Storm clouds circle over Trump

To the Times:

In several new polls half of all Americans support the impeachment and removal from office of President Donald Trump.

These are not just Democrats, it includes many Independents, even a small minority of Republicans and the trend has been upward. This is a staggering and sobering statistic. The Mueller report was a 400-plus page tome, complex and mind-numbing to read.

The president’s transgression of soliciting from a foreign state, dirt on Joe Biden, his putative rival, was crystal clear and seen as wrong by most people. Malcolm Gladwell defined the concept of a “tipping point” and we seem to have reached one in our collective tolerance of unacceptable behavior by President Trump. It seems that “Teflon Don,” the man who claimed he could walk down Fifth Avenue in New York, shoot a man and get away with it without it sullying people’s perception of him is gone.

Impeachment hearings are underway. It now seems that there is in inexorable tide moving the process toward an inevitable vote for impeachment. The Republican majority in the Senate strongly favors an acquittal. But, the dam holding back Republican rejection of Trump may yet break. If it does, a flood of pent-up disgust for Trump may be released that, metaphorically speaking, will drown him and wash him out of office.

There seems to be a growing sense regarding impeaching Trump that if he is not now held accountable for his alleged crimes and abuse of power, what president ever will be?

The history of this political era is being written right now, we just have to wait for the final chapter to see how it turns out.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore