Tomyamaguchi’s Weblog

My email – Congress needs to impeach Trump

While I would have liked to have seen more than two articles of impeachment being voted on by Congress, I believe that these two articles are sufficient to remove Donald Trump from the office he continues to abuse. Speaker Pelosi has moved with appropriate caution on the use of the power of impeachment. She was criticized when she refused to impeach George Bush over the war in Iraq. I agreed with her then, I agree with her now. Impeachment is a serious use of congressional power and should not be used casually. 

On the other hand, I am extremely angry with congressional Republicans who appear to value the interests of their political party over the wellbeing of our country. This is not the Republican Party of 1974, when its leaders convinced Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached. It shows that the Republican Party no longer exists. It is now the party of Trump.

When Robert Mueller’s report was released, Republicans defended Donald Trump’s actions by arguing that he was a political novice who didn’t know what he was doing was illegal, i.e. inviting a foreign government to interfere with an election and obstructing the investigation of that interference. Then, the very next day after Robert Mueller testified before Congress, Donald Trump, in a phone call with the President of Ukraine, asked a foreign government to interfere with the 2020 election. So if Mr. Trump was ignorant of the law then, he cannot argue that now. In fact, one argument on why he continues to abuse the powers of his office is that Congress has failed to act on his past offenses. If that is the case, he is sure to continue to commit these abuses through the rest of his term.

As many have pointed out, this is more than a case of bribery and coverup. To argue that we should wait until the next election to remove Donald Trump from office fails to address the real concern, that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election and are clearly doing so again in the 2020 election. Our democracy is under attack, while Donald Trump and congressional Republicans continue to be a willing partners in that attack. Even in the impeachment hearings, they are spreading the Russian propaganda that Ukraine interfered in 2016 on behalf of Hillary Clinton, as well as other baseless charges against the Bidens.

In addition, if Congress does not use its power to impeach when appropriate, then impeachment as a power that has been lost. Future presidents will agree with Donald Trump that Article II gives them the power to do anything they want.

The Republicans may be right that Democratic members of Congress risk losing reelection by supporting impeachment. Like Speaker Pelosi, I am willing to take that risk. That is the risk of putting your country before your political party. I am ready to work for the reelection of those who vote to defend the Constitution against the blatant misuse of presidential power.

December 12, 2019 Posted by tomyamaguchi | Uncategorized | Leave a comment