge a point of view based on what they see and hear on FOX and SINCLAIR, as it's not information, it's propaganda. Millions of people love Trump. Are they all also corrupt or do they just not know what FOX/SINCLAIR are about? Why would any working class person vote for Trump or McConnell except for ignorance? And are we countering ignorance? No. We have Betsy DeVos and she believes in keeping people as dumb as possible. Works for the GOP!
Impeachment isn't going to fly in the Senate, but the Dems should try anyway. What's right is right and the costs don't matter.
54
@Jeanie LoVetri, Agree that Fox has done enormous danger to our society. It is not "news", rather lying propaganda, repeated so often it seems the truth.
3
It is true that the shakedown call to the Ukraine is probably not the worst offense Trump has committed while in Office-it is simply the one we have learned about thanks to a courageous whistle-blower.Trump has straddled the line between legal and illegal his whole life-often landing on the illegal side but with good PR and a cadres of lawyers was able to evade the consequences.He became so brazen that he declared that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and nothing would happen.He really believed that it was fine to bully the Democratically elected leader of the Ukraine-he is for Trump first-the country he swore to serve-not so much!
22
A lifetime of having accountability to no one created a president who felt immune to the rule of law.
A lifetime of taking (or grabbing) anything he wanted, fueled his hubris and greed.
A lifetime of unrestrained megalomania and related abuses and control over others have finally caught up with him.
31
Trump was shocked when he became president. You could see it on his face. It was the last thing that he expected. He was like the car-chasing dog that doesn't know what to do with the car once he has finally caught up with it.
I might be giving the man's intelligence too much credit, but I think that Trump knew that he was out of his depth, and for at least the first year of his presidency, did everything that he could do to prove that prove that he was right; he did not deserve to be president. In the second year, he discovered that he enjoyed the perks that came with the job, even when he did the job badly. This third year has seen him testing his omnipotence by trying to get away with as much as possible, but with the growing realization that only while he is president that he can avoid serving time. Nonetheless, and in spite of all bluster to the contrary, he is doing everything in his power to make sure that he is caught, punished and impeached.
18
@Jackie You had me through the third year until you said he is doing everything he can to make sure he is caught, etc.
I differ in that I think that he still truly believes he can do no wrong or that if he does he will get away with it as he has in the past.
4
Our future is in Democrat hands now. Will they act swiftly or prefer the endless false security of talking heads, eager to cajole and contemplate, until an election that will be lost? We shall see if Nancy Pelosi has the right stuff. I am not confident. She becomes far too distracted by Trump's Office, refusing to see the chewed bodies and blood all over this administration. I hope I am wrong.
4
Trump is proof that severe mental illness doesn't always result in complete dysfunction. While he is endlessly destructive and devastating for America's future, he does at least manage to meet the minimum requirements of at least superficially looking like a real president.
I sincerely believe this occupant of the Oval Office is mentally deranged. Two days ago, in a rambling, 40-minute news conference, he wildly and without any evidence attacked Joe and Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton for her email and all the "Democrats, who are socialists and worse". He exhibited delusional thinking and paranoia even more than usual. He's a life-long narcissist and has subscribed to wild conspiracy theories with any evidence. Narcissistic Personality D/O is a very serious psychological condition; not just a minor or inconsequential character flaw.
But we must all have a big heart for those who suffer from mental illness -- and I do have empathy for the mentally ill. But we should not allow someone whose thinking is so detached from reality to have his finger on the nuclear button or to control the awesome power of the US military!
In addition, Trump is not only mentally ill, but he's a very evil person.
There is a very dangerous Russian puppet in the White House. And as the pressure for impeachment and removal from office ratchets up he will become more wild, uncontrolled and dangerous!
Republicans obviously could care less.
37
I absolutely agree with this editorial. One can pontificate endlessly about the political consequences of an action (impeachment) and in the process ignore its importance (for the country). Trump is a malignant narcissist. He has become progressively more dangerous and has pulled those Republicans who are spineless with him. I only hope they too are made to regret it. Everything and everyone he touches turns to dirt. He must be stopped. He will not understand anything less than being hit in the head by a 2x4. Impeach and convict him while we can still, possibly, save the longest standing democracy in history. And take Barr and McConnell down with him.
30
If this was a 'nothing' call, what, can one imagine, is hidden on the secure server.
17
Trump is The Man Without a Soul, now shown to also to truly be The Man Without a Country. He drifts from one shiny golf resort to another, cheating as he plays yet another round of golf. He cheats on his wives, he cheats his workers, he cheats his bond holders, he cheated his “Foundation” and “University.” He cheated the country of fair elections in 2016 and is actively manipulating foreign policies to cheat again in 2020. And... Trump is the soulless head of a GOP that has been totally lost its soul as well in its drive for power by any means and at any cost. Impeaching Trump and voting out most of the current GOP at every level is the path forward that may allow the GOP to reclaim its soul, and the love of our Republic, once again.
29
All very true. But: many voters will not understand the nuances of Trump's numerous violations, and many will interpret his acquittal by the Senate as vindication. And Trump will fight dirty, and the nation will be bitterly polarized. And even though Trump *is* the worst president in American history, and as a candidate was obviously grossly unqualified for office, the Democratic candidate lost to this vile and woefully ignorant man, and I do not see any of the Democrats running for the 2020 nomination as having the right stuff to have much confidence in their ability to deny Trump a second term.
1
@Mark Nuckols The Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, actually WON that election by almost 3 million votes -- a landslide victory in any other election. It was the unelected members of the Electoral College that awarded the Presidency to the loser of that election. Never forget that fact, or Merrick Garland.
I grew up in NYC and many New Yorkers knew the Trumps are vile and no he and his minions are unleashed on the country.
12
The phrase "sought foreign intervention into an American election" is an abstraction for millions of Trumpers. So Kellyanne might say this: "Why, didn't we go bomb many foreign countries, and wasn't that just us doing 'foreign intervention'" -- watch for that sophistry soon on Fox.
So my suggestion is to translate the treachery it into everyday language: "Imagine you had a share in a golf resort in Dominican Republic; imagine Trump, a competitor, was trying to put your resort out of business. Imagine he phoned the Dominican president to extort him into opening a phony investigation into your business. Would you just shrug your shoulders and vote Trump in?
9
Based on National Politics for the past 20 years, the title of this Op-Ed should be revised to:
"If a Republican President Does It, It's Not a Crime."
Fixed that for you.
30
A life time of being indulged and rescued by a criminal daddy does tend to warp a man's moral compass. An adulthood of paying people to say 'you are great' will complete the job.
4
Hear Hear! great article!! This is truly a breaking point. Ya that's right Lindsey this phone call describes exactly what a shakedown is. In fact wikipedea will use this quote as its definition. How can anyone actually think this is a nothing burger is beyond me and about 63 million others.
10
The President was not looking for dirt on his political opponent.He was looking for the truth about Biden's misdeeds .Biden and his son benefitted from their political connection and muscle that is the real crime.Trying to prove it and have Biden face justice is only fair.Maybe the luke warm Obama support of Biden has a reason.Joe Biden is toast as far as the election but that is not enough there should be real consequences.Drain the swamp.
2
@Gdk So I take it that you would have been fine with President Obama calling Putin to have him investigate Trump Tower Moscow and possibly get Trumps tax returns?
@Gdk
No one who read the transcript or the whistleblower complaint would even remotely agree with such a viewpoint. Fact: the Biden case was already looked into and there was nothing there. Kind of like Benghazi.
1
@Gdk
Imagine that you're president and you think the former vice president is guilty of wrongdoing. What would you do? You have would U.S. intelligence investigate the matter. That's the only way to let the law take its course. So why isn't Trump doing that? Because there's nothing to find. In fact, the charge can be disproved. So instead he tried to bully a foreign power into coming up with something.
1
Thank you, Mr. Egan, for so succinctly summing up this disaster. And I must also convey my apology to Mitt Romney, having criticized him for his lack of character when he was running for president. Obviously I was wrong as he remains one of only a handful of Republicans strong enough to admit what's right in front of them. It's hard to even attempt to describe Trump as he is an empty box -- no morals, no character, no compassion, no empathy -- just a walking, ever talking, bag of dirty tricks. And I thought Tricky Dick was bad -- at least he understood the law.
15
Trump reveals that many American don't see the ethical and legal lines he crosses either.
10
@Renee We clearly need a re-separation of church and state and mandatory good public education for citizens.
@P Wilkinson
Yes! We really need to teach critical thinking skills. I'm afraid "teaching to the test"--among other things-- has led away from real work on encouraging independent thinking.
"But the politically perilous road to impeachment will start and end with the words of a morally bankrupt man who has spent his entire adult life skirting, mocking, ignoring or breaking the law."
It's hard to apply the tools of justice to the behavior of a man so amoral that he's lost the ability to see any difference between right and wrong. With Trump what you see is what you get: a firm belief in the rightness of his cause--himself.
What makes this moment so perilous is that Trump has educated his followers to believe and fight for his perverted sense of truth and justice.
"Article II allows me to do anything I want," is not much of a defense, but if you're a rally-goer, it makes for rousing event that demands you help the president no matter what he does.
It's now up to Congress to re-educate the country about what constitutes correct behavior in our duly elected public officials.
14
Great editorial overview of trump’s lifelong criminality, presented here once again as it was a year ago, decades ago; then most comprehensively again in summer 2015, then reprieved a year later as he was securing (gasp) the Republican nomination for president, and...how did American voters respond? They put him in the White House.
There is literally nothing here we haven’t known for decades about this monster—so where’s the problem? The problem is our Cowboy Culture, our dime store crime novel sense for how government works, and a federal constitution that rains fairy dust from a magical ELECTORAL COLLEGE all over presidential elections to the detriment of our republic.
17
Mr. Trump's life of crime and deception is exhaustively long. So much so, that at this point, his life could be molded by a playwrite into a compelling fictional tale.
It has many of the elements of a classical tragedy; above all, we find a protagonist whose immoral principles leading them inexorably toward ruin.
What this story still lacks is catharsis. We, the audience, feel no sense of relief or clensing.
5
"The Democrats were left with no choice. Even if it costs them the presidency"...FULL STOP...you always have a choice. And if the choice is the Democrats lose the presidency by pursuing this course of action...then take a deep breath & reconsider. The GOP is playing a long game. Their main goal has always been to nominate 3-4 very conservative Supreme Court justices. Trump has gotten two SCOTUS appointments a 2nd term dramatically increases his chances. He’s moved much faster on lower-court appointments than Obama did. Republicans have confirmed 89 Trump-nominated judges, far over appointments under Obama and Bush. Put together they form a kind of conservative judicial revolution that will impact all aspects of American life. This means Trump’s conservative imprint on the federal judiciary through sheer longevity will endure through cases involving state gun regulations, the environment, immigration, and abortion....long after he's left. The legal arm of the conservative movement is the best organized & most far-seeing sector of the Right. They truly are in it — and have been in it — for the long term goals. Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary to the sky, obstruct when necessary and you can destroy the progressive movement, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has. Nothing will get in the way of that goal. If Trump's impeachment inquiry fails & he's re-elected then what have we gained? A more polarized country. Does that help us?
2
This impeachment process represents the divide between red and blue America, rich and poor, white and black. Conservatives, especially old white men, have grown up in a version of America where they can say and do anything. Trump's phone call to Zelensky represents that world. They desperately want to keep this America.
This is not a world that most of America lives in, which is why most Americans don't get Trump. Most Americans have to answer to a boss or laws. Progressives want a world where everyone is held accountable and the less fortunate are not destroyed by the greed and power of those lucky enough to be born affluent, like Trump.
2
All true, Mr. Egan. But what is more disturbing is that 60 million of the people walking around the country, rubbing shoulders with you and me, still support this sorry excuse for a human being. Hillary got a lot of abuse for calling them deplorable, but it turns out that was the kindest descriptor one might use.
15
My first response to this and similar-minded opinion pieces is that they are stating the obvious.
Yet the obvious is no less shocking and therefore must be stated and restated. The day we cease to be alarmed by a “president” for whom, in Hannah Arendt’s prescient formulation, nothing is true and everything is possible, is the day we will have succumbed to authoritarian rule despite claiming to oppose it.
This article, like Peter Baker’s piece today laying out in meticulous detail the timeline of the latest Whitehouse malfeasance, is merely true. And the truth is terrifying.
5
Since you have—rightly in my opinion—castigated white conservative evangelicalism in your recent articles, you might wish to ask them as well: where are your voices in all this?
The misuse of public office for personal gain is hardly sanctioned by the Bible and Christian tradition. There are warnings throughout Scripture that the divine imperative of justice, kindness, and equity applies to everyone, including especially rulers.
There is ample warning against “those who turn aside to their own crooked ways.” If evangelicalism will not say it, at least the confessing church must: even the highest official in the land is subject to the ruling and overruling sovereignty of God.
2
Extraordinary insightful analysis.
It helps explain the incredulity many of us are experiencing as to why, after dodging the Mueller bullet, he would go running out in front of the firing squad yet one more time.
Many of his defenders now know that the boat has hit the berg. As soon as they know its fate, we will know theirs.
3
If doing right by the country is politically suicidal, I fear that it signals a reality that America is beyond redemption. There has always been a schizoid divide between two sides of the American character. Both sides were embodied in Thomas Jefferson There's the idealistic side that led Jefferson to write those stirring words about all men being created equal. Then, there's the grasping, one might say, more practical side to his character that realized that inequality is more profitable.
Trump and his presidency are the apotheoses of the deep-seated belief that might makes right. His predecessors felt a need to sugar coat this in way that Trump does not. His followers seem to find this stripping away of our hypocritical veneer refreshing. We are left to pray that the horror of his tenure will somehow awaken the better angels of our nature.
3
Where is the outrage among Republicans? Do they really believe that Trump's conduct is without fault? Are they so cynical that they will defend a man who openly abuses the powers of his office? Are tax cuts and judges really worth shredding the Constitution?
My guess is that most congressional Republicans regard Trump as an anomaly. They stand behind him because he has no agenda of his own and is happy (in most instances) to accede to theirs. I doubt that Republicans are pleased with how Trump defies political norms and defiles the Constitution, but I imagine they say to themselves that he will be gone after one term or, at most, after two, and then things will return to the way they were. That "Trumpism" might be a virulent disease that will weaken the republic, perhaps fatally, seems not to have occurred to them.
4
You could avoid "The Apprentice"--just one hour once a week. How do you avoid his hyperbolic onslaught of "perfect" and "beautiful" exaggerations in the news. Trump is riding the Internet, commanding Twitter, saturating them with manipulation. He's taking his Defense on the Road - today? parading Sean Hannity as his prime character witness--
5
Something else Trump does that had been mentioned in other contexts is to as it were dog-whistle an incitement to violence. I have not seen so far anybody mentioning the one he did in public over this matter. I have seen accounts that he mentioned wanting to know who the whistleblower is, that he called him/her a spy -- but not that he dog-whistled a death threat by mentioning in passing that in the olden days we had ways of dealing with spies. I think that deserves mention.
4
Sometimes I think that principles are an imposition, an uncomfortable burden that someone carries with them to honor their parents or because they're too deeply embedded to remove without great pain. Then I see someone like Lindsey Graham, who went from John McCain's unwavering ally to Trump's Renfield overnight and realize that it's perfectly possible to function in this world without any principles at all. There is not even any shame or penalty attached to having none. Graham is just as likely to be reelected now as he was when he was echoing McCain's every word. The people of South Carolina, especially the bible thumpers who are his base know a good thing when they see it.
Kids, if you are reading this, don't bother with principles; they are just there to limit your range of possible actions and having them makes you a sucker for those who don't have any. Thank you Senator Graham for finally opening my eyes.
6
Our nation is not the ideal America portrayed in history books, westerns about brave cowboys, and classic television series like "Star Trek." A great percentage of us envy the gangster and wish we had nerve enough to live beyond the law. Mitch McConnell's obvious glee during the Trump presidency is shared by millions, including those who've been given a license to steal and those who've always admired criminals and thieves.
1
Well put. This is not about politics, this is about the most powerful nation on earth being led by a man completely removed from reality. That should frighten all Americans, even Republicans.
The idea that Sen. Graham -- who was fine with President Clinton being impeached for lying about a consensual, private sexual affair -- is OK with a president using his office and power to lean on another country for political dirt on his opponents (and for that matter, clearly attempting to obstruct justice in the Muller report) shows just how an entire party seems to have followed their morally bankrupt leader off a cliff like lemmings.
It is truly, deeply frightening.
6
" And let the Republican-run Senate, a graveyard of principle, be stuck with defending a lawless president."
Of course, the problem is that the GOP Senator's constituents do not care what Trump did, and will support him regardless of anything. It is in the interest of the GOP Senators to defend the lawless president to the very end.
3
"If Donald Trump Does It, It’s Not a Crime"
That's not accurate. It's more like, "If Donald Trump does it, he will get away with it." Trump doesn't care if what he does is a crime or not. If it's what he wants to do, that's all the justification needed.
Moreover, Trump's enablers - the Republican Party, right-wing, media, his financial backers - don't care if Trump is committing crimes. They may protest that he's not committing crimes. But in truth, they don't care if he is. All that matters is that he gets away with it.
The same is true of Trump's voters. They could care less. As long as Trump get's away with it, they're happy.
Know why? Because Trump's enablers and supporters do not see Trump's crimes as being committed against them. They see Trump's crimes as being committed against their and Trump's common enemies: "liberals," "lefties," "Democrats," "elites," and of course, minorities. Trump's assaults are in their names. His crimes are heroic in their eyes.
Trump is not just their President. He's their righteous warrior, slaying their enemies. Make no mistake: They want anyone who is "not them" not only stopped, but subjugated, if not eliminated. They love it when Trump talks about dealing with "spies the old fashioned way." You think he's talking about the people who literally ratted Trump out. But what his enablers and supporters hear is, Trump is talking about dealing with everyone of their "enemies."
And they believe Trump cares about them.
8
@Robert Henry Eller Read "Troll Nation" by Amanda Marcotte.
Mr. Egan does a great job of explaining how this mad king does not recognize boundaries because he has never had boundaries and thus would release the transcripts of the phone call as well as not stop the release of the whistleblower complaint, both of which are clarion calls for impeachment. But it is also frightening to see how easily those close to deranged power willingly collaborate and enable such dangerous and illegal behavior and how willingly the republicans and "the base" continue to support this destroyer of our country.
5
This is exactly how the system works.
Consider federal judiciary: I discovered in my own litigation that, to decide cases the way they want to rather than the way they have to, judges replace in their decisions parties' argument with the bogus argument of judges' own concoction. When I sued judges for fraud, DAs' argument was that, in Pierson v. Ray, judges gave themselves the right to act from the bench "maliciously and corruptly."
Why should it be any different for the executive branch?
In fact, what surprises me the most, is that the press refuses to cover the unseemly inner workings of the judicial branch, but eagerly pounce on Trump.
This is bizarre. Hypocritical, too...
1
We need to uncover the transcripts of Trump’s conversations with Putin and MBS that he has buried in that top secret file vault. I’m betting those are even worse than the Ukraine transcript.
6
He's the poster child of a declining Democracy that values consumption over everything else.
5
Donald Trump's sole measure of right or wrong seems to be whether or not what he is doing will be useful to him. Pressing the Ukrainian President to dig up dirt on Biden could help him down the line so he did it. No apologies. No regrets.
Morality does not apply to him. The law does not apply to him. Probably the last person who ever said the word no to him and make it stick may have been his father--and let's face it old Fred did a mighty poor job of disciplining his son.
He is the affluenza kid on steroids yet millions of people love him because they believe he is fighting for them and for their way of life. I doubt if this episode will change their minds. The details are murky and we humans are very good at rationalizing almost anything if there is room for a determined liar or liars to hammer in a wedge of doubt.
2
Mr. Egan:
I agree with you 110%. I believe that President Trump is amoral and if that is true, what does it say about the supporters of his campaign and his presidency? Friends of mine who support President Trump tell me "it's the politics, not the man!" but I cannot agree with them. I cannot support someone whose values and whose ethics, morals, etc., are SO polar opposite of everything that I've ever been taught, everything that Jesus stood/stands for. I wonder sometime if the evangelicals who support this man have not made a deal with the devil in doing so? I suppose time will tell.
3
A coda to a pitch perfect column: Trump lives by a Mafia Don’s code of loyalty which means he surrounds himself with fawning lackeys like Giuliani and Barr who amplify his power and extend his reach. It’s neither insignificant nor surprising that at this point the DOJ buried the whistleblower letter, but it is deeply disturbing, and it adds urgency to the need to impeach. There is no other option. A friend argues that we are living through a slow motion coup d’etat. The revelations from the Ukraine call and the GOP response talking points response to it strongly suggest he’s on to something.
4
We now have confirmation of the truth behind Trump's infamous "Fifth Ave." boast
He can do any lawless thing he desires with impunity and not only will his ever loyal base be Ok with it, so will virtually every republican member of congress.
