No excuse for Trump’s behavior

The White House released a summary of a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president in which our president used his position as head of state to solicit help from a foreign head of state to investigate a political rival [Sept. 26, Nation World, “White House-released summary of call with Ukraine president shows Trump repeatedly prodded the new leader to investigate political rival Joe Biden”].

Is that not enough for impeachment? How is such abuse of power not sufficient grounds?

But, true to what’s been seen before, supporters of Trump are seemingly working to twist reality such that this damning document outlining the phone call somehow exonerates him.

“No explicit quid pro quo,” they claim, as if they’ve never seen a movie about organized crime. If this released summary of dialogue was in a mafia crime novel, I’d accuse the author of lacking subtlety, of thinking the audience too dense to connect Trump’s references to wanting favors to the context of Ukraine’s precarious position vis-a-vis Russia and its dependence on Western aid. Under this view, no two-bit gangster ever demanded protection money from a shopkeeper; no, he only expressed concern that something might happen.

But proof of explicit quid pro quo is not necessary here. Trump’s abuse of his office to investigate rivals should be ample. I’m not a member of Congress nor am I particularly interested in what impeachment proceedings might reveal about Trump — the man appears to practice cruelty and dishonesty in the open. No, I’ll be conducting an informal investigation of my own, into the psyche and character of my Republican friends and family. Will they dismiss such a clear violation and degradation of the office? Are they as delusional and morally bankrupt as their president? I will not require a two thirds judgment from the Senate to render my verdict.

Andrew McClory, Stamford