I think Republicans are making a historical mistake in trying to stop Donald Trump’s removal from office. Here are five reasons why I think this is a huge mistake, one that will haunt them for decades and may even doom their party.
Item One
As protectors of the Constitution, members of Congress, including Republicans, have a duty to ensure the laws are faithfully executed. There are numerous instances of Donald Trump’s fecklessness with regard to the Constitution and federal laws. Republicans have a special duty to hold officials accountable because they’ve used this “feckless” argument repeatedly over the years to claim moral superiority. There’s a special kind of hypocrisy that comes from loudly proclaiming yourself the most patriotic of Americans, only to back the most un-American President in history.
Just to separate themselves from Trump’s flagrant anti-patriotic behavior, Republicans need to call it out, along with his racism and disregard for human rights. And then they need to act to remove him from office. By clinging to Trump, Republicans put themselves at enormous disadvantage in any debate over American values. Trump clearly rejects American values. People who follow him must therefore reject them as well.
Item Two
In the 2020 election, Republicans will come under massive attacks for backing Trump. They will be accused (rightly) of backing Russia over the U.S. The Republicans running for Senate are particularly vulnerable, because it will be very easy to tie them to any vote to acquit.
Trump stopped almost $400 million in military aid to Ukraine granted by Congress. This delayed Ukraine’s response to Russian aggression. The only logical way to interpret this delay is that Trump aided Russia to the detriment of our national security interests.
Any Republican who votes to acquit Trump is themselves undermining national security.
Note that the reason Trump held up the aid doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether he did it for personal gain. (He did.) It doesn’t matter whether he broke any specific law. (He did.) It doesn’t matter whether there was a quid pro quo. (There was.)
What matters in terms of impeachment is that he materially damaged our military position in the world.
This isn’t the only example. He also withdrew troops from Syria, weakening our defense against ISIS and giving away our position against Assad. He’s also pushed Turkey into the arms of Russia. He’s also treated Kim Jong-un like a buddy, allowing him to radically expand his missile program, which probably means new parts of the U.S. have come within range of North Korean missiles. This could have been prevented if Trump hadn’t given Kim a wink and a nod.
He also materially eroded our diplomatic position around the world. The U.S. is no longer a staunch supporter of human rights. Trump gave a wink and nod to Xi Jinping to take stronger action against democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong. He gave Mohammad bin Salman a pass on killing Jamal Khashoggi. He’s talked lovingly of Rodrigo Duterte. All of this sends signals to countries around the world that we’ve abandoned human rights, and those who care should look elsewhere for help. This gives up one of the most important underpinnings of U.S. foreign policy, and it is repugnant to American values.
The problem for Republicans is that they are weak on national security. Trump’s missteps (intentional and otherwise) are just the most obvious signs that they talk a good game on national security, but they are extremely weak on it. Backing Trump exposes their weakness on national security.
The question for Republicans running for either house of Congress is why they so little value our national security. These Republicans are unwilling to defend American interests around the world. If they were, they would be moving quickly to remove Trump from office and replace him with a patriotic American.
Item Three
Failing to repudiate Trump will result in the destruction of the Republican Party. Already, it is no longer a legitimate political party. The goal of the Republican Party is to empower selfishness. The Republican Party claims it’s every man for himself. (And they do mean “man”.) A legitimate party has the good of the country at heart. Their promotion of Trump to lead their party was a declaration of greed. They put up a singular example of greed and convinced enough people in key places greed is good and proper that they got him in office. He is a symbol of a party that is out to extract from our society without any consideration of the consequences.
In fact, the Republican Party is the party of death and destruction. Their entire platform is death-centric. It’s been plain for some time the goal of the Republican Party is to kill people for power. They want to stop action on climate change, so more people will die. They want to throw people off healthcare, so more people will die. They want to stop legislation to end gun violence, so more people will die. They want to kill the EPA, so more people will die. They want to spend more on bombs, so more people will die. They are even in favor of the death penalty!
And, they are systematically destroying the most important organs of our government. They’ve neutered the Justice Department. They’ve forced scientists out of the EPA and other agencies. They’ve sold off public land to private developers. They’ve corrupted the immigration system. They stopped our intelligence agencies being intelligent.
Until the Republican Party reforms itself there’s no point in working with them. They have to show their legitimacy by focusing on critical problems like climate change and putting forward proposals designed to aid the country. Until they do that, we need to shun them and seek to replace them at every level of government.
The Republican Party needs to at least:
- Acknowledge climate change is real and caused by humans. They need to put forward a credible way to address the problem.
- Acknowledge each person has a right to healthcare and come forward with some plan to provide fair, affordable, and universal coverage.
- Acknowledge Donald Trump regularly breaks the law and insist on his removal. Republicans need to show respect for the rule of law and get rid of their top criminal.
Those are the minimum actions required before the Republican Party can be considered a legitimate political party. The Republican Party should be decertified until it has reformed. After they reform, members of our party can start working with them again. I don’t want our people to act like Republicans. I want Republicans to act like Americans.
We need to ask people to stop contributing to them in any way and at every level. The guy running for city council might seem friendly and innocent enough, but is he a Republican? If so, he’s contributing to the party of death and destruction.
Trump didn’t cause this problem. He’s the result of it. But repudiating Trump is a key action Republicans need to take in reforming their party. Taking part in the removal of Trump from office is a necessary step in reforming the Republican Party. And it needs to reform because it no longer serves a useful function in American society. To the contrary, its operation is detrimental.
Item Four
If Trump is acquitted of all charges when impeachment goes to the Senate, it will mean that politicians in the U.S. can use governments of other countries and any entities within those countries to help them win campaigns. This means that all Democratic candidates for Congress, or even for state offices, will be able to go to other countries to get help against their Republican opponents. That means they could also raise money overseas and spend it here. If anyone tried to take them to court, they could depend on the precedent set by the impeachment trial as an unassailable Get Out of Jail Free card.
And make no mistake that they will start soliciting funds and non-monetary support outside the U.S. Democrats cannot afford to unilaterally disarm in the face of this new reality. They will need to assume Republicans are all doing the same, so they will go to foreign governments for help.
A vote to acquit Trump is a vote to open up U.S. elections to the entire world, asking those with the most money to step in and get their own candidates. The Russian oligarchs have enormous funds, but it’s likely the nouveau riche in China have even more money. What about the rich in Africa? India? Japan?
Along with soliciting help from these people comes influence on U.S. policy. You can be guaranteed that we will be much friendlier to China once Republicans break the influence wall that has largely kept foreign entities out of our elections.
Republicans need to take a careful and deep look at the implications of acquitting Trump. Right now, it may look like they will continue to benefit from his power. But they should remember that his power comes, at least in part, from Russian oligarchs. With strings attached.
Item Five
The next POTUS will be a Democrat. Any power granted Trump will be used by that President against Republicans. For example, Trump is using the power of the government against his political opponents. Republicans should expect the next President to use all the powers of the presidency against them.
Not just that, but Democrats in other federal offices, including those in Congress, as well as cabinet officials, will be able to attack Republicans in any way they want. If they break the law, the President will just pardon them.
For example, Republicans will find their tax returns examined for political purposes. The government will spy on them, including examining their bank transactions.
There’s really no end to the abuse a President from the Democratic Party could inflict on Republicans. There would be no stopping them, because Democrats would point to the acquittal of Trump as a precedent.
Don’t think if you’re a Republican that Trump is invulnerable and will continue in office. The American people are tired of him. Even his most ardent supporters know he’s a bad President and is slowly destroying American influence in the world. He reflects badly on them.
Americans look in the mirror when they look at the President. The vast majority of Americans are getting a good look at themselves when they look at Trump. What they see is a bore: “One that is wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious.” (Wordnik) And a thug: “A cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.” (Dictionary.com) And a gangster: “A member of a professional criminal organization; a racketeer.” (Wiktionary)
This isn’t the self-image of most Americans.
So, don’t kid yourselves, Republicans. The next President of the United States will be a Democrat. Bet against that at your peril.
How Republicans Can Avoid Disaster
Republicans need to get together behind the scenes and agree to remove Trump when impeachment reaches the Senate. Democrats are giving them a way to save themselves and their party. They should take it.