Andrew L. Urban.
We are witnessing America’s arguably most destructive political convulsion as the Democrats’ move to impeach President Donald Trump. It is likely to end up as a valuable lesson in realpolitik for any party anywhere (including Australia) which puts on the mask of righteousness to hide raw hatred for an opponent, while willing to break the rules.
The drivers of this hate-fuelled strategy are the Democrats’ Haters in Chief, Adam Schiff in the House and Jerry Nadler in the Senate. Both men have been agitating angrily against Trump since even before his inauguration. They seem to hate Trump more than they love their country.
The reason this impeachment process is so destructive is that it is based on an illegitimate premise – actually, a handful of them – and because the Democrats, holding the reins as the majority in the House, have denied Trump due process and fairness. Secret hearings, no witnesses, no right of defence, stacked witness line up. In a devastating observation, Greg Steube (R -FL) of the House Judiciary Committee (ex military) pointed out that even terrorists being tried in Iraq had more rights than Trump has in this process.
What’s more, the conditions that prevail are in direct contrast to previous statements about what would characterise legitimate impeachment, by both Nadler and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat veteran. In short, they both have stated in the past (Pelosi as recently as March 2019) that because impeachment is so divisive, it should only be contemplated if the evidence is compelling, overwhelming and bipartisan. None of those conditions exist in this case.
To twist the facts to fit their allegations, the Democrats have had to lie. Repeatedly. The radicals in the Democratic party have been searching for a hook on which to hang their impeachment. The Russian-Trump election interference collusion hook fell off the wall. To find another, they had to mischaracterise his July 25 phone conversation with new Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. They have repeated it constantly, even after they were corrected in their own House Intelligence (?) Committee hearings. What they claim is that Trump asked President Zelensky for a favour, to investigate the Bidens’ (Joe Biden Presidential hopeful) potentially corrupt relationship with Borisma, the gas giant noted for its corruption. Trump actually said (as is evident in the transcript) he asked the President to “do us a favour because the country has had a rough time” – this was in the aftermath of the Mueller investigation. He never mentioned any company or the Bidens; he was asking Zelensky to look into Ukraine’s possible interference in the US election under the previous, corrupt, Ukrainian administration.
That the Democrats have the gall – or is it desperation – to so distort the facts which are on public display is staggering. This will have consequences for their party because it will rise in the public consciousness – even in a public currently somewhat lethargic about the impeachment process, as it heads to the Republic controlled Senate early next year. This mendacious, irresponsible and nasty element is propelling the Democrats along the road to their perdition. As Australia’s political oracle Graham Richardson always maintains, the mob always works you out. Americans will work the current crop of Democrats out – and vote them out, too.