Parker Molloy
@ParkerMolloy
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2h
I’m case you’re we’re wondering what Trump was saying at the exact moment
they reached 216 votes for impeachment, it was another insane story about
how he thinks stealth fighters are actually invisible.
it's on youtube
and will striker or thethe be the first enablers to respond ?
The fact that you lump me in with Trump enablers is a nice microcosm of what's wrong in American politics. There's too much of a view that there are two sides. Either you agree with me on everything or you're totally against me. Too few people see it as the spectrum it is.
I think the problem here is that you see some of the positions I take and assume you know the motive behind them. That's not the case.
I'm strongly against impeachment but not because I think Democrats made everything up or that there was corruption in the Ukraine that Trump was nobly trying to root out. I'm against impeachment of Trump because I don't like what it will do to our political institutions.
I agree with what, IIRC, Nadler said during the Clinton impeachment. It should never be considered unless you have broad, bipartisan support. I would go a step farther and say impeachment shouldn't be considered unless removal from office is likely. Usurping the mandate of the electoral process is an extreme measure that should only be taken in the most serious cases, with the greatest solemnity, and only when it's clearly the only choice.
By impeaching Trump, I fear the Democrats have burst the dam that the Republicans cracked when they impeached Clinton. I fear now that any President that is of a different party than the House of Representatives will be hounded by impeachment attempts. There will be unending investigations into even the smallest rumor of wrong doing and when the President offers anything less than full cooperation, there will be articles of impeachment for Obstruction of Congress.
I see the growth of executive power as an existential threat to our political system. The impeachment power and subsequent removal from office is one of the few true checks on the power of the executive. It's the ax Congress can hold over the head of the President. But it only works if it's a legitimate threat. Overuse of impeachment without removal from office erodes the power of impeachment as a threat. It emboldens the President to expand his power even more.
Personally, I think Trump legitimately believes that Biden was involved in wrongdoing in the Ukraine because I think Trump is a crazy old man with the beginning stages of dementia. He'll believe anything that benefits him. I think the House should have done an investigation of Trump, released a report with the findings, and then censured Trump. It's largely a symbolic gesture but that's all impeachment will be since it's a foregone conclusion it will die in the Senate.
I find the lack of cooperation with the investigation more troubling. I think Dems should have gone to the courts to try to get some clarity on the scope of executive privilege.
Impeachment should be a weapon of last resort. I think there were other options to the Dems with equally effective results and without the damage a failed removal from office does to the impeachment power.
My final thought, I'm sickened that the impeachment power is being treated as a political game by everyone involved. The Dems know it wont result in removing Trump but they're hoping to score political points with it. Conversely, instead of taking the process seriously, Republicans in Congress have acted as if their first duty is to protect Trump. No one is treating this process with the seriousness it deserves.