What Impeachment Means To Me

Donald Trump is unfit to serve as President of the United States of America. He has been an embarrassment and a disgrace, and yet I concede the plausible likelihood that he will remain in office throughout this current scandal, and I further concede the very real possibility that he will be elected to a second term. He might even win the popular vote this time. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to initiate a formal impeachment inquiry could well backfire and further embolden his lock-step supporters--"Cult 45," as writer Paul Myers calls them--and maybe sweep up some malleable swing voters, too. For the sake of our nation and our world, I hope that is not the case.

But no matter the consequences, this president needs to be impeached. 

Trump's ongoing disregard and disrespect for the law and the rule of law is uniquely toxic. Trump is worse than Nixon. His above-the-law arrogance is a greater sin than his many, many other sins, from his sheer petulance to his appalling lack of intellectual curiosity, his utter classlessness to his characteristic cluelessness, his raging narcissism to his alarming paucity of anything resembling maturity, his fear-mongering and race-baiting to his aversion to empathy, his absence of humility to his smug and callous demeanor, his hateful rhetoric to his aberrant predilection for putting ketchup on steak. Calling him a buffoon does a disservice to hard-working, self-respecting buffoons all over the world. Hell, I'm a lazy buffoon, and I would resent being lumped in with the odious company of our Buffoon-In-Chief.

But he's not on the verge of being impeached for being a preening, unprepared lout with no redeeming qualities; he's at immediate risk of impeachment for colluding with a foreign government to influence an American election. High crimes and misdemeanors, not lying about a blowjob. Donald Trump is accused of committing treason.

This charge does not fall under Trump's smoke und mirrors misdirection of Fake News, nor can it be blithely shrugged off with ignorant what-aboutisms concerning Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. It is a credible accusation with substantial corroboration. It can't be ignored. It must be investigated. 

The cost of an impeachment effort could be devastating. Voters may view it as partisan, conveniently overlooking the fact that you can't dismiss something as a witch hunt if it does in fact find witches. If the House of Representatives does vote to impeach, the Republican-led Senate is about as likely to remove Trump as I am to become Batman or a Beatle. Donnie the Insufferable would then pronounce himself vindicated, and his sycophantic supporters would eat it all up like dung beetles at a bovine dump buffet.

Nonetheless...the House has no choice but to pursue impeachment. Even if it bites us in the ass. Even if we wind up watching the planet burn during Trump's second term. 

Because we have to take a stand. We have to. We can't turn away, pretending this awful behavior is normal or acceptable, and we can't take a strategic knee in the hope we'll prevail in the long run. Future generations--if there are future generations--will look back upon what we do now, the decisions we make, the actions we take. If we wish to believe in the quaint notion of making America as great as it was, as great as it can be, we have to take responsibility, and we have to hold the irresponsible accountable for the crimes they commit.

Impeachment isn't about a do-over of the 2016 election (as much as I would wanna wish that electoral fiasco away). It's about seeing justice done. It's about reminding the powerful that the people have the power. We the people. We can't hit reset, but we can move forward: to take the scorched earth, this hopeless and desolate terrain, and try to build something better. 

So yeah, impeach the mutha. And come 2020, vote Blue no matter who.



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