Letters: Give ‘forever Trumpers’ some credit; Relying on the ‘Hillary defense’
Give ‘forever Trumpers’ some credit
No matter what we are hearing from House representatives “forever Trumpers” during the impeachment investigation hearings, we know they really are not so naïve or simply stupid as they seem. But why else would they deny the obvious conclusion that Trump, using US tax dollars, authorized by Congress as aid to Ukraine to help support its self-defense against Russian incursion, threw our national security and that of Ukraine under the bus for his own political purposes?
Some may fear for the results of their next elections. They apparently think that many voters are answering Trump’s figurative question, “what are you going to believe, your lying eyes and ears or me?” with, “You!”
Others may have come to the conclusion that pursuing their own or some of their constituents’ objectives – either parochial, white supremacist or self-serving economic objectives – is more important than defending our democracy. Having concluded that they are not uniformly brainless, I cannot think of any other explanations. Can you?
With our voices, emails, letters and tweets we must show the cowed ones that their real anxiety for their political careers should come from defending the indefensible. And we must tell the others that without a strong democracy based on the rule of law, respect for and between all branches, and a free press that all of our freedoms will be at risk. Let’s speak up to stop this nonsense. And hope that the Senate also hears us loud and clear.
Relying on the ‘Hillary defense’
The Republicans seem to be relying on what I call the Hillary defense. The Hillary defense is that whatever Trump has done Hillary Clinton has probably done something worse. To begin, the Mueller Report gave 10 instances of probable obstruction of justice. The Attorney General, chosen by Trump, decided that these were crimes that he could not prosecute. Over 1,000 past US Attorneys and judges, Republican and Democratic, said that they were cases that should be prosecuted.
The impeachment hearings have so far presented strong evidence that the Ukrainian president was pressured by people acting for Trump to publicly say he was investigating Democrat Joe Biden and his son. The pressure was withdrawal of a presidential visit and more important not getting arms needed to contest Russia’s invasion. Trump again seems to be obstructing justice by withholding documents and not allowing people who saw his actions to testify. On Trump’s suggestion Vice President Mike Pence flew across Scotland so he and his entourage could patronize and publicize a Trump property. Trump seems to be conducting secrete diplomacy on a cellphone. Most Republicans do not seem to feel he should be held to account for these thing since they feel that Hillary must have done much worse. It is the constitutional duty of congress members to monitor such behavior. I hope Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey and local U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson and Fred Keller will examine these matters and make public comments.