Impeachable
More and more political analysts are now saying the Donald Trump, on his 117th day in office, has definitely moved into impeachment territory.
Each day, it seems, Trump manages to manufacture a scandal that makes his hold on power more tenuous. Barely a week after the US President spectacularly fired the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he revealed top secret information to the visiting Russian foreign minister. The information was shared without clearance from the foreign intelligence agency (Israel’s). Doing so could put at risk the lives of intelligence agents.
Just as the controversy over Trump’s leak of sensitive information was breaking, one media organization revealed the sacked FBI director James Comey wrote a memo immediately after meeting Trump at the White House Feb. 14. In the memo to the file, Comey wrote that the President of the US asked him to end the investigation his agency was conducting into possible collusion between Russian officials and members of the Trump campaign team.
Shortly after Trump took office, acting attorneygeneral Sally Yates informed Trump’s staff that newly appointed National Security Adviser Michael Flynn might have been compromised because of discussions he held with Russian officials. Trump fired Yates, even describing the career Justice official a political enemy. He eventually had to fire Flynn as well, after dragging his feet on the matter.
Now, by asking Comey to end the FBI investigation into the suspicious contacts between Trump’s men and Russian officials, Trump himself might be ejected from office. Many decades ago, President Richard Nixon was impeached for obstructing justice when he asked the FBI to end its investigation into the Watergate incident. Trump could be impeached for exactly the same felony.
In the American tradition, obstruction of justice is a very serious matter – especially where the presidency is involved. The American president is a powerful post. That makes obstruction of justice charges extremely serious ones.
The Republican Party, of course, controls both chambers of the US Congress. That is no guarantee partisan affiliation will stop impeachment proceedings from progressing, especially when evidence of presidential wrongdoing is compelling.
While most of us might wish Trump finds the wisdom and the discipline to serve his office well, what we have seen so far suggests this is the sort of man who will push himself deeper into the quagmire. We all wait with bated breath for the next self-inflicted political crisis to explode from the White House.
As I write this, journalists all over the world are basically waiting for Trump to wake up and start tweeting about the Comey memo.
Weakened
Never before has the world witnessed so much hubris and incompetence condensed in an elected political leader as in the case of Donald Trump. It might take a while for the idea to sink into his egotistical mind: he is actually in an extremely vulnerable position.
Remember that Donald Trump does not have deep roots in the Republican Party. His bitter and divisive campaign caused discomfort among mainline Republican leaders. He antagonized many of them and many of them did not support his bid for the presidency.
Trump worked his redneck base rather than court the rank-and-file of the party that adopted him. That atomized base can do nothing to rescue Trump in the event of impeachment. Many sitting Republicans in the US Congress would want nothing more than stick a knife into this bag of hot air – especially as Vice President Mike Pence is immensely more mainstream and more disciplined.
With all the bombshells Trump manages to detonate nearly on a daily basis, he does not only weaken his hold on power, he weakens the office he occupies. More than that, he weakens his country’s role and stature in global politics. Given that many countries look to the US to play a stabilizing role in a uncertain world, Trump undermines his country’s ability to deliver on that expectation.
The rest of the world does not really care if Trump paints himself into a corner and weaves a web of controversy around himself. The rest of the world truly cares about the US being effectively-led so that the world’s most powerful country is able to deliver a little more predictability to this planet’s affairs.
With an erratic and yet combative president, the US can only reap disdain elsewhere. The situation will only tempt sociopaths like Kim Jong-un to test American resolve and terrorists like the ISIS to heap more scorn on the West.
If Trump’s political standing goes into a perilous nosedive, this will not spare the government he is supposed to lead with wisdom and maturity. We do not really care if Trump crashes and burns. But that will undermine America’s reliability as an ally, as repository of democratic values and guarantor of global stability.
The irony on hand is this: If Trump and his redneck base succeed politically, they will drag their great country into the Stone Age with the isolationism, protectionism and unilateralism. If they fail politically, they will throw their country into such chaos and demoralization that America would probably have to abdicate on the task of leading the rest of the world.
It is bad enough for us, in this part of the world, that Trump started out by scuttling the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative. Now it seems the Trump presidency has lost sight of its role and place in this rapidly evolving region.
Worse, the Trump presidency could soon implode so badly that a toxic fallout descends on international politics and the global economy.