We also now have unequivocal confirmation that the GOP is really nothing more than criminal enterprise masquerading as a political party.
Mitch McConnell basically unmasked them when he brazenly stole a supreme court seat, but if that chicanery still left you with a sliver of doubt, their shameful inaction and lies about this disgraceful episode should answer that question once and for all.
Impeachment was designed precisely as a remedy for the actions of a man like Trump in this case, but all we see and hear from congressional republicans are either lies, spin, silence or pleas of ignorance.
I urge Democrats to not allow the hand wringers on our side and the right wing pundits who disingenuously try to "warn" us about the political danger of an impeachment scare us off about doing this.
It will not damage our candidate at all, as this is not a frivolous, mean spirited and purely partisan exercise like Clinton's impeachment was. This is not that, not by a long shot.
This is about saving ourselves, and sane people will understand that.
2
Trump and his congressional supporters are apparently motivated not by a political agenda, but by a frightening need to lie, fight and destroy. If the more sensible and concerned half of the nation suddenly said that we were done arguing and that we were just going to let them have at it, I think they'd be absolutely devastated. And still they'd get nothing done, because they believe in nothing.
It's pure nihilism.
2
Today, like many others, the Times published 7 Opinions, including Egan's,condemning Trump and/ or Republicans. The repetition of the same "talking points" in these Opinions is propaganda-like.
Differing views are not published and apparently suppressed.
Liberal thought traditionally cherished the exchange of differing opinions which was thought provoking.
Today, liberals apparently fear differing views and the result is an Opinion page that is mindnumbing.
1
@jck Maybe there is agreement because they are all looking at a set of undisputed facts? Perhaps you might want to consider why facts - not disputed by the Repubs or Trump himself - which show Trump strong-arming a foreign country to get dirt on his political rival - and holding up military aid to that country as an "inducement" (aid already approved by the U.S. Congress) - do not lead you to the same conclusion.
4
@jck
Today's Times op-eds were defending the proposition, "down is down." What sane person would, could, or should make the case for "down is up." How can there be a "differing view" regarding Trump's own actions and words?
@jck I read this at the bottom of the opinion by Timothy Egan:"The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: [email protected].
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram."
I read the NYTimes and find many examples of diversity in not only Letters to the Editor but also Opinions, Comments to the Opinion, on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram,
1
"the Constitution can’t save itself"
Oh, what a good phrase. Spot on!
1
America simply cannot tolerate this type of person as its leader. He has already done tremendous damage to the country and must be removed by impeachment or election. The question is, is the Republican party now corrupt beyond redemption, or will it act for the good of the country? So far, I'm not optimistic.
3
A phrase to describe Trump supporters: deploribus unum. It's an apt description: they suppport a criminal. Democrats should forget trying to convince the Fox News lovers to abandon Trump. Not gonna happen.
Trump's favorable numbers are around 40%. We can vote him out, get rid of him. We will have to, because the Senate of Moscow Mitch won't vote to convict him.
3
The only way to explain Sen. Graham's 180 is Trump has photos of him with a 12 year old boy. I remember when he was a thoughtful Republican. Today however he is a Trump toad. Why? His seat is safe, he had the respect of his fellow Senators, and the press quoted him as bell weather pol. Why would he toss all of that away to constantly appear as the court jester?
2
There are several key elements to sustaining the lawless Trump empire which he has brought to the White House.
One is the employment of an army of soulless attorneys, accountants and bankers to fight every charge to a draw. His flagrant tax fraud has been successful thus far because the IRS is not willing to invest the resources needed for a prolonged legal battle over every step. Congress is now facing the same obstruction from his White House and Cabinet officials.
A second element is intimidation. He has threatened women with legal and extralegal actions. After defaulting on a $300 million loan, he countersued the bank, which then discounted the loan. Now as President, he has made claims of treason against the sources of the Ukraine whistleblower, reminding them of what used to happen to the treasonous. Anyone else want to challenge Trump?
A third element is attempted altering of reality through media manipulation, from early impersonated calls to Forbes about the value of his empire to retweeting wild conspiracy theories. Now a fawning right wing media keeps his personal secrets locked in a safe and constructs alternative narratives for his wrongdoing, exploiting the anger, resentment and biases of their audience.
When the end comes for the Trump family, and it will, it won't be quiet.
5
By the way, the Trump campaign's cooperation with and encouragement of Russia's misinformation campaign in the 2016 election was 1000 times worse than this series of contacts with the Ukraine.
5
what I don't see in any of the media is anyone questioning who exactly put together that "summary" of the phone call.
It reads like something Rudy would put together.
We now know it was moved to a server designated for "Code Level" information, not political hackery. So who got that information and cobbled together this summary? Who edited it to paint Trump, as he sees it, as having a "perfect" conversation?
2
Waiting for the GOP to break reminds me, I'm embarrassed to admit, of season 1 of Survivor, and tuning in each week hoping "the vaunted Tagi Alliance" would break. Of course it never did... Now we have a reality tv show president...and the survivor in question is our democracy... Stay tuned...
80
@sue denim
your comment reminded me that Season 1 of Survivor was the first and last that I watched that show. I foolishly believed that skills such as building, carpentry, cooking etc would lead to a chosen winner. the joke was on me when I saw week after week that the skills needed were more akin to the political world, i.e. being two-faced, brazenly lying, false friendships etc.
10
@IndyPen: Sadly, we have an entire generation of kids raised on psychological warfare "reality shows" where adults behaving badly get rewarded with their 15 minutes of fame and money. And we wonder why civility has gone by the wayside?
7
We must not simply slap his wrist. We know has cheated before. And we know he will cheat again if he can, including elections.
Further, we must not get so focused on this Ukraine and coverup, that we forget the other investigations which are also very serious.
Get a whole bunch of his colleagues under oath, and keep digging.
4
Trump called the patriots who exposed his abuses traitors. If he is not impeached a time may come when those attempting to save what’s left of our democracy may actually fear for their lives.
7
@Robert O. - I agree and what I find most disturbing is that 40 to 60 million people in this country love him for what he's done and would gladly give him the power to arrest and punish anyone whom he deems as "traitors".
1
@Robert O. Remember Epstein? That is frightening.
As you put it. The problem is not the crook: "Trump sees this as no big deal because he’s always gotten away with his many transgressions, floating above the law in a padded world of privilege and prevarication."
The problem is the GOP who sees a "nothing call", "nothing conflict of interests", "nothing treason" and, "a nothing Constitution".
7
Divorce builds over years, and happens in a day. There comes a day when a spouse says- "No more excuses, No more lies."
That day is here.
The Republican Party should never have allowed this charlatan anywhere near their daughter, but they failed in their responsibility as a parent.
4
That an impeachment inquiry is the patriotic thing to do is clear. That Democrats can pursue such hard-nosed politics effectively is doubtful. They should hire a few Republicans as impeachment management consultants, as they have repeatedly shown that Republicans know how to win the kind of disgusting political fight this will be.
2
That call was "beautiful" and "perfect," Mr. President.
