We’ve all been waiting for it. I, personally, assumed it would never come. But I was wrong. On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi announced that a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump would be initiated by the House. The charge? Betraying the country’s security by enlisting a foreign power to take down a rival for his political gain in the upcoming elections. (I can think of quite a few other potential charges but I’ll take what I can get.)
This comes after months of mainstream democrats dragging their feet because of fears of the political fallout of impeaching a president, despite how obvious it has consistently been that he is unfit to be the President.
This is a history making, soap opera drama level turn of events, and we can safely assume that it’s going to get ugly. The bright side? Nancy Pelosi, among other female Democrat officials, are forces that won’t be intimidated by Trump’s (extremely likely) aggressive intimidation tactics. In her speech on Tuesday, Pelosi said “The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution.” Adding that Trump “must be held accountable – no one is above the law.” A lesson we’ve all been waiting for Trump to learn. Let’s hope this one sticks.
It’s hard to see how this won’t be a successful impeachment, he betrayed his oath of office, he betrayed the country’s national security, and the integrity of American elections. Unfortunately, we’re in a country where being accused multiple times over of sexual assault isn’t enough to take down a president, but I, and I imagine the rest of the world, will be seriously shocked if this isn’t the straw to break his tenuous grip on power.
Trump is only the fourth president in American history to face impeachment. Johnson and Clinton were impeached but later acquitted, and Nixon resigned before the house could vote. It is very obvious that Trump’s ego will not let this one go as “smoothly” as past impeachments.
Trump’s response to all of this? Via twitter, of course. A barrage of enraged rants culminating in, “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”
I don’t have to tell any of the women reading this how grossly ironic that is. Men, feel free to take a swinging guess.
Now let’s go over the specific facts that caused the Democrats to strike when the Mueller investigation could not.
Donald Trump, idiot in chief, pressured the president of Ukraine to open a corruption investigation of former Vice President Biden, one of the leading contenders for the 2020 presidential election, and his son. This occurred only days after Trump ordered his staff to freeze $391 million in aid that Ukraine badly needs.
Panicked, Trump said he would release a transcript of the conversation. But the democrats are finally not backing off. Demanding full documentation about white house relations with Ukraine, while pushing for an expansive impeachment enquiry that (hopefully) will encompass unrelated charges, of which there are many. Today, house Democrats plan to bring a resolution condemning Trump’s behavior, and demanding the Trump administration release the whistle-blower complaint that has been previously held back.
The bad news is that there doesn’t seem to be a clear planned process in going forward with this. Reasonable, as this entire thing is becoming a hotter mess by the second, but disappointing nonetheless.
The decision to begin a formal impeachment inquiry doesn’t mean that it’s a sure thing that the house will vote to charge Trump with high crimes, or that the republican controlled senate will vote to remove him. But Pelosi and her leadership did not take this decision lightly, and it’s safe to assume that they are prepared for these variables.
I’m desperately hoping that this impeachment succeeds, but I can’t forget that even with Trump gone, we’ll be stuck with Pence, and he is far from a beacon of ethics either.
