You know, you denizens of the Grand Old Party*, this isn’t a difficult moment for anyone who accepts the facts. No need to read the Judiciary Committee’s 638 pages. No need to read the 448 pages of the Mueller report. Keep it simple. The facts are laid out in the articles of impeachment. Nine pages. Narrow margins. Wide spacing. Easy peasy. Condensed still further for the tl;dr crowd among you:
Donald J. Trump compromised national security for his personal interests and he’s still doing it. You either accept the fact that Trump himself and his consigliere Rudy Giuliani have repeatedly confessed to having done what they did and continue doing, or you dig deep into your cognitive dissonance and pretzel yourself into denying what so many Americans have seen with their own eyes. Trump and Giuliani have acted and continue to act either as useful idiots or conscious agents of a debunked Russian disinformation campaign designed to put the blame for any meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections on Ukraine instead of the Kremlin, where everybody else puts it. Trump covered up this abuse of power and obstructed justice, undermining a full investigation by ordering defiance of subpoenas and withholding of documents. This is the behavior of a monarch who puts himself above the law, who believes that he can do anything he wants.
What the hell is worthy of impeachment if making a financial threat to force a foreign power to meddle in a U.S. election while spreading the disinformation of a smooth-talking autocrat at war against that foreign power isn’t? There was a time when certain Republicans would have demanded not merely impeachment but a firing squad for such behavior.
Yet from all I’ve read and watched on the TV, not one of you House Republicans plans to vote for those articles, just as not one Republican on the Judiciary Committee voted for them.
Do you all, every single one of you, truly think Trump didn’t do what he has confessed to having done, publicly, out of his own mouth in front of the cameras? Surely you didn’t fall directly from the turnip truck into your seat in Congress.
Or are you voting no because you accept that Trump did what he’s accused of but think it’s no big deal? Nothing wrong in your view then if the next Democratic president uses congressionally approved funds to pressure a foreign leader to investigate her potential Republican rivals? Is that part of the new normal that you are saying with your no vote that it’s okay for Donald Trump to get away with? Are you ready for the next thing he will pull if he does get away with this? Because you’ll be giving him the green light for his next straying beyond where the Constitution says he should go if you stand in his corner now, knowing full well he did what he’s accused of. You know this man of 15,000 lies, this wheeler-dealer demagogue will take your no vote as validation for going even further on his crooked path.
But it pretty much appears that this doesn’t matter to you. Your upcoming no vote indicates you’ve taken a liking to this brazen lawlessness. Perhaps you’d like someday to yourself be in a position to behave as Donald Trump is doing.
Since you’re determined to give him a pass, I recommend that, right after the vote Wednesday, all of you who carry around those pocket Constitutions toss them into a little bonfire right there on the floor of the House. Because that’s exactly what you’re saying that document and its amendments are worth.
*Democrats planning to vote no, this applies to you, too.