You're absolutely right, though not in the way you think.
It is "beautiful" because it will "perfectly" result in your impeachment and it will force Senate Republicans to publicly vote on your corrupt behavior.
5
@Didier, I doubt it. They are all in on their support of their guy and are already defending his behaviour with the same words he uses himself. The President can do no wrong because he is a rich, white Republican.
3
@SDC They defend him because they are afraid of his (aptly named) "base."
It is not a crime because, quite possibly, it is not a crime.
Period.
Not just because President Trump thinks so.
It is downright creepy to think that every Presidential conversation is subject to being leaked.
Before Timothy Egan is allowed to comment, should we readers not be able to see the transcript of each and every conversation that Mr. Egan has had, to determine what his state of mind might be prior to writing this column??? Maybe there is nothing there, but how do we know???
I am not serious in asking to see Mr. Egan's transcripts - but it's creepy to think of it as a serious proposition - applied to him or applied to the President of the USA.
He asked a foreign state to investigate a political rival...that is the smoking gun. It’s really not that complicated. Then the fact that the transcript was immediately sealed away outside of normal protocols demonstrates a consciousness of guilt.
16
@Maurice
Crime? How obtuse can one get? Try reading the article. Trump is above the law...so anything he does is not a crime. And the same is true of all Trump supporters. Anything they do is not a crime because that is what they want to believe.
As for Presidential phone conversations...all official business is recorded and transcribed. It's not a personal call if you are calling as the president. If you find that "creepy"....don't serve as president. What a weird complaint!!!!
So...did you vote in the last US election? If not, why not? I'm sure Trump would be happy to have your vote. If you decide not to bother voting, Trump would be so happy if you could help him win re-election by any means possible. You don't need to worry about any crimes committed...Trump doesn't. Foreign interference in elections is a Trump specialty. So get to work and start subverting the next US election. Trump and the republicans will welcome you with open arms.
1
@Maurice Gatien, your insistence on criminality is misplaced. Egan mentions "crime" once in his opinion, and someone wrote a headline for it that refers to "crime," but really all that is at issue is Trump's abuse of authority.
And do not forget that Donald Trump himself is the one who released the rough transcript of his own phone call. There was no leak; we are able to see his violation of his oath of office because he allowed us to.
My views precisely and concisely expressed.
2
I said the same thing a couple of days ago. Criminals see nothing wrong with criminal behavior. If you find criminal behavior acceptable you are acting as a criminal even you are not robbing banks.
There is another kind of person, the enabler. The enabler fears their abuser or the addict in their household but will defend them, enable them out of fear of person, fear of loss of power or income. They will enable what they know isn't right but they feel they have no choice.
So many of the comments I read excusing Donald Trump use the same logic, the same words, as those who enable the people in their lives who drink, beat, steal, assault, bully, and drink. Enablers.
7
Trump has never been held responsible for any of his actions. Those of us in New York have been witness for years to his press manipulations, his manipulations of local government and his ability to walk away from the devastation he creates without consequences.
He stiffed thousands with his Taj Mahal debacle, destroyed local businesses and put many people out of work without acknowledgement, let alone an apology. His talent is his con, his showmanship, his ability to skew the story to his advantage. He speaks loudest, his lies and bluster predominate. He doesn't care who he hurts as long as he wins.
He has said: there are two kinds of people: predators and victims. Clearly he is both. He is a predator by instinct, he sniffs out vulnerabilities and attacks. He's a victim - everything is a "hoax," a "witch hunt," a "coup." The GOP and his followers, identify with his "victimhood," and take up their mantles, railing at his side, at the system.
Scott Peck defined "evil" in his book People Of The Lie. Evil is the choice to remain unconscious, to remain in denial. We are looking at evil - those who continue to see Donald Trump as a victim of a mass conspiracy.
Right now, our Democracy is vulnerable. It's in a precarious state. It is up to true patriots to do the right thing. Trump has to go and the GOP has to be held accountable for their choice to remain unconscious and in denial of the damage this man has already done.
15
This is so like the Russia investigation. Trump gets all worked up and claims it's all a "witch hunt" and he's nothing but a poor victim. He does everything but throw himself on the ground in a full-fledged tantrum. Meanwhile, the outcome is less than sensational. Now, we've got Ukraine, and it's deja vu all over again. Trump's fits get more dramatic every day, his whining and complaining have reached epic proportions and it looks like the outcome is pretty predictable. Trump makes everything worse. He is a drama queen, for sure. And, his shenanigans have nothing to do with the outcome. If only he would just go about his business, ignoring the whole impeachment thing, waiting for the inevitable acquittal, we'd all be better off. And, things would be so much calmer. His theatrics and histrionics are totally unnecessary and only make him look weak and ineffectual, and not just in the US. The entire world watches this spectacle and laughs. He should be removed from office for no other reason than he's turned the US into a laughing stock.
1
It seems to me that in both Clinton and Nixon impeachment, the “crime” was the cover-up. The transfer of the data/transcript of the phone call to Ukraine’s leader to a highly classified materials server looks to be the “cover-up” and hence the “crime” in the actions of the Trump administration.
2
@EW
It wasn't known at the time, but during the1968 presidential campaign, Nixon torpedoed peace negotiations to bring a stop to the war in Viet Nam by urging the president of S. Viet Nam not to take part. Evidently this would be bad for Nixon's election. chances. When Johnson found out, he called it "treason," which it was.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-03/new-evidence-indicates-nixon-himself-tried-sabotage-vietnam-war-peace-talks
1
Trump has always gotten away with his transgressions of decency and I fear he will again, with the Republicans, Fox news and the braying right wing twisting the evidence. His base will stick with him and he will emerge, once again, without paying any price for his behavior.
4
Amen Timothy Amen.
Rules have never applied to Trump. He is irresponsible immature because his parents never taught him how to be responsible and mature. They bailed him out every time he got into trouble, no time outs not even a slap on the wrist. His playboy image in tabloids only added fuel to his notoriety as a showman, nothing here nothing there poof gone. How own sister a federal judge kept protecting the family’s tax evasive tactics, if she was truly a law upholder she would have persuaded her family to give up unlawful practices. The republicans and trumps base don’t even regard these unethical going ons as anything worth looking at, to them it’s huh everyone does it, wealthy white people don't have to follow the same rules. And to think Trump’s mum came from one of the poorest Scottish villages that lacked running water and heating. She fled Scotland from abject poverty. What did she teach her children?
6
The day after the Mueller report was issued, Trump asked Ukraine to meddle in our election. Think about that.
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@MrC
It is almost as though Trump actually believed that Mueller cleared him of any wrong doing. Makes me wonder more if he has any concept of reality.
53
@Zed18 You're wondering if he has any concept of reality? He just said he's the most presidential president ever except for Abe. Does that convince you? He has no concept of any reality but his own and he believes in it 1000% percent. That's how he's gotten "as far" as he has. If we wait long enough, the stumbles will get worse. A part of me would like to see that major stumble that even his base could not ignore. But at the same time I am very afraid of what that might be.
38
@MrC - indicative of trump's confidence in Barr's capabilities and loyalty to protect him?
19
Leadership and courage is never the safe choice.
6
I keep hearing from the republicans that this entire whistleblower report is hearsay. Isn’t that exactly how a spy is going to get most of his information and it is then up to the analysts to understand all of the information and then it can be used to implement a strategy that is beneficial to the country? I’m waiting for someone to point out that we are and have been in several wars at least partially based on hearsay. I’m sure that even the republicans have heard of these since they started the most recent ones
15
@JD
Do his supporters claiming the whistleblower report is hearsay not understand that the actual transcript has been released and it corroborates everything the whistleblower said? It baffles the mind...
5
@Marc Bee - Right there! So few people seem to be getting that.
3
I too don't understand the hearsay objection. This is a whistleblower complaint, not a witness statement given as evidence in a criminal trial. It is corroborated by the rough transcript memo that Trump himself released.
If you arbitrarily limited whistleblower complaints to just direct witnesses of misconduct, you would put a lot of pressure on the upper-level folks who might be most reluctant to come forward. That's not what whistleblower complaints are about at all.
He does stuff like this so he can claim he has no conciousness of guilt so he must not be guilty. Of course we already have evidence he knows he was guilty because the call logs were hidden in a locked-down server and broke the law to prevent the whistleblower complaint from getting to Congress. He lost track of how much evidence we have showing he knows he's guilty.
26
Unlike many (or most) Democrats, I’ve been willing to suspend my skepticism of Trump for a long time.
I agree with some of his broader policies, and I’m not a fan of progressives, in general.
But I now give up! Trump, along with Giuliani/Barr/Mulvaney et al, have simply crossed the line too many times. How can they lie so passionately with a straight face?!
I’m not so sure Biden comes out of this smelling like a rose either, but Trump grinds out the incoherent lies over and over and over again.
I’ve really had enough.
58
In the beginning of this administration, Trump had to feel out how things worked, all the time aspiring to be the lone decision maker, and arbiter, just as he functioned with the Trump Org. He soon discovered that his department heads would run things their own way, and perhaps lacked the loyalty that he so much craved. So then it became a game of purging some of these heads in favor of actual loyalists. That is apparent with Barr and Pompeo. And Barr at DOJ is the critical lieutenant. So after installation of the loyalists, Trump feels emboldened to operate like the actualize boss he is. But this whistleblower affair is just one indicator that the rank and file in the federal govt can take their oath (to the constitution) seriously. And I am certain that if Trump had the power, he would purge any civil servant that was registered as a democrat.
37
There are certain undeniable facts. Prior to the phone call Trump unilaterally withheld U.S. aid to Ukraine. During the phone call he reminded the President of Ukraine how important U.S. support was. During the phone call he requested as a "favor" that Ukraine investigate a political opponent. During the phone call he advised the President of Ukraine that the U.S. Attorney General and his personal lawyer would be in contact with him in regard to the investigation of that political opponent. Those are facts. No one whose primary loyalty is to the United States can argue that Trump's behavior did not egrigiously abuse the office of President.
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@W.A. Spitzer Look at right wing media. It's a witch hunt and an attempt to besmirch the reputation of the best president ever.
4
And @W.A. Spitzer, we are not even looking at the verbatim transcript of the call, which White House aides thought so damaging that they secreted it away in a special code-word computer system.
2
But he does have some boundaries. Some knowledge that something he did was not right. Case in point - his taxes. Why does he fight so hard to prevent them from being released if he thinks he can get away with everything? Perhaps he only recognizes financial corruption and not any other kind.
52
Yes, Mr. Egan, “the Constitution can’t save itself.” In this altered reality imposed by Trump on the nation, it will take brave souls to keep our republic—like the White House insiders who informed the whistle blower, like the whistle blower himself, like Congresspeople who are putting country above their re-election chances, and like the good people of the United States who understand that our republic requires work and dedication to the principles outlined in the Constitution.
49
Timothy Egan has identified it exactly. Donald Trump does not recognize the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
What's worse, it means that any number of wannabe Trumps out there (in every walk of life) are learning to imitate him. It will be disastrous for them in the end, but by then they'll have no way back.
60
Democrats, especially those seeking election in 2020, need to focus on keeping separate as much as possible two essential activities. DJT has violated his oath and needs to be investigated in that context. The value is uncovering the full extent of his misdeeds and making those known. That is the impeachment process.
Those running for office in 2020 need to focus on what needs to change for the sake of the 99% of Americans who are more likely to be harmed than benefit from Trump's policies. The climate crisis, healthcare, protecting Social Security and Medicare, taxation, creating job opportunities in a rapidly evolving economy, affordable education the list goes on.
Focus on what people care about. Campaign against the policies not the crimes of POTUS. We have to get through impeachment but we also have to throw all the bums out and especially the one at the top of the stinking pile. We can do both. We must do both. But we can't let the first distract us from the second.
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@JohnFred
I agree. The American people are taking a backseat to all the political boxing that has continued infinitum. I think the American people would be shocked and dismayed at the corruption that goes on behind closed doors on both sides. It seems all these distractions are because our elected officials can't come up with solutions for the problems you mentioned in every segment of our society. They have put band aids on most of them, spent billions of dollars, and nothing has changed. As Pete Townsend once said, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
5
@Diane Steiner Just travel to DC and you can see the difference. I lived in that area for four years and it was like heaven for a while (though I hate politics). So much money sloshes around there and it's our tax payer money. In this regard, the Republicans have a point: there is a lot of waste*. But when the Republicans gain power, they do a worse job at generating more waste than the Democrats, and they penalise programs that help the least fortunate among us.
(I travel on government contracts once in a while where they buy my air ticket - the ticket costs 4 times as much through their travel system than if I bought it myself online - I just had this happen this morning. It is like healthcare - I have a test done by my doctor that should cost about $20 but is instead $1500 which my insurance pays without argument!)
10
When Trump fired Comey, I thought to myself "he can't do that".
But he did and got away with one thing after another since then. Impeachment? I'm for it.
108
It is worth defending the Constitution, even if one loses.
237
@gratis, America was an experiment. White founding fathers drew up a constitution as a sacred document. Women and blacks were not involved. Just like in Athens only make Athenians could vote for democracy. Surely there was something missing, the input of the other half of humanity, ie women.
Perhaps finally Nancy Pelosi will help set things right and bring true meaning to the Constitution.
3
@petey tonei
Regarding Athens, also slaves and foreign residents could not vote. The franchise was very limited, by current standards.
2
@gratis
One need not lose if one is determined, aggressive, and wise.
None of which describes House Democrats under Pelosi.
Keystone Representatives is more like it.
A calm sea does not make a skillful sailor.
Our ship of state is captained by a man with no skills in navigation for any ports other than those serving his own interests and those in the first class cabins are willfully blind to the intentions of our captain, preferring to party in their first class lounge.
Even those of us in steerage cannot fail to hear the mounting roar of the winds and feel the rising pitch of the sea. One of the most fearsome things I heard while serving the US Navy at sea was a simple three word admonition from the bridge on the 1MC: "Secure for sea".
We, too, are sailing into rough seas and that same strong recommendation applies:
"Secure for sea".
164
@Doug McNeill
Thank you Doug McNeill, beautifully stated.
@Doug McNeill,
As a former merchant marine, deck officer, we used a more descriptive phrase. "Secure for heavy weather."
2
I remain baffled by one aspect of the media coverage of the Ukraine matter. No one--including the Times--has mentioned the benefits that have accrued to Trump's children from his presidency. Even if something was wrong with the Hunter Biden situation, it pales in comparison.
I understand that the real issue may well be the coverup, in addition to the fact that Trump asked the Ukraine to investigate his political rival, both of which stand on their own as impeachable offenses and neither of which is remotely comparable to anything that the Bidens may or may not have done. But if the substance of the Trump complaints about the Bidens ever becomes relevant, I hope that the media and the Congress will not forget the Trump family and the benefits it has reaped from shamelessly selling his presidency all over the world.
226
@Barbara8101
Along with the benefits to the tRump children are the benefits that have accrued to his congressional and media supporters.
23
I've read some articles but agreed, it is scant at best.
9
@Barbara8101
I think that's because he's been so open about their corruption that we've all become numb to it... For example, if an investigation were conducted that clearly demonstrated how Don Jr used his father position to enrich the Trump Foundation, how would that differ from the dozen or so investigations that have already said the same thing and been ignored?
This foreign interference with the US election cycle is something entirely different, and perhaps is egregious enough to change the mind's of some Republican's who consider themselves "patriot's".
8
I’m always surprised when the Republicans come up with a blatant lie or hoax, or when they try to conceal incriminating evidence. Because if there’s one thing the Republicans & the right wing media have taught us, it’s that facts don’t matter. With a loud enough voice and enough repetition, you can make the words of climate scientists mean the opposite of what they intended. You can turn a center-right Democratic president into an angry socialist. You can turn lies into signs of integrity.
We can wonder about whether this or that Republican believes the lies or just convinces himself of their necessity, but it won’t change the fact that the politics in America is not driven by knowledge & integrity, but by money & manipulation.
152
Well, it’s working already isn’t it? Trump has sullied Biden’s reputation and Dems will stay home on Election Day so they don’t have to vote for “the lesser of two evils”. Points on the board for trump. Bring on the next opponent , the incineration will begin. However, it’s still necessary to oppose him.
28
@Lisa Murphy
People who stay home on Election Day turn themselves into non-persons as far as democracy is involved. Democracy is based on voting and no vote means no representation.
As for "voting for the lesser of two evils, I do it every election, since I don't trust either political party.
23
@Charlesbalpha well his strategy won’t work on you. It does work on many, which is why trump does it.
1
@Lisa Murphy
Who says Biden is going to be the Democratic candidate?
4
Louis the Fourteenth of France was known to say "L'etat, c'est moi" (the State, it is me).
Donald Trump has expanded that to "Le tout, c'est moi" (all is me). Reality is what he says it is.
How does one get to that point? Being indulged and never being challenged must have something to do with it, but it can't be the only thing. It would be fascinating to be privy to Trump's thoughts; I can only imagine what a Bizarro world they would inhabit.
But I suspect Trump is about to learn he is not Universe Man (though he might have expanded enough in office to produce his own gravitational field).
46
@Glenn Ribotsky Exactly. trump never had an actual job where he had to work his way up and treat collegues with respect. Having to do that has (or should have) a positive effect on you.
46
@Kem Phillips
In "Fire and Fury" the author theorized that Trump had "no interest" in the health care issue. Normal Americans frequently have to work on projects that they are not interested in, because their jobs depend on it. As you say, Trump never had a normal job.
22
@Glenn Ribotsky
"It would be fascinating to be privy to Trump's thoughts"
Take a bunch of acid and drive a spike through your brain. That would get you at least part way there.
2
Terrific article! A Call to action! The time has come today! Howard Zinn said " you cannot remain neutral on a moving train" Trump has shown us who he is Believe it!
83
Amen Mr. Egan. The Democrats would be no better than Trump themselves if they didn't pursue impeachment based on political convenience. And the Republicans are no less guilty than Trump when they have so little interest that they alledgedly couldn't muster the time to read a 7-page complaint.
176
The Constitution can't save itself---indeed. It requires men and women to stand up, step forward and demand justice to hold people accountable for their crimes. It requires men and women to put duty to nation and country first.
123
An "impeachment inquiry" looks to be the only way Democrats might be able to pry loose more information about Trump's conduct in the last presidential election as well as the one to come. Republicans won't be able to claim, as they have with the current inquiries, that Congress has no legitimate legislative purpose in pursuing evidence bearing on impeachment, which is solely within the authority of Congress. Whether the House should vote on impeachment is a different question that can be addressed after all the evidence is in.
34
Impeachment, as noted here, is the moral obligation of the Dems; otherwise, they simply betray their own oaths to support and defend The Constitution. If impeachment is "politically perilous," it is so because of Moscow Mitch and other GOP lickspittles have long ago forgotten their own oaths, traded away their honor, to enrich themselves at the public trough. Just think of this: only 20 or so Republican senators would be needed to impeach Trump in a Senate hearing. Media says that is not gonna happen. How sad is it that not even two dozen Republicans can be found to have a spine, a conscience, any sense that they themselves swore an oath too.
268
@Dean Hall I do not disagree, except that I would assert that impeachment is a moral obligation, period, and not just for Dems. As you say, Republicans must have a spine and a conscience, too. All of us have a moral obligation to determine right from wrong and act accordingly.
27
@Dean Hall Yes, this is one of those times when the of the possible negative short-term consequences (political defeat) is worth it because of what is at stake long-term.
The impeachment of Trump will reveal the true nature of the American people. The founders understood that "virtue" (good character) is necessary for a free people as much as is a well-constructed governmental structure. If Trump is not impeached and is re-elected, or if he is impeached and not convicted, we are clearly lost. (And if the House had continued to delay impeachment, Democrats will still, even if they gain a majority in 2020, be subject to delegitimization and defamation.) I used to think it was prudent to wait for a popular vote in 2020, but if the American people, using the American system, can repel authoritarianism now, then there's a chance to salvage things.
11
@Dean Hall The difficulty is that there are probably 30 Republican Senators who would vote to remove the president from office, if they could do it by secret ballot. What is it going to take to bring them to the point where they dare to do it on the record?
10
Mr. Egan's article perfectly captures the character of Donald Trump - his entire adult life spent "skirting, mocking, ignoring or breaking the law." I would just edit out the "or" and replace it with an "and."
But as deplorable as Trump is, we must ask how is it that such a character became fashionable in America? Isn't "fashionable" what he is when he enjoys the enthusiastic genuflection of the Republican Party and forty percent of the citizens?
To explain why people voted for him in 2016, various theories were floated to: people thought he was a successful businessman; people liked how he spoke unlike a politician; people were angry at Washington and wanted to shake it up; people didn't find Hillary likeable; people were duped by Russian bots; and on and on...
But what excuse do Republicans and the people who voted for him in 2016 have now? The truth is, Trump represents the values of the Republican Party and his supporters and Mr. Egan made it pretty clear, Trump has no values.
So, the indictment of Trump's character is really and indictment of the character of the Republican Party and 40 percent of the voters. They apparently believe it is fashionable to skirt, mock, ignore AND break the law.
502
@JABarry
Exactly. The Trump base respects the law and the constitution as much...and only as much as Trump. So, not at all.
But your response leaves us with a question. What would his base do if he is forced out of office? They want to burn the country down...and if Trump gives them permission...they might well do so. Force him out of office and we might just see that happen.
20
@JABarry; Excuse? Greed. And more greed.
8
@rumple
You are absolutely right, we ought to fear Trump supporters, especially those not in Congress. Republicans in Congress, albeit Trump supporters for the purposes of wielding power and implementing their plutocratic agenda, do not enjoy the loyalty of his base. When he goes, they will burrow into right-wing lobbying firms.
The real threat is Trump's MAGAts. They are true believers. They represent a danger to themselves, the rest of us and our republic. They cannot be reasoned with.
But that is not a good reason to not do the right thing and impeach Trump. He is their dear leader. Without him they may slither like a snake without its head, for some the spell may be lifted, but actual violence may ensue.
It may very well be that violence is the only way to purge the nation of the ills that have been festering under Republican nurture. Our nation was born out of good men and women willing to sacrifice their lives to create our republic. We may need to put our lives on the line to preserve it.
12
Business people often dismiss one politician or another because he or she "doesn't have any experience running a business."
But this is how business people operate.
It doesn't even seem wrong to them. They think that's just the way things work.
56
@Green Tea - "But this is how business people operate."
Not all. I am not even sure it is majority, at least among the Fortune 500. There are many, many businesses that operate in professional, ethical, above board manner who would root out someone like Donald Trump.
We have internal training and ethics classes that clearly Trump never took that make clear what acceptable business practices are. And I can tell you most of what Trump does wouldn't pass and would be grounds for discipline if not dismissal.
33
@Marie I would like to believe you are correct, but then I immediately remembered the recent VW saga, where top level officials knew of and approved installing software to deceive vehicle mileage calculators. Unfortunately, some people use the very training you cite as a roadmap of how to escape detection.
23
@Marie Sorry @Marie but Fortune 500 businesses are every bit as crooked at Trump. A few examples: the tobacco companies denying a link between cigarettes and cancer; the automobile companies that decide whether to make 50 cent corrections by weighing the cost with law suits; Big Pharma that has priced insulin out of the reach of the people who most need it; health insurance companies that deny benefits to customers and watch them go into bankruptcy. And the list goes on. Trump is small change in the business world and his criminal behavior is no worse than the Fortune 500's.
24
Yes Trump believes he cannot be guilty of a crime. But his supporters believe that too.
Should he win in 2020 in spite of or because of this necessary impeachment, this would become a country I could not be a part of anymore.
109
@LFK
You can google the best place for American expats to live. We have. Some very nice options if he wins in 2020. Remember, if those places don’t have an admirable government either, they are not OUR government, so we don’t have to feel the shame we do here. Look for good health care, culture and good food!
41
@ne ne na Good health care, culture and good food.It seems it is pointing directly to only one country . Easy choice .
And you are right, the government is not so good there now, but much better still than here . And the 3 criterias evoked will definitely stay all much better than here even after any turn of the next US elections
6
@JPH I'd be interested which country you mean. While I am not French I am living there. We have issues here (Gillets jaune) but the above points are definitely true here :-)
14
"This could be one of those cases where the right thing to do by the country is not the best thing to do politically." I applaud Mr. Egan for stating what so many liberal- and moderate-leaning observers are remiss to say: The Democrats are putting country before party. That in itself is refreshing. What's more, if the Democrats continue to unite in their impeachment effort and explain the gravity of this moment to the public with clarity and conviction, many voters will recognize their show of strength and reward them accordingly.
356
@DL
Thanks. I've also been trying to tell those observers this for weeks.
10
I am not at all sure this will backfire on Democrats. It will restore the faith of their base and many others that our constitution and laws mean something. Every Republican who votes against impeachment will no longer be able to hide with no comment. Their vote will be on record in 2020. John Kasim, Mitt Romney and other Republican leaders who have no fear of Trump will continue to pressure them. Of course, the election will depend on the economy more than anything. The only deal Trump will get from China is one that will inflame his base. So the Democratic challengers should continue to focus on the issues that matter most to Americans, jobs, health care and the environment. Trump is floundering and will continue to act foolishly.
172
@Daniel Salazar
Well said. Thanks for voicing the voice of no fear.
2
Of course, we know Trump's nauseating personality all too well. But he uncovered for us that a good chunk of the nation is just fine with it. For them of course the Ukraine affair is nothing - they already knew Trump was like this, where is the news?
After all, it took a Civil War to impose the revolutionary idea that people cannot own people. Screaming "bad" or "illegal" or "national security" does not make a dent on some people. It almost primes them for support. We cannot underestimate the dangerous depth of Trump's support.
Impeach well. steady, do not play Trump brawling game. And do not slow down.
428
@Ard
Yes. To those of us who have spent our lives trying to work toward a better version of our selves, Trump supporters are incomprehensible. They want him as president because he gives them permission to be crass, loud, bullying, hateful, illogical, and willfully ignorant. They like that. They like all the bad things about him or they would abandon him for someone who actually holds the policy positions they claim to crave.
And Lindsey Graham—what a startling, disappointing example of a politician who needs to hold the coattail of someone stronger. How you go from McCain to Trump is beyond me. Maybe you don't have what it takes to be a leader, Lindsey, but at least learn to cross the street without holding someone's hand.
49
@C Wolfe
He has given the republican party permission to be as undemocratic, and as unlawful, as they have always wanted act; and he has given his base permission to whine, whine, whine about everything all the the time.
Sad
15
Kasich would send shock waves across the political world, and in the process become a profile in courage, if he entered the GOP primaries.
184
@Joel Sanders
Enter the primaries? Heck, how about run as a 3rd party candidate? THAT'S the certain way he could destroy Trump.
26
@Occams razor
Yes, please.
Anything to get him out of Ohio.
With any luck he'll take Mikey with him.
4
@Joel Sanders So we will have a folksy, more likable president with similar policies?
3
Trump is not the appalling part of this story. The fact that tens of millions of Americans support him for the very reasons outlined in this piece is.
965
@Jdr1210 Right, and so the Democrats should not despair election losses because Trump's base will never change but may shrink enough, in the light of day, to re-balance the electorate.
69
@JLM - maybe when they see him being "frog-marched" out of the White House on LIVE TV, maybe then they'll see the light... How soon after conviction on impeachment will the New York State criminal allegations move forward?
16
@Jdr1210
This is what I also can't understand. How can we be so divided as a country. How can one group stand all the misdeeds he has perpetrated as president, and roar their approval at his rallies.
This is a scary proposition. Think about being on a jury with some of these folks. Do they feel this same way about equal justice under the law? Or do they bring their biases and predigests to a courtroom?
How can two groups of people have such a different outlook on the same things? And what a challenge this will be for our country going forward.
17