As in all Tikkun Daily Blog articles the opinions are those of the author and we print them without endorsement but only because we want views that you won’t find in the mainstream media to be considered by our wide readership.
The Constitution suddenly seems to have bestirred itself and
declared itself, through its many Washington spokespeople, to be in
crisis.
I’m sorry, interjects the world, but what the hell took you so long?
We laid out the clear Constitutional violations of Trump’s financial
and business interests on the day he became president (in the real
sense, not the media event months later when “He finally became
president” by bombing enough people) at ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org .
Since the later hours of Day 1 back in January through the present
instant, the clear and documented (when not openly bragged about)
Constitutional offenses have been piling up.
As of a 2015 disclosure to the Federal Elections Commission, Trump
owns stock in the maker of the missiles he sent into Syria, Raytheon, as
well as numerous other weapons makers, Canadian tar sands, etc. Trump
has continued, escalated, and threatened numerous illegal and immoral
wars. That he may be personally profiting from them just adds to the
supreme international crime, which of course already violates the U.N.
Charter and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, supreme laws of the U.S. under the
Constitution.
Trump has unconstitutionally discriminated against refugees, been stopped by the judiciary, and immediately done it again.
Trump has pushed policies that will aggravate climate change, a crime
against humanity that can be prosecuted by the International Criminal
Court even against a non-member. On December 6, 2009, Trump signed a
public letter to President Barack Obama urging action to protect the
earth from climate change. “If we fail to act now,” the letter read, “it
is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and
irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.” Trump is
knowingly endangering all human (and many non-human) residents of the
United States, right along with the other 96% of humanity.
Trump openly sought to intimidate voters prior to his election, and
fought the counting of ballots where they existed, was elected with a
minority of votes, was elected with numerous votes uncounted and
numerous voters blocked from voting by the partisan stripping of the
rolls and by ID laws, following a nomination principally decided by
dramatically biased media coverage. If none of that put the Constitution
into crisis, why keep the rotting document around at all?
Pre-presidency but still available grounds for impeachment, Trump
violated, according to the list in Alan Lichtman’s book on Trump
impeachment, the Fair Housing Act, New York charity law, tax laws, the
Cuban embargo, casino regulations, the RICO statute, laws against
employing undocumented immigrants, and of course laws against sexual
assault. You don’t have to have never been in Congress to spot a pattern
of criminality here.
Of course there is one charge against Trump that has not been proven,
risks confrontation with a nuclear armed government, and needlessly
adds a xenophobic excuse to the dozens of solid reasons that last year’s
U.S. election was illegitimate. So of course this is the one everybody
wants to focus on: blaming Russia for exposing the Democratic Party’s
slanting of its own primary against its strongest candidate. Let’s
remember that the people who have most vigorously pursued this approach
are the same people who nominated possibly the only candidate who could
have lost to Donald Trump.
Now we come to a charge of possible, conceivable, or an appearance of
possible or conceivable obstruction of justice and perhaps something
or other at the base of the story around which justice was being sought.
If we can remove Trump this way, by all means, proceed. And proceed
with impeachment, not with a 2020 election campaign by some otherwise
repulsive candidate who plans to win by virtue of not being Trump and
somehow surviving four years of Trumpism.
But here are my concerns:
The coverup is not worse than the crime. Serious crimes are available
as impeachment charges, and overlooking them effectively permits them
going forward, along with any other crimes, as long as there’s no
coverup.
We have yet to see any actual evidence of any actual Russian
influence on the U.S. election. Toying with hostility toward a nuclear
government is more reckless than anything (else) Trump has done. Can you
impeach and try Trump for obstructing an investigation into what all
the corporate media refer to as if it were established fact, without
actually focusing on whether there is any evidence, and without
demonizing Russia?
If some lesser crimes are proven that involve Russia in some way, can
you try them without advancing the notion that the fundamental crime is
friendship with Russians?
Can you keep in perspective the hypocrisy that all of this telegraphs
to the earth? Barack Obama recorded a campaign ad for a French
candidate in last week’s election, while Samantha Power was busy
accusing Vladimir Putin of trying to influence the French election. The
U.S. has openly sought to influence dozens of elections, including
Yeltsin’s (the Trump of Russia?), not to mention overthrowing dozens of
governments still being pursued in Syria. How does this look? Wouldn’t
it look better to at least add in a few articles of impeachment for the
highest of crimes even if Russia isn’t involved in them?
And, yes, I mean even crimes committed by Obama and Bush and others
before them. I’m not expecting consistency. While I supported
impeachment for Bush and Obama as well as Trump, one cannot expect all
Democrats to have gone that far in supporting the rule of law when Obama
was drone master although they may now ask Republicans to reach that
higher standard of integrity. I understand that partisanship is strong
poison. I just ask for at least the appearance of seriousness even if
only because going into a trial in the U.S. Senate with charges that are
already proven makes a conviction far more likely.
The bigger concern, of tamping down the warmongering, of lowering the
risk of nuclear conflict should be made to appeal to as many as can
hear it.
Impeachment certainly should be pursued, and certainly cannot wait.
But it will only establish the proper threat of impeachment for the next
person to hold the office if it is done for the right reasons in the
right way. The right way includes being led by the public. We, not
Congress, must decide when there is a crisis.
—
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.He is a 2015, 2016, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.
Read your article several times to try to fully comprehend on what you’re saying.
I agree on almost all matters of your article, but what I’m confused about is how do we go about changing the status quo? Impeaching Trump will not make a better world, look at who is next in succession. Pence’s record as governor of Indiana is also despicable, he would be a more defined politician, as compared to who is sitting in the President’s seat now.
At least with Trump nothing is really getting done, sure he’s tried to stop immigrants from coming into the country and failed twice. He is expelling undocumented people, but so did Obama, he dropped a bomb in Syria that had basically no effect, Obama for his drones and killing innocent men, women and children. The list goes on as in your article for most presidents who should be impeached.
The Oligarchies and the Plutocrats will not surrender easily, they keep lying to the public and it works, just look at the people who keep getting elected. The divisions in the country are so extreme that it could take decades to mend. Do we have that much time?