Friday, July 26, 2019

RECLAIMING AMERICA: IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT!

THE LONG WAY HOME:  RECLAIMING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY



THE FIRST STEP:  IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT

By Jack Random



There can be no way around it.  In the year 2019 the only way forward and the only chance we have of reclaiming democracy in the land of the free is the impeachment of the president.  The election of Donald J. Trump is a symptom of systemic failure and one of such catastrophic dimensions that it must be corrected before anything of substance can be accomplished. 
If we allow this president to continue without confronting the restraint and distraction that impeachment proceedings provide we will invite disaster on multiple fronts.  We have already glimpsed a sampling of what the Trump administration intends:  Closing the border to all asylum seekers in violation of international law, punitive measures like family separation and child abuse, evisceration of civil rights and voting rights, systemic disenfranchisement of minority voters, alienation and extortion of democratic allies, annihilation of labor rights, elevation of dictatorships, nuclear proliferation, normalization of racism and prejudice, reversal of policies protecting the air and water, a rollback in health and medical services, corruption on a scale unrivaled since the Teapot Dome scandal and elimination of assistance to the poor. 
We have witnessed all this from a restrained Trump administration.  He has until now operated under a pervasive cloud of investigation for high crimes and misdemeanors.  The president hopes and perhaps believes that the cloud lifted in the wake of the gutless and ineffectual Mueller Report.  Because the special prosecutor was less than animated and compelling in his testimony before congress and the American people, we are expected drop all doubt and suspicions regarding his relentless attempts to coordinate his campaign with the Russian propaganda apparatus in defrauding an American presidential election.  We are expected to ignore his repeated and often successful attempts to cover up his actions and those of his family and staff in conspiring with the Russians.  We are expected to turn away from compelling evidence that our president and his family aint nothing more than money launderers for corrupt foreign governments. 
If we fail to hold this president accountable we are not only legitimizing and sanctioning the most corrupt and illegitimate president in history, we are also opening the door to a second term.  If we allow that to happen we will be compelled to bear witness to the high crimes and misdemeanors that an unrestrained President Trump will commit.  If we allow this incompetent crook another term he will undoubtedly appoint at least one more Supreme Court justice and the impact of his presidency will outlive us all. 
If we fail to impeach the president before the coming election he may well be tempted to start a war in Venezuela or Iran in a desperate attempt to win reelection.  Frankly, he may be tempted to do so anyway.  But if we know anything about this president it is that he is obsessed with the news of the day.  Among the advantages of a constant barrage of impeachment hearings – highlighting new information regarding Trump Tower Moscow, 666 Fifth Avenue NYC, Deutsche Bank and money laundering operations connecting the oligarchs of Putin’s Russia, the ruthless despots of Saudi Arabia and Trump real estate operations – is that they will serve as a distraction and Trump will be unable to wrap his mind around anything else. 
If Trump does move us to war you can be sure it will not go against the interests of the Saudis or the Russians.  If he does give the order for political reasons there is a very real possibility that his commanders will refuse to comply.  That is how low this presidency has sunk.  The generals that Trump once held in such high esteem have seen behind the curtain.  They have seen him kowtow to the Russian dictator.  They have witnessed his cowardice when confronted with the violent crimes of a Saudi prince.  They know who he is. 
If we do not impeach the president we have taken his criminal conduct off the table.  We have removed his corruption and character from the topics of debate.  We have given him the kind of aid and comfort only the gutless Democrats can provide.  We will have matched the Republican Party in complicity. 
We must impeach the president.  Without regard for the trial in the hallowed chambers of the United States Senate, we must impeach the president.  We must impeach the president because he is guilty beyond all doubt and by any honest reckoning.  We must impeach the president to restore the fundamental value of American democracy. 
We must impeach the president to assert now and forever that no one is above the law and no one is beyond the reach of justice. 
The idea that some internal Justice Department memo can overrule the basic tenet of judicial decree is ludicrous and offensive. [1] All presidents should be held to account for criminal conduct without delay and without exception.  This president has scorned justice and turned the office of the Attorney General into a sycophant for the chief executive.  It must not stand. 
The president of the United States is guilty of high crimes and conduct not only worthy of but demanding impeachment. 

1.  The president through his agents conspired with agents of the Russian government to defraud the 2016 presidential election. 

The Mueller Report chronicles over one hundred interactions between the Trump campaign and Russian agents.  The Trump campaign provided polling data to target key voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – the very states that turned the election.  The Russian propaganda machine in turn provided fake news to targeted voters through fake social media accounts.  Before the eyes of the American public, candidate Trump incorporated the daily WikiLeaks reports into his campaign.  Russia provided the attack data, WikiLeaks laundered it and Trump employed it on the campaign trail.  This is what collusion, coordination and conspiracy look like. 

2.  The president and his agents repeatedly lied to the public, the FBI and Congress to cover up their interactions with Russian agents. 

Trump stated point blank he had no business dealings whatsoever with Russia.  That was a lie.  He stated he had no interactions with the Russians.  That was a lie.  The truth is he was trying to negotiate a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow even while he was campaigning.  Reports have it he wanted to gift Vladimir Putin one entire floor of the tower.  The truth is he had many dealings with Russian agents concerning laundering money for real estate deals in Florida.  The truth is we have only uncovered the tail of the elephant when it comes to laundering dirty money from Russian oligarchs for their supreme leader.  The truth is Trump authored a misleading statement for his son to explain the meeting in Trump Tower.  The truth is Trump is willing to throw his own son to the wolves if it serves his interests. 

3.  The president willingly engaged in behavior that would subject him to extortion by foreign agents in Russia and Saudi Arabia because of his and his family’s hidden interests and criminal activity. 

