I don’t want the Senate to remove Donald Trump from office. I want him to be voted out in a humiliating defeat in November. That’s not to say I don’t think he should have been impeached or that I don’t think he’s guilty. I just believe that the best way to reverse the plague of Trumpism is to defeat it at the ballot box. Otherwise, Trump will become even more of a cult figure.
I also believe America needs this trial. The whole world needs to see how far the Republican Party has fallen. This trial is as much about the GOP in general as it is about Donald Trump.
I want the trial to expose people like Thom Tillis. He went to Washington crowing about his independence. He talked about how he would work across the aisle to get things done. Instead, he’s little more than a Trump lacky, more fearful of losing his own career than doing what is right. He’s the poster boy for the spineless Republican Party that sacrificed its values and beliefs for a shady reality show star. Thom Tillis stands for nothing.
There’s little doubt that Donald Trump asked a foreign country to interfere in our elections by announcing a phony investigation into Joe Biden. There’s increasing evidence that the White House and Trump associates ran a rogue foreign policy outfit that intimidated career diplomats who they feared would foil their nefarious schemes. I hope the trial we’re about to see will show how far the Republican Party will go to cover up wrong doing of the president to protect their political lives.
I want this trial because I want to gauge my fellow Americans. That so many support Donald Trump has been more than a disappointment. It’s been a wakeup call. Too many people are willing to look the other way while Trump appeals to racism and bigotry to motivate his disaffected base. I want people to see that the GOP will put politics before country to protect a corrupt president. And I want the Republican Party to pay the price at the ballot box in November. I want my fellow citizens to solve the crisis in our democracy created by Trump and the GOP.
Maybe that’s a pipe dream, but that’s why I don’t want Donald Trump removed from office through the impeachment process.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Counting on the election to remove Trump is, IMHO, delusional. The 2020 election will be even more fixed than 2016
I love this post. It gives me a ray of hope. I am resigned that the Senate will not remove trump (I can’t even capitalize his name.) It is up to the voters. It is up to the committed to work like crazy to get out the vote in November.
Thomas, I love your worldview and your posts. In this case, I disagree. Why even have impeachment in the Constitution if it is not used for exactly the very purposes the Founders wanted it to be used? Just rip out that section and let Trump and other presidents who commit high crimes and misdemeanors go on their lawless way. A lot more is going to come out on Donald Trump. This story will not end with his likely acquittal by Senate Republicans, the most cowardly bunch I have witnessed in my 75 years and who rank with the Vichy French for complicity. Even in wake of impeachment, Mr. Trump and the Trump Party (there no longer is a Republican Party) will go down in flames in November. If they don’t, then the country and democracy go down in flames. I want the jerk out of office. I want to see Pence impeached, too, for he is up to his neck in the Ukraine mess. And I want those Senate Republicans who vote to acquit, and I will be shocked if that does not include every single one of then, to have their careers and reputations tarnished for all time in American history. Their vote on this impeachment is going to be in the lead or the second paragraph of the obituary of every single one of these cowards. The party would be so much better off with Trump removed. The Trumpets know that. This is their chance to dump him and be heroes in perpetuity. He is a clear and present danger to our country and the wider world. If ever a president of the United States needed to be removed, it is this corrupt man.
I believe that any one of the present Democratic candidates would be a better president than Trump or even some other Rethuglicans. Unfortunately, I have become cynical about the ability of the Democratic Party to blow elections. I suspect that no matter who becomes the Democratic candidate, the dirtiest election in at least decades may be lost by supporters of losing candidates staying home on election day. There is an upper middle class educated opinion that because he is a buffoon, Trump’s evil and unconstitutional deeds will be recognized.
Even I was astounded when at the end of September, I returned to my home state on the great plains. I heard my brother and many others, some who had been Democrats for years, not listening to any news except Fox news. They have become cultists. They not only believe that Trump will be re-elected, but they are predicting that he will win in a landslide. Debating facts with them does no good–they have drunk deeply from the well of Trump’s poison.
The only way we Democrats can win is by getting massive turn-outs and becoming united enough to vote for whoever gets the nomination. I don’t believe that great numbers of “progressives” will accept a moderate candidate. Mr. Mills is correct in his analysis of the chances of candidates to beat Trump.
Well, after 2 days you are getting your wish. Congressman Adam Schiff has been amazing in explaining our sides case.
I totally agree with you. My fear is, if defeated at the polls, he will declare it a fixed race and refuse to leave. His supporters will definitely back him and would probably riot. It is all so upsetting. I just turned 80 years old and I am a NC native and I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime. I worry more about all of his followers than about him. He WILL be gone eventually but his supporters will still be there.
You needn’t be concerned about the Senate doing the honorable thing, or even the logical thing. It was preordained before the impeachment proceedings ever began that this den of scum and villainy would never need any circumstances vote to remove Trump from office. The only purpose to be served by impeaching him in the first place was to get a documented accounting of his malfeasance into the record. Which is why I hold the opinion that Pelosi and Schiff blew it with the spare set of articles they transmitted to the Senate. This was an opportunity to lay out the case to the electorate, which was a far better bet than the Senate to try the evidence fairly and impartially. As it stands now, the only venue for the evidence is in the press, which is notorious for its misguided sense of even-handedness. The impeachment hearings, and the articles, and the impatience to bring the House proceedings to a close dealt the entire enterprise a mortal blow. And the opportunity is now lost forever.
So much to agree with here, except that waiting for the election significantly raises the prospect that this maniac will double down on his foreign support for his re-election efforts. There remains a real threat that it could happen again, and not convicting and removing him will be a signal to future presidents that the Senate will kowtow to anything an authoritarian chooses to do.
Pence would be a woeful temