October 2019…WOW!
My belief is impeachable offenses are easy to define, point out and prosecute.
Asking a vulnerable government, that is dependent upon us for aid vital to their very existence, for help finding dirt on a political opponent during an election cycle is an impeachable offense. Those are facts. Members of this administration’s staff have admitted that we were asking for a quid pro quo – because that is how deals get done; that is how grown-ups facilitate the growth of new nations or new relationships. And just that quickly, the spirit of the law is gone and another ruse has been fed to the American people.
So many half-truths and frauds have received the Good ‘Ole USA Housekeeping seal of Approval, when in truth, most of us couldn’t map out the road from the inauguration to the tariffs or from Fake News to Jarrod’s Middle East Peace Plan.
I expect those first made aware of the apparent threat/request to the Ukrainian president were appropriately appalled. Unfortunately, this administration has been so appalling for so long they probably couldn’t have told state department officials if it was any better or worse than having off-the-record conversations with the leaders of our two greatest national adversaries. [How is that for the state of our union?]
When he was elected, all I wanted journalists to do was ask simple questions about the structure of the US government or governmental processes that must be followed for foreign policy to be created or bills to become law. That’s all it would have taken for the truth about our president’s knowledge of our domestic governmental structure to be revealed to the world.
Instead, the journalists, for the most part, either gave him a pass or stepped into his contemporary game of King of Thrones. They went for the “opinion” sound bite rather than requiring him to do his job (or working to determine whether or not he was able to articulate the true stakes of any part of his stated objectives). It would have been far more interesting to expect real answers – and focus on getting them – than to dumb down the questions to the leader of the free world.
By now we have all been participating in this charade so long that Americans who already support him won’t be able to hear the truth. Those of us who cannot support him are hard-pressed to come up with a short list of successes that offer a positive reflection on our country.
All of these paragraphs filled with so many words…and I haven’t even touched the 3rd rail of racism or white supremacy or homophobia or misogyny, etc. etc. etc.
Our initial ‘benefit of the doubt’ for this presidential travesty and current lack of national tenacity when it comes to his lies and fantasies leaves him in a position to float above the truth and (so far) dodge the real consequences of his delusional power and governance.
And then there’s Mitch McConnell. Jesus Christ!
