Trump’s rhetoric over whistleblower must cease

In the face of impeachment proceedings, the president rages about treason and civil war.

Now that the impeachment proceedings have begun — a development this editorial board called for on July 25 — the seriousness of allegations that President Donald Trump has abused the power of his office is coming into focus. The prospect of his removal from office remains remote but can no longer be called far-fetched.

As a nation, we must be prepared to withhold judgment until the fact-finding is complete. His admitted conduct is troubling, but any honest impeachment process will demand all the facts, and fully consider any exculpatory evidence.

That obligation to respect the process extends as much to Trump as it does to voters, lawmakers or the press itself. So far, the president has failed to live up to that responsibility. His typically bombastic rhetoric has become alarming — and potentially dangerous.

On Monday, he denounced Rep. Adam Schiff, the designated leader of the impeachment proceedings in the House, as a traitor. He ended his rant — one of many these past few days — with the quite literal suggestion that Schiff be arrested for treason. The day before, he wrote on Twitter that Schiff ’s statements about the nowfamous call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were presented in “perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber” — never mind that the basic outline of the alleged abuse of power was contained in the records of the call released by the White House last week. (Side note: Is there any doubt that “I would like you to do us a favor, though” is destined to be as memorable as Richard Nixon’s line, “I am not a crook.”)

“I want him investigated at the highest level for Fraud & Treason,” Trump added in his Sunday tweet.

In case we’ve forgotten, treason is punishable by death.

Schiff is not the only target of Trump’s wildly unprecedented fuming. The career CIA agent who apparently authored the whistleblower complaint? His anonymity is protected under our laws, but Trump has demanded to meet him — and whoever provided him or her the firsthand information about the call. “Was this person spying on the President of the United States?” Trump asked on Twitter. Espionage, too, is a capital offense. On Sunday, Trump’s senior adviser, Stephen Miller, the author of so much of what’s worst about the president’s agenda, appeared on television to dismiss the whistleblower’s complaint as the workings of the so-called “deep state,” a kind of political paranoia that used to be reserved for totalitarian states but has now become a frequent and utterly misguided talking point by the far-right in this country.

In normal times these statements would have brought everyone in Washington to their feet to protest, or to at least counsel temperance. But instead, we have seen example after example of silence or complicity throughout nearly the entire GOP caucuses in the Senate and the House. That acquiescence is dangerous.

We don’t know yet whether Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president is part of a pattern of abuse of power that will lead to a trial in the Senate, nor how senators will vote if they are asked to sit in judgment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has merely authorized the beginning of an investigation into whether he should be impeached.

If the Democrats have overplayed their hands, they will face political consequences for doing so. But if Republicans don’t stand up to Trump’s unprecedented and dangerous rhetoric about treason, espionage and even civil war if he were to be impeached, then no matter what the proceedings outcome, the Republicans will be responsible for serious damage to the Republic.

There’ll be a political price for that, too, but it may come too late.