Congress is about to go through the process of impeaching Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States. We as a nation are faced with a determining question for those chosen to represent us in Congress: “Are you living in partisan fear of doing or not doing the right thing?”
In recent weeks we have heard more about our Constitution than since the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. The reasons are many that come back to one. The Constitution is our governing document. While it spells out the facts necessary to bring an impeachment, the Constitution never intended it to be based upon partisanship.
The Senate will convene an impeachment trial based upon articles of impeachment drafted by the House of Representatives. The articles will show a President who abused the powers of his office and chose self over country repeatedly. In its most imperative, President Trump has chosen self over our national security and the safety of our elections.
The president will be accused of withholding funds approved by a bipartisan congressional vote to assist our ally Ukraine in fighting our mutual enemy, Russia. His goal in withholding those funds has been found to dismiss national security concerns, focusing instead on enlisting a foreign government’s help in his upcoming re-election effort.
The now infamous telephone call between President Trump and the newly elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the “ask” was made has been detailed in numerous documents and by multiple witnesses. Trump appointed NATO Ambassador Gordon Sondland. testified under oath that Trump asked Zelensky to obtain “dirt” on potential Trump 2020 opponent Joe Biden.
It is not the first time that Donald Trump has sought to a enlist foreign government’s involvement in our elections. During a 2016 campaign appearance Trump reached out to Russia on national television asking for their help finding Hillary Clinton emails. The dangerous pattern began:
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
That same day, the Russians made their first effort to break into the computer servers used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office. A sweeping 29-page indictment by the special counsel’s office charged 12 Russians with election hacking.
During the upcoming impeachment trial, each member of the Senate will have the opportunity to vote on the removal of President Trump from office. It is meant as an act of grave responsibility. It is not meant as a responsibility to act in the best of the Republican party or the Democratic party, but to act with independence. The impeachment of the President of the United States is not the time to tow a party line. By its very nature, it must be based upon facts.
But the current roster of Republicans has twisted those facts to such a degree that they have shown, thus far, the ability to ignore experts and witnesses. They have created a line of thinking that enables them to cement themselves to Trump’s side, whether he is guilty or not. The Republican men and women of the Senate, with rare exception at this point, appear afraid to stand up for themselves.
The current thinking is that the majority of Republicans who control the Senate will vote to support Trump’s ability to stay in office because they are afraid not to do so. They want to keep their jobs. That is what appears to be number one in most Republican Senator’s minds. No matter the facts presented during the impeachment process, They have bought into fearing the vindictiveness of Donald Trump whose vitriol threatens their political careers.
The fact that impeachment has become about Republican job security and not national security goes against every basis of right and wrong. It is an extraordinary time in which the power of each member of the Senate holds forth an outcome that will directly impact our country as a whole.
Does each Senator have the guts to vote without self interest in mind? That is the question that every Republican and Democrat voter must ask themselves as well. This is a time when doing what is best for our country and our national security, preserving our elections free from interference by any foreign country, is paramount.
If no man or woman who holds the office of Senator has the ability to think beyond themselves while holding facts in hand and mind, they deserve to not be re-elected. Let us as a people remember that no good comes out of governing based upon fear.