Impeachment is the only alternative at this point
The message was clear. Stunning, but clear.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney looked out into the press briefing room Friday and finally delivered some truth.
“Get over it,” he arrogantly told reporters.
The result? Impeachment’s time has come.
Mulvaney had just informed the media that the president will host next year’s G7 summit at his failing Doral resort in Florida.
Mulvaney didn’t want to hear about the whole conflict-of-interest thing, although the president stands to earn millions from this and, well, with this administration, ethics be damned anyway.
Now, it took Republican leaders about a day to convince him that he was violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits elected officials from profiting from the influence of their position. The president grudgingly backed off and world leaders will meet elsewhere next year.
But it fully illustrates the president’s lack of respect for the law and his narcissistic belief that he is above the law.
Still, it is a very important part of all this impeachment business. When the government conducts business, it is a complicated procedure that requires bids, negotiation, and Best-and-Final-Offers (BAFOs as they are referred to in government) to determine who will win the contract. There were no bids on next year’s G7 summit, no proposals, no negotiations — just the president directing the millions of dollars that will be spent to house world officials for the critical meeting into his resort. From the very beginning, this president has refused to divest himself of his personal business interests while in office, a step previous presidents have taken to avoid even the appearance of corruption. Instead, the president has spat upon the clause of the Constitution that forbids him from profiting from decisions he makes as president. One governmental ethics expert has suggested that if this was done by any other federal employee, he would be facing the possibility of criminal indictment and up to five years in prison for violating federal conflict-of-interest laws.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped the president before as he has packed a Washington D.C. hotel he has leased from the federal government with foreign dignitaries paying top dollar.
Let’s go over that again: The president has leased a high-dollar hotel along The Beltway. He invites world leaders to visit. They are urged to stay at his hotel. Money changes hands, a good chunk landing in the president’s pockets.
Later, Mulvaney looked the press in the eye and came clean on the Ukraine deal, admitting that the president, indeed, froze some $400 million in aid to force the Ukraine into investigating the Biden family and other Democrats looking to unseat the president. It was the quid pro quo that the White House had denied since the messy business was uncovered.
This was money that Congress had already appropriated, and the president had no right to hold up but did so in an effort to fix the upcoming presidential election in his favor by smearing one of his most powerful opponents.
Mulvaney shrugs all of this off, stating that foreign policy is and will always be politically driven and that even if the president is swindling the American public, it is OK as long as he does so in the public eye. That doesn’t really wash because the guy running a three-card Monty hustle on the sidewalk is still breaking the law, and the minute the cop on the beat spots him, he’s going to get run in. A fleecing is a fleecing, whether in public or private.
Mulvaney then took a page from the administration’s playbook by denying he made the statement, even though you can find the video all over the Internet, and blaming the media for misconstruing his comments.
Sorry pal, that won’t wash. Mama didn’t raise no fool. We heard what you said. The world heard what you said.
The world saw you get your head handed to you Sunday morning on, of all channels, Fox News when Chris Wallace would not allow you to slither away.
You confirmed what the folks conducting the impeachment inquiry have believed all along, that the president threatened to hold up $400 million in aid if the Ukrainian government did not investigate the Bidens.
It’s easy to understand why the president tried to push the G7 meeting to the Doral. Profits at the failing resort have fallen 69 percent since 2015 because of its link to the president. It seems the Trump name has been more of a liability than an asset, even in conservative-heavy Florida.
And of course, we still have Rudy Giuliani rattling his chains. God knows what will come from him at this point, but he certainly comes across as a ticking bomb about to go off.
Not even the wildest of banana republics is run this horribly.
For the longest time, I was not a fan of impeachment.
It is an ugly, depressing exercise that should only be used in the most extreme of circumstances. It traumatizes the nation, diminishes our standing in the world, and wreaks havoc with our economy.
But we have reached the point where impeachment is the only valid solution. It is time to divorce ourselves from Donald Trump.
Although I still wonder if the Republicans have the integrity to do an honest job of it, it is something that must be done. Because if we don’t, we lose all ethical, political, and — most importantly — moral standing in this world.
We can no longer allow this man and his thugs to drag us down, to insult us, to bully us, to flat-out lie to us.
We know they have spun economic and employment numbers to their favor.
We know that the infatuation with the wall as a means to tighter security is a false flag hoisted only to camouflage the insidious racism of this administration.
We know that the president is a liar, a philanderer, a crook; that he is a narcissistic demagogue; that he is a fraud.
And now it is time to take that stand.
The administration has crossed the line, and there doesn’t seem to be a reputable one in the whole bunch. I mean, when you start having even the slightest of emotional pangs about how John Bolton was treated, you begin to realize just how badly things have gone.
None of us who does political analysis, who truly studies its ins and outs, takes any joy in writing about Donald Trump and his disgraceful administration.
We are tired of exposing his lies, his deception, his ignorance of the Constitution, his arrogance, narcissism, his racism.
We don’t find any joy in exposing how he has bullied the common man and woman, how he has abandoned the poor and needy, how he sucks up to the religious right even though he is probably the least religious president in recent history, how he is a farcical character of outlandish proportion that is the laughingstock of global governance.
We can no longer allow him to destroy our republic, to demean its people, to insult our neighbors to the north and south and our allies east and west.
Impeachment is the only alternative at this point, and Congress must proceed vigorously in that direction.
No, I don’t like writing about Donald Trump. He is a brute and a boor.
But I will continue to write about Donald Trump. You see, the fate of the nation weighs in the balance.
Peace.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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This too shall pass. As the World Turns. Another World, Bold & The Beautiful, and of course General Hospital come to mind. Gee Ed, how about letting the American people decide in an election. Novel idea if you ask me, and not that far off. Hmmmm, can we trust the American people over politicians and partisan in fighting? Oh that’s right, you watch CNN – I forgot. Sorry about that, my error. If I can give up FOX, you can give up CNN. Hey, check out Rogan / Snowden interview out today, been watching since 5 am. Maybe you will get a different angle other than the corporate democratic/liberal media propaganda machine agenda. After that Styxhexxenhammer or Jimmy Dore may help shed some light, and and certainly they wont let you down either. Also you may laugh a little which is healthy rather than get ulcers from worrying too much.. WHAT if YOU are not thoroughly informed? At that point do you not become part of the problem? Do your homework, the worst source for news these days are mainstream media outlets, and let’s all agree classic journalism is now dead on arrival. So time to raise the dead, and Ed, look no further then your computer keyboard right in front of you. Good luck!!! No further comment, especially on further comments.