Nothing is sacred to President Trump
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that so much damage could be done to our democracy in just three years. Through executive actions, regulatory rollbacks, lawsuits and inaction, President Trump has been able to undermine the rule of law in ways that could have a lasting negative impact on our democracy. He has negated the very notion that a prime responsibility of a democratically-elected government is to improve the lot of its people.
Paul Krugman recently wrote the following regarding the Republican’s abandonment of the public good. “Republicans are no longer willing to spend money in the public interest… [They] basically turned its back on the very idea of productive public spending.” This is the reason that the Trump administration has not made a single proposal to build the requisite infrastructure needed to make the America competitive in the 21st century, nor has he taken any actions to address growing income inequality or the social, health and human care needs of the tens of millions of American struggling to survive.
From day one, President Trump has attacked President Obama’s legacy on everything from labor regulations, voting and immigration rights, health care coverage, the social services safety net, freedom of the press, educational standards, financial safeguards, fiduciary standards, the rights of minorities and environmental protections.
I believe the absolute worst thing that President Trump has done is to muck around with the most sacred elements of our democracy – the sanctity of voting. Make no mistake about it. President Trump’s repeated attempts to insert a citizenship question in the census were for one purpose only – to curtail voting among immigrant populations, especially Latinos. He was hoping insidiously that by inserting a question regarding citizenship, it would deter certain groups from voting. I would not be surprised at all to see him attempt to selectively impose a poll tax in blue states in an attempt to suppress turn-out.
In a democracy, voting should be encouraged not discouraged. Our President should not be setting up barriers to voting he should be tearing them down and making voting easier.
The President of the United States should not be saying it is okay to take dirt from Russia on his political opponents. He should be making it abundantly clear to the Russians that any attempts to involve themselves in our election will be dealt with as an act of aggression and will be dealt with accordingly. He is not doing that. In fact, he is doing the exact opposite.
President Trump should not have called and asked Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of the Ukraine, to “do us a favor” and pursue an investigation regarding Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden. Imagine, for a moment, what went through President Zelensky’s mind when President Trump asked him to do some opposition research for him as the White House was withholding $400 million in aid to Ukraine. Listen to your President: “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.” Do you feel the Ukrainian President felt some pressure to respond affirmatively to President Trump asking to dig up some dirt on the President’s political opponent?
New Jersey Freshman Representative Tom Malinowski (Dem. 7th) got it right when he said: “If a bunch of mafia enforcers kidnap your family, and then a couple of days later ask for a loan, does he really have to say: ‘Or else you’ll never see your family again?’”
It is illegal to solicit information from a foreign power to intervene in our election. President Trump used the power of his office for his own political gain – he put his private interest above the nation’s interest. That is an impeachable offense. President Trump is not constrained by the rule of law and will do anything and everything to get re-elected.
It took so long for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to agree to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump because she was, no doubt, concerned about the possibility of no Republican in the House voting for impeachment and the likelihood that the effort would ultimately fail in the Senate where a twothird majority is required. Further, the effort could further solidify the President’s base.
Why then did Speaker Pelosi finally decide to go down the path of impeachment? Again, I turn to Congressman Malinowski who put it this way: “If all we do is leave it up to the American people to get rid of him, we have not upheld the rule of law. We have not set a precedent.”
Speaker Pelosi is betting that this time President Trump has gone too far by repeatedly soliciting foreign interference in the political process. I think she has made the right decision for her party and our nation. The President’s call and other actions are a microcosm of the Trump Presidency – one in which the President fails to distinguish between the interests of the country and his own personal interests.