Dec.15, 2019
If you think about it, life is marked by a series of documents, most of which we seldom think about until they are needed. The very first document marking our entry into this document crazy world— which comes without us doing anything to request it—is a little piece of paper called a ‘Birth Certificate’. You only find out how important it is much later in life, especially if you want a Passport or decide to run for the office of ‘President of the United States’—the later—which few of us ever do. If you are born into certain religion-affiliated families, the next document you get without ordering or requesting it is probably a ‘Baptismal Certificate’. After that, ‘Documents’ come by choice and they come much slower and they take on much greater significance in life. When I was growing up the one most coveted document I was looking forward to—which seemed like the day I would receive it would never come—was called a— ‘Driver’s License’. When you start to work you register to get a Social Security ‘Number’ and a corresponding ’Account’—which will only be important if you work long enough in salary paying jobs, and live long enough to collect ‘Social Security’ dollars. Documents of educational accomplishment come as ‘Diplomas’. To get married you need a document called a ‘Marriage License’, and when you finish service in the military you get a ‘Discharge Certificate’—which could be good or bad—depending on the modifier on that certificate. I consider one of the most important documents I ever earned was my Private Pilot, Commercial, Instrument, and Sailplane rated ‘License’. And, last but not least, the one document you don’t look forward to and aren’t around to receive, is called a ‘Death Certificate’.
Along life’s way, a person can receive all types of Certificates honoring performance or accomplishment in the military, commercial, educational, legal, medical, research or even charitable-giving careers one has chosen to pursue. However, if you screw up professionally, you can get your ‘License’ revoked or be ‘Disbarred” from the practice of Law. A military person can be ‘Dishonorably Discharged’ for bad performance during a military career and a Catholic Priest can be ‘Ex-Communicated’ or ‘De-frocked’ for malfeasance while in that ‘office’. That last one didn’t happen as often as it should have, simply because the judges (Bishops, Arch-Bishops, Cardinals and Popes) often were committing more serious sins (i.e., crimes) than the simple priests.
But, what do we do with a President of the United States of America who exhibits bad behavior? We either have to excuse his behavior or try to ‘Impeach’ him–which begins a lengthy process of hearings on the evidence, rulings by the House Judicial Committee and votes by that Committee determining the behavior is ‘Impeachable’, as defined by our Constitution. This results in another ‘Document’ called ‘The Articles of Impeachment’ which then goes to the full Senate for a trial and a verdict as whether the offenses claimed warrant ‘Removal From Office’ for the President so charged. Thus far, in the history of the United States of America, only three Presidents have been ‘Impeached’ and none have been voted out of office. That should tell you something about the ‘Impeachment’ process. The problem with this ‘system’ is that the final ‘Jury’, judging the process, which is the Senate, can be as corrupt as the President being charged. That’s why Andrew Johnson was impeached but not removed from office. Donald Trump is considered by many historians to be a twenty first century reincarnation of Andrew Johnson and the Republican Senate today is just as corrupt as the Senate was during his trial in 1868. I expect the House will impeach Trump and the totally corrupt Republican Senate will declare him ‘innocent’. Then, the 2020 election will determine whether or not he remains in office as President of the United States. Maybe that’s as it should be? Let history repeat itself? Personally, I wish that our Republican Senators would study—and learn something from—our history. Let’s watch and see what happens these next several weeks. Just don’t expect our government to accomplish much as long as people like Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and William Barr are in office and they allow a person named Rudy Giuliani to run loose pretending to be our Secretary of State. If ever a presidential administration looked like a clown circus—we have one now! I wonder, does an impeached President get any kind of ‘Certificate of Impeachment’? If so, Donald could hang it on the wall of his office in the Trump Tower along-side his picture of Vladimir Putin when/if he is thrown out of, or loses in the election, office.
All week, a battle has been raging within the Democrat Party as to how many impeachable offenses our “Perfect” (his claim) President has committed during his first three years in office. I cannot claim to have even one iota of political expertise and, maybe, Nancy’s ‘rifle shot(s)’ of only two impeachable offenses is easier for a dim-witted and blind-to-corruption Congress to deal with than a ‘shotgun’ list of a dozen or more offenses that, I believe, he has committed. Remember the poem, “How do I love you? Let me count the ways.” Let’s change the opening lines to, “How do we impeach thee? Let we the people count the ways!” Here’s my list:
Courting and blessing Russia’s interference in the 2016 Election,
Constantly promoting White Supremacy at the expense of minorities during his entire term,
His possible use of campaign funds to ‘bribe’ ‘Stormy Daniels’ and Karen McDougal—with
whom he had affairs during his marriages — into silence,
His support for and failure to censor MBS and the entire Saudi regime for their brutal murder
of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist,
His often expressed hatred of immigrants and persons of color,
His ordered mistreatment of asylum seekers at our boarders causing the death of many,
His purposeful break-up and separation of asylum seeking families after they have entered our
Country,
His constant taking of ‘emoluments’ by using his office for personal gain during his campaign
and since his election as President (he is not a politician, he is a money grubbing whore),
His ‘not congressionally authorized’ decision to withdraw support for the Kurds in the Syrian
war (now, erroneously, called a ‘conflict’),
His withholding of aid to the Ukraine (during their war with Russia) in an attempt to get their
President to initiate an inquiry into the son of a possible competitor in the 2020 election,
His ‘Contempt of Congress’ by blocking key witnesses from testifying before the House
Investigating Committee and refusal to submit documents it requested by subpoenas,
His placement of William Barr, the ‘legal pimp for Trump’, as Attorney General, and-
His use of Rudy Giuliani as his personal ‘go-fer’ in his extortion scheme in the Ukraine affair.
I’ll admit that some of the above ‘baker’s dozen plus’ may or may not be ‘impeachable’ offenses but they all warrant congressional investigation. Hubris and I believe strongly in throwing the whole basket of charges at the Republican wall by continued investigations as we believe most of them will ‘stick’—at least in the minds of the electorate—through the 2020 election. Maybe the answer is to go ahead with the impeachment and let the Republican Senators pay the price for their dishonesty at the polling places in 2020? Expecting a corrupt Senate to convict a corrupt President is wishful thinking. It will certainly be interesting to watch this tragic piece of contemporary American history play out over the coming weeks—or months! Hubris said, “Quit typing Lou! Take a shot of Uncle Jack’s finest and let’s go for a ride! I did exactly what he suggested in exactly that order. So, we are of onto the ditch banks for another Friday evening ride—or, whatever it turns out to be—which depends a lot on Hubris’
attitude—which can change, minute by minute.
Lou
Copyright. December 15, 2019, Louis J. Christen