The Responsibility of
Patriots: Impeach, Vote Democrat in Mid-term, Take our country back!
We wrote recently about former State Secretary Madeleine Albright’s warning that facist rumblings around the world
threaten democracy. We
didn’t hesitate, and neither did the Secretary in her book Fascism: A Warning, to include President Donald Trump among those about whom we should
have such concerns. Things have only
gotten worse since we shared the publication. More reasons than ever exist for believing
Trump existentially threatens democratic institutions in this country and the
alliances the United States helped fashion that have kept the western
democracies safe in the 70 plus years since the Second World War.
We need not detail Trump’s disgraceful performance in
Helsinkiafter his meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Others have said plenty. As American patriots, the three of us view
Trump’s actions there as beyond the pale.
We’ve seen enough to declare Trump a Kleptocrat, if not an outright fascist.
His behavior calls for a response from all responsible Americans.
CLEAR AND PRESENT
DANGER
As lawyers, we know the dangers of hyperbole. Lots of
people say Trump represents a danger to democracy. They point to his race baiting after
Charlottesville, his disgraceful practice of separating infants and children
from their parents at the border as part of a cruel immigration policy, his
attacks on the Muslim religion, and his war on the media, Fox News exempted. What’s
different now is Trump’s willingness to bow to a foreign adversary while
disparaging and fighting with
our allies – the countries that have stood with us and behind us throughout the
post-war era. No American should forget
European members of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO)
came to our aid after September 11, 2001.
Yet, before he went to Finland and groveled next to Putin, there
was Trump picking fights with Germany, Great Britain, and other NATO members. He even audaciously labeled
the European Union our “foe.” Trump behaves as if he’d prefer
helping Putin dissolve NATO, leaving the Russian President free to annex
Eastern European states and perhaps even reconstitute the old Soviet Union, no
doubt a goal of this ruthless ex-KGB agent.
Even if Putin can’t accomplish that, Trump has already helped him
diminish the influence of the United States. Some European countries say they can no longer
depend on American leadership.
A TIME FOR ACTION: WHAT TO DO
As we’ve pointed out before in our blogs, the three of us don’t speak with one voice on many
issues. We are different people who,
from time to time, express a variety of political positions and
preferences. Yes, we’re mostly
Democrats, but we’re not the same kind of Democrat, and we don’t see every
issue in partisan terms. We think of
ourselves as patriots and though we each live our patriotism differently, we
put country before party.
Having said that, we acknowledge seeing only a partisan
solution to the danger Donald Trump’s behavior poses to the country we love. Ironically enough, in this circumstance, we
take our cues from several Republicans.
Steve Schmidt ran John McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign. Schmidt has been,throughout his political career
a dedicated adherent to the Republican Party and the conservative
movement. He worked for George W. Bush and helped put two conservative
justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. Schmidt now, however, advocates a vote for
Democratic candidates in this fall’s mid-term elections as the only way to undo
the grave damage he sees Trump doing to America. Schmidt, at least for the moment, has withdrawn
from the Republican Party and sees voting Democratic as the proper response to
Trump’s behavior. Columnist George F. Will, another prominent Republican voice
of long standing influence, echoed similar sentiments, urging independents and
non-Trump Republicans to vote in a way that will “substantially reduce” the
size of the Republican caucus in Congress.
Schmidt and Will see the same thing we do. Democratic control of the House would open
the possibility – even the probability – of impeachment proceedings against
Trump. We wrote about the mechanisms of
impeachment in June 2017, noting that process can’t start without Democrats holding the levers of
power.
Even if Congress doesn’t remove Trump from office (imagining
the two-thirds vote in the Senate required for conviction remains difficult),
an impeachment inquiry could reign in Trump’s behavior. Because House Republicans have stood so
strongly behind him, his behavior has gone unchecked. Democrats who oppose him in Congress sometimes
seem like they’re howling in the wind. Trump
hasn’t had to respond to subpoenas, release tax returns, or answer for
financial and policy excesses. With
Democrats in control of even one house of Congress, things will change. That howling may soon resemble a pack of hungry
wolves on the trail of a wounded animal.
We think it possible, in fact, Special Counsel Robert Mueller already has much of his case against
Trump made. Mueller, a smart Washington
operative, knows putting out his report now, with Republicans remaining in
control of the House where impeachment must begin, means that report would
likely get relegated to the trash can.
If Mueller believes he can’t indict a sitting President, making
impeachment the only remedy for Trump’s crimes, Mueller may well have decided he’ll
wait and present his report to a more receptive audience. We can’t imagine a more receptive audience
than a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. That’s our
dream and Trump’s worst nightmare.
That’s what we think.
Tell us what you think.
