How to Impeach and Successfully Remove Trump Now: For Treason, Trump Himself Being the Enemy
With the polls showing Biden with a double-digit lead, Donald Trump has seriously violated the Constitution by declaring that he might not accept the results of the coming presidential election and suggesting that it be postponed. The most crucial element of a democracy is elections, and for Trump to say or do anything to undermine confidence in our elections or to interfere with them is a grave impeachable offense. He has also repeatedly asserted that mail-in voting is necessarily fraudulent, that millions of bogus ballots will be mailed in by foreign states, and that the election will be rigged, preparing the ground for delegitimizing an election he loses, without offering a shred of evidence. Furthermore, he has his recent Postmaster General appointee engineering a post office slowdown in order to hinder mail-in voting. Instead of protecting the voting, Trump is damaging it. It should be clear that impeaching and removing Trump now, before the election, is imperative. Not to do so would be the height of stupidity, since in all probability Trump will try to find an illegal way to stay in power and become a de facto dictator. That is a risk the nation should not run.
The first impeachment of Trump did not lead to his removal, in spite of clear evidence of his corruption, his request of foreign help for his reelection, his abuse of power, his lying to Mueller, and his obstruction of justice, due to extreme partisanship by Republican senators. This time the result could well be different, given that incontrovertible evidence is in broad daylight for everyone to see, provided that the following steps are taken, starting with impeachment for treason.Treason is normally a case of a president assisting an enemy of the United States. This time, it’s a case of the president himself being the enemy, by directly undermining our democracy. Possibly with guidance from a foreign power.
The Democratic controlled House of Representatives should impeach Trump for treason, for being himself an enemy of the United States, while stating that any senator voting against his removal will also be impeached for treason, as an accomplice of a treasonous president, and should be criminally prosecuted for treason. In such case, there should be enough Republican senators with a conscience who would join Democratic senators in the vote to remove Trump. Tribalistic political partisanship cannot be allowed to result in protection of a treasonous president and the demise of our democracy. The Democrats must take this stand, or else be responsible for effectively enabling Trump’s betrayal of the nation and democracy.
There is another crucially important impeachment and removal to be made: of Attorney General William Barr for obstruction of justice. In fact, Barr is illegally enforcing the invalid, corrupt, fraudulent, unconstitutional Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel rule against indicting sitting presidents, ordered by Richard Nixon as Watergate was unfolding in order to protect himself, knowing full well that indicting sitting presidents was indeed constitutional. Like Trump, Nixon was not afraid of removal since his Republicans controlled the Senate, even though they ultimately abandoned him after the tapes were disclosed, incontrovertible proof of his guilt. Barr is clearly obstructing justice by illegally shielding Trump from indictments contained in the Mueller Report. Not only should Barr be impeached and removed for obstructing justice, he should be impeached and removed for treason as a Trump accomplice. He should also be criminally prosecuted for obstruction of justice and treason. The House Democrats should again assert that all senators not voting for Barr’s removal will be impeached for treason and obstruction of justice, and should be criminally prosecuted. That should persuade enough Republican senators for the Senate to vote for Barr’s removal.
Separately, the House should send a bill to the Senate voiding and eliminating the OLC rule against indicting sitting presidents. How could the Senate not vote it into law? That is a crucially important bill, allowing immediate Mueller indictments of Trump.
We are at a critical cross-roads. The most critical in the nation’s history. More than the Civil War. Our democracy is at stake, not just secession of part of the nation. Once democracy is gone, it will be gone for generations, as dictatorships perpetuate themselves through ruthless violence and corruption. The Democrats must act now, otherwise Trump will find a way to block the elections, hinder mail-in votes, or destroy the ballot boxes, and will find enough corrupt Americans to collaborate with him.
How have we gotten to this point? For two reasons. First, we have a totally deficient public high school curriculum, which leads to very large numbers of undereducated citizens, easy prey for disinformation and demagogues. Second, we do not require all our political candidates for high office to demonstrate they are highly qualified before running. What is a truly qualified candidate? One who can explain all the major mistakes in economic, social, and foreign policy over the past 100 years and what would have been the correct policies. Not one of our presidents, senators, or representatives over the past 50 years would be capable of doing so. Not one! We have graduate university programs and state board exams for doctors and lawyers, but no such thing for presidential candidates? How illogical and dangerous for the nation’s well-being. No wonder we haven’t solved any of our domestic problems such as poverty, violence of all sorts (including mass shootings and police brutality), abusive behavior, racism, addiction, widespread psychological instability, inadequate education, and inadequate health care coverage. The truth is that both Democrats and Republicans have been severely deficient not just regarding our social problems, but also our economic policy (repeated avoidable recessions and high unemployment) and foreign policy (repeated major failures). The logical solution is simple: mandatory high standards for all our political candidates.
How to correct the totally inadequate high school curriculum? By adding the following courses to the high school curriculum: 1) logic and critical thinking; 2) economics and investing, including explaining why QE-financed tax rebates (not ultra-low interest rates) should be the standard economic stimulus tool; 3) analysis of domestic and world history in great detail from 1900; 3) ethics and empathy; 4) the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the history of human rights violations; 5) introductory law, including Constitutional law; 6) comparative religion; 7) history of art, architecture, and design; 8) history of music; 9) the major mistakes in economic, social, and foreign policy over the past 100 years and which would have been the correct policies; 10) a four year course on psychology accompanied by indispensable “group therapy” and “good parenting” workshops. Of critical importance is to have individual assistance for students having academic or psychological problems, in order to prevent them from falling behind and dropping out.
We cannot afford inaction by the House Democrats. They must impeach Trump without delay for treason, as an enemy of democracy and of the nation. They must force enough Republican senators to see the light so that Trump is removed now. Trump cannot be allowed to remain in office any longer. Our democracy is at stake. Democrats must also impeach Attorney General Barr for obstructing justice by implementing Nixon’s corrupt, fraudulent, invalid, unconstitutional OLC rule against indicting sitting presidents, thereby shielding Trump from the Mueller Report indictments. And they must impeach all Republican senators not voting to remove Trump and Barr, as accomplices to treason and obstruction of justice. Also, they absolutely must have the OLC rule voided and eliminated. We may well be near the point of no return regarding the defense of our democracy. The House Democrats must act now or be responsible for enabling Trump’s criminal betrayal of the nation and his killing our democracy.
© Edward Sonnino 2020
August 3, 2020