Son-in-law Jerrod Kushner received untold millions to save the family business from certain bankruptcy due to one of the worst investments in the history of New York City.  The record will show that the Saudi’s loaned Kushner a great deal of money when no legitimate banking interest would and that Donald J. Trump helped broker the deal.  While we do not yet know what the Saudis expected in return we do know that Trump vetoed legislation blocking a sell of arms to Saudi Arabia.  We also know that Trump excused compelling evidence that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered the killing and dismemberment of a prominent journalist. 
We have not yet begun to uncover the Trump money laundering operation.  We need to begin the impeachment process to gain access to his financial records, his tax returns and his accounts in the notorious Deutsche Bank as well as the Bank of Cypress where his Treasury Secretary Wilbur Ross was once chief executive. 

4.  The president failed to act to defend the nation’s electoral integrity from an overt attack by a foreign adversary. 

Never mind that his failure to defend American democracy serves his own political and financial interests.  The president has alternatively refused to acknowledge Russian interference, implied that there is nothing wrong with foreign interference and pretended that it had no impact.  He has done absolutely nothing to ensure that it will not happen again.  He is a president that places no value on the integrity of the ballot.  He has done everything in his power to block minority voters and tip the balance in his favor.  He steadfastly refuses to support legislation that would require a paper trail in the event of electronic ballot tampering.  He pushed hard for a citizenship question on the census that is designed to suppress the Hispanic vote, resulting in reduced funds for minority districts and under representation of minority voters.  His admiration for foreign dictators and disdain for our own democracy is alone grounds for impeachment. 

5.  The president has intentionally imposed policies resulting directly in crimes against humanity on the southern border. 

We have all seen the photos, the videos and heard the testimonials of children being separated from their parents for the “crime” of seeking asylum in the United States.  This nation has long offered refuge to individuals seeking to escape discrimination, inhuman treatment and unconscionable violence in their own lands.  We value immigration because the founders of our independent democracy were themselves refugees seeking to escape intolerance in their native land.  Though we cannot neglect the intolerance, violence and discrimination that our founders dealt to Native and African Americans, we cannot allow any president to close the border by practicing inhuman and inhumane treatment of innocent children and families to dissuade them from seeking and claiming asylum. 
It has been a long time since anyone in our government demanded that individuals who dissent from the majority view should leave the country.  That is the very definition of un-American yet this president made that request of four members of congress.  In so doing he has demonstrated an intolerance that crosses the boundaries of inhumanity and demonstrates unfitness for office. 

6.  The president has profited from the presidency in violation of constitutional prohibitions against accepting gifts or equivalent items of value. 

The president and his family have collected large sums of money from the family hotels and business ventures.  They have accepted loans from foreign interests and encouraged corporate interests to invest in Trump business concerns, including stays at Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Hotel – the old Post Office – in Washington D.C.  The president has somehow persuaded the military and government officials to spend millions for stays and unnecessary refueling at Trump properties in Scotland and Ireland. 
Trump business ventures have made record profits at Trump Tower in NYC as well as memberships at Trump country clubs and his Florida resort.  Every time Trump holds an event at one of his properties, profits soar.  Corporations and foreign governments courting the Trump administration’s favor book rooms at his Washington hotel and spend lavishly.  Trump has zealously guarded his financial records, including his tax returns, so that we do not know the full extent of his profiteering but we certainly know enough.  Open Secrets has estimated that Trump business interests have received in excess of $35 million from Republican Party organizations since becoming president.  Open the books and we will learn how boldly the president has sold his office. [2]

7.  The president attempted to extort the president of Ukraine by withholding military aid in exchange for compromising information on a political rival. 

Shortly after special investigator Robert Mueller’s listless testimony before congress, the president withheld congressionally mandated military assistance to Ukraine and requested on a phone call to President Volodymyr Zelensky that the Ukrainian government re-investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden, son to former vice president Joe Biden.  At the time of the call Joe Biden was clearly the leading candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.  [3, 4]
While the underlying story should offer cause for doubting Biden’s squeaky-clean reputation and his claim of electability, that President Trump would consider it acceptable to withhold allocated aid for political advantage even after an investigation of his dealings with Russia in their attempt to interfere in a presidential election, suggests that this president is far beyond redemption.  He truly believes the Mueller Report vindicated him.  It absolutely did not.  He truly believes he can conspire with any foreign government to interfere in our elections.  The law says otherwise.  He truly believes he is above the law.  He is not. 

Let us stipulate that you cannot and should not be impeached for being a being a man of substandard character.  Let us stipulate that you cannot and should not be impeached for despicable behavior toward women – even if that behavior may have included criminal liability.  Let us stipulate that you cannot and should not be impeached for being a common con man and a crook. 
Let us focus on what he has done and why he is a danger to the nation.  Let us place no value on what the United States Senate may or may not do.  It is sufficient that we compel each and every senator to stand with us or stand with the crook in the Oval Office.  If we value our democracy, if we value our system of justice, if we value human rights and common decency, we must impeach the president. 


1. “Indicting a President Is Not Foreclosed: The Complex History.”  By Walter Dellinger.  Lawfare, June 18, 2018.

2. Open Secrets: Center for Responsive Politics.  “All the President’s Profiting.”  Federal Election Commission Data released June 10, 2019. 

3. “Trump pressed Ukraine leader to investigate Biden, memo reveals.”  By David Smith.  The Guardian, September 25, 2019. 

4. “As vice president, Biden said Ukraine should increase gas production.  Then his son got a job with a Ukrainian gas company.”  By Michael Kranish and David L. Stern.  Washington Post, July 22, 2019. 


Jack Random is the author of the Jazzman Chronicles. 

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