The Impeachment Of Donald Trump

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We are living through what will become a defining moment in history; there is no doubt about it. Fifty years from now, high school students will be reading about this moment in their history textbooks as either a national shame or triumph. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe the election and presidency of Donald Trump will be a stain on this country for years to come, but what we do now will define our time period.

Trump goes against everything our country claims to value. He lies all the time, scorns our democratic processes, uses racist rhetoric to fire up his base, hates press that doesn’t support him, and vilifies his opponents. But we can’t erase the damage already done by Trump and his administration. However, what we can do is prevent him from doing more damage, showing the world and future generations that we, as a country, do not tolerate, but condemn, this kind of behavior from the highest office in our nation. The president, whether we like it or not, represents our country, and we cannot allow ourselves to continue to be represented by Trump. Now our lawmakers have the choice to end his administration hear and now, and if they have any respect for our country they will impeach Donald Trump.

On September 24th, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives was opening an impeachment inquiry against Trump. Although Democrats have been calling for impeachment since nearly the time Donald Trump was elected, especially during the time of the Mueller investigation, Pelosi finally succumbed to pressure from the Democrats amid Trump’s Ukraine scandal. Essentially, in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump allegedly traded military aid to Ukraine for information on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden in relation to Ukranian corruption. Although this is still an accusation, the evidence is pretty damning. A memorandum (which can be read here) of this phone call was released and, although Trump supporters refuse to see anything wrong with it, it contains information that suggests Trump threatened to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless President Zelensky investigated Hunter Biden and the U.S. 2016 election corruption. In the memorandum President Zelensky stated that Ukraine was ready to buy more javelins from the U.S., to which Trump responded “I would like you to do us a favor though.” and proceeds to ask Zelensky to investigate his political rival’s son Hunter Biden and corruption in the 2016 election. In fact, around the time of this phone call, $400 million dollars of aid had already been withheld from Ukraine and was only released two days after a whistleblower who was on the call expressed concern about it. Even if Trump didn’t threaten to withhold military aid, he used the office of the President to try and get dirt on his political rival who is predicted to beat him in the coming election. This in itself should be an impeachable offense. But, he also threatened to withhold aid if this “favor” wasn’t done, which is for sure an impeachable offense. Anyone who argues that the President trading military aid for dirt on a political opponent isn’t an impeachable offense doesn’t respect our democracy and the rule of law in this country. I am in no way suggesting that Joe and Hunter Biden did nothing wrong in Ukraine, but as a President, asking a foreign power to investigate your political rival is simply wrong. 

But, maybe Trump did nothing wrong and we are just looking to deep into it since we hate Trump and want to see something wrong in everything he does. This would be a valid argument if only people who don’t like Trump spoke out against his actions. But, this isn’t the case. In the open door House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings, top, non-partisan, White House officials testified against Trump. Bill Taylor has been the ambassador to Ukraine since George W. Bush’s administration, and has served in some position under every administration since 1985, both Democrat and Republican. Taylor testified that Trump wanted President Zelensky to publicly announce he was opening investigations on Biden and Gordon Sonland, ambassador to the E.U., said military aid was dependent on this announcement. In response to Sonland, Taylor expressed his misgivings be saying said, "I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Taylor’s full opening statement where he outlines the timeline of  everything he witnessed in relation to Ukraine can be found here.When Bill Taylor, a non-partisan, well - respected and experienced government employee, who worked under the Trump administration states that there was wrongdoing we should listen to him.

And Taylor wasn’t the only person with such credentials who admitted Trump’s actions worried them. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, George Kent, also testified against Trump. Like Taylor, Kent is also completely non-partisan, working as a foreign service officer for over 27 years, under 3 Republican and 2 Democratic Presidents. In his testimony, Kent expressed concern about Rudy Guilliani’s (Trump’s personal attorney) involvement in Ukraine and how it affected U.S. - Ukraine relationships (Kent’s full opening statement can be found here). 

The most damning testimony came from Gordon Sonland, ambassador to the E.U. Although he has worked for both Democrats and Republicans, Sonland describes himself as a Republican, which makes his testimony all the more powerful. This is a Republican expressing concern over what Trump did, so he has no partisan motivations. In fact, he is going against his party’s in condemning Trump’s actions. Not only is Sonland a Republican, but he was a huge Trump supporter, donating a million dollars to his inaugural committee. Furthermore, Sonland worked with Guiliani in his dealings with Ukraine, as requested by Trump. Sonland blatantly stated that there was a quid-pro-quo. He believes that the military aid was directly tied to the announcement of Zelensky opening investigations on Hunter Biden. Sonland was directly involved in Trump’s involvement in Ukraine, so if anyone knew what went on it would be him. Republicans countered his testimony by saying that Trump never told him that the military aid was directly tied to this announcement, and Sonland was just presuming this connection, which Sonland did admit to. The best response to this counter came from Representative Eric Swalwell who said “If someone walks through those two doors, wearing rain boots, a raincoat, and holding an umbrella with raindrops falling off of them, do you have to see outside that it is raining to presume or conclude that it might be raining outside?” 

The truth is clear. According to both the memorandum of the phone call and non-partisan, even Republican, officials Trump did exchange military aid for dirt on Joe Biden. But the majority of Republicans refuse to see it. Instead of looking at the truth that comes out in these impeachment hearings they dismiss the impeachment process as a whole, saying it is unfair to Trump who isn’t getting his due process. In dismissing the entire process, Republicans can conveniently justify ignoring all the evidence showing Trump did wrong-doing. Yes, the evidence against Trump may seem bad, but the entire process is unjust so the evidence is fake and you don’t need to pay attention to it. Using this reasoning, Republicans can dismiss everything said in the hearings and defend Trump and portray him as the victim in an unjust process. 

I am nearly 100% sure Trump defenders know that what Trump did was wrong, but are just choosing to be blind to it, because god forbid they speak out against their own party. Defending Trump while being uninformed is bad and dangerous, but defending him while knowing all he has done wrong is unforgivable and a disgrace to this country. The majority of Republican Congressmen fall into the second category of Trump defenders. They know exactly what Trump has done and decided to defend him anyway. Every single Congressmen who defends Trump is failing their duty to this country, to our Constitution, and to the people they have sworn to represent. If this Congress has any respect for the rule of law in this country they will unanimously vote in both the House and Senate to impeach Donald Trump. However, knowing our Congressmen, this won’t happen. Even though this shouldn’t be a partisan issue, unfortunately it is. Thankfully, Democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives so Trump will most likely be impeached in the House. However, in the Senate, where Republicans have the majority, a ⅔ majority is needed for impeachment, so Republicans must speak out.

If we believe the transcript and we believe the highly qualified non-partisan officials who testified against him, if we believe all the undeniable evidence, Trump used his power as President of the United States in order to have another country investigate his political rival. On top of that, he dangled vital military aid that another country needed in exchange for a personal favor. If that isn’t an impeachable offense nothing is. Our Congress has a choice to make. A choice that will define how future generations will see us for years to come. Impeachment was added into our Constitution to ensure that even Presidents will be held accountable for their actions. A vote to keep Trump in office is showing the country today, and for years to come, that the President can get away with anything. Republican congressmen must decide between being loyal to their party or being loyal to their country. They cannot be both. The right choice is clear. Our Congressmen swore an oath to protect our country, not their party. However, in our increasingly partisan political atmosphere, I have little faith in our Congress. But, I truly hope our Congress will surprise me, by putting their political biases aside, and doing the right thing.