Last week, Lawrence O’Donnell ran a segment in which he confidently expressed his belief that Donald Trump’s tax returns and the Mueller Report will all become public when a Democratic President assumes office in January 2021. I think everyone following current events realizes that is exactly what will happen should we elect a Democratic President a year from November. Donald Trump, however, is one of the individuals following current events, and Donald Trump is following current events in the only way in which he can do anything, with only his own self-interest and self-promotion in mind.
Donald Trump and his solid 40% of supporters have zero interest in a straight up election. Having successfully worked to rig 2016 in ways that are almost certain to have been documented in the Mueller Report he refuses to make available to Congress, Trump will increase those efforts a thousand-fold in 2020 to insure Mueller’s report and all other documents incriminating to Trump never see the light of day. Trump’s goal will be to claim victory no matter the outcome, claim like W before him that the “voters” have decided Trump’s accountability moment, work to insure he is never held accountable for anything, and set about punishing all perceived political enemies.
Given events to date, anyone who believes Trump will not use every available lever in the machinery of federal government, and direct his GOP minions to do the same at the state level, to insure he can claim victory on the morning of November 4, 2020 election is deluding themselves and endangering the Republic. There is no limit to what this Narcissistic Sociopath President will do to insure his “re-election.” I will not be surprised to see:
- a rally around the flag war against whoever is convenient in the Summer of 2020,
- coordination with friendly foreign intelligence agencies (Russia, Israel, Saudi etc) up to and including hacking actual voting machine tabulations,
- accelerated/enhanced GOP voter suppression efforts on scales we have never before seen.
Speaker Pelosi and other Democratic leaders who are counting on the 2020 election to by itself right the ship of state are proceeding foolishly and endangering the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. If “re-elected,” Trump will answer to no one. If he loses, Trump will go to jail. Faced with this reality, why would Trump do anything but amp up his 2016 approach to winning elections? If Trump fails in the effort, what difference does any additional criminal liability make to Trump, who will no doubt attempt to pardon himself and raise a revolution on his way out the door?
The official impeachment investigation of this President must be undertaken now. Included in potential Articles of Impeachment should be Barr’s obstruction of the Mueller investigation. Mueller’s reports and Trump’s tax returns must be deemed essential to the impeachment investigation, and the Supreme Court must be presented with and decide the issue of a President refusing to hand over to the House of Representatives investigating his impeachment the Special Prosecutor’s report and IRS held documents that bear directly on the charges against the President. Once impeached, House members should present this evidence to the jurors in the Senate. Might the Senate vote, despite the overwhelming impeachable actions taken by this President, to acquit and thus “exonerate” Trump? Yes, but not acting to impeach this Narcissistic Sociopath emboldens and may well institutionalize as Dictator an individual who will stop at no end and without an iota of thought to the consequences to rig his “re-election and, if successful, completely disempower even a super majority Democratic Congress in 2021 and thereafter. Present the case, the full case supported by the Mueller Report and tax documents. Let the voters, informed by their Senators’ votes on removing Trump from office, decide the political fate of GOP senators. Ignore the calendar, there is always an election coming up.
This moment is not political, it is existential. Wake up Madam Speaker and all Democratic leaders. Donald Trump is far more than “a symptom of the greater problems with our democracy.” Donald Trump is a President who fully intends to take advantage of the greater problems of our democracy to install himself as a third world-style Dictator. Even if one believes the political process will save us, why fear impeachment? Donald Trump will always have his 40%, the people Lincoln described as the some who can be fooled all of the time, but he will not ever become a sympathetic figure to the 55% who have never been fooled and whose feelings about Trump are as passionately held as those of Trump’s supporters. Through his darkest moments, Bill Clinton retained among voters a level of likeability and respect for his intellect that led voters to question the motives of Lindsey Graham and the other GOP impeachment team. The full extent of Trump’s likeability is a shared hatred of “the other” with those of similar mind. What little intellect Trump has is fully devoted to Trump; he has not implemented popular policies. He is a bully and like all bullies, a coward and scoundrel of the highest order.
Political courage is admirable, but demonstrating political courage rarely results in anything worse than losing an election. Demonstrating physical courage has all too often resulted in losing one’s life. Madam Speaker and Democratic leaders, you did not ask for this moment, but it is here. Act. The hundreds of thousands who died on battlefields around this globe to give birth to and protect our Constitution and Republic deserve nothing less