This diary is a follow up to my earlier diary — Forget quid pro quo. It's extortion.
Now we’re hearing from WSJ saying that Trump is too inept to pull off a quid pro quo with Ukraine. And if ineptitude is the standard for impeachment, then most of our government should be impeached.
So I’m prompted to say, again, forget quid pro quo. It has nothing to do with our Constitution’s standard for Impeachment: Treason, Bribery, or High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
It’s time to take a look at that last pair, High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Let’s take a look at what Alexander Hamilton had to say about High Crimes and Misdemeanors in Federalist 65:
...those offences which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They are of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.
Two phrases in Hamilton’s analysis stand out here: the abuse or violation of public trust, and, injuries done immediately to the society itself.
Concerning violation of the public trust, our elected Representatives in Congress voted to approve military aid to Ukraine. Our will as the electorate was such that we would aid Ukraine. Trump subverted that will by attempting to extort political favors in exchange for that aid being disbursed.
Concerning injuries done immediately to the society itself, Trump’s use of the power of the Office in an attempt to maintain the power of the Office demeans the dignity of the Presidency and the United States. Our standing in the world is diminished by his actions.
Lindsey Graham, lickspittle, has asked to be shown a crime that Trump has committed. Everyone seeking to use quid pro quo wants to use a modern definition of the word crime as the standard for impeachment. That is not what our Constitution says is the standard.
Forget about quid pro quo. Trump has committed High Crimes as defined by the Framers. He deserves Impeachment at the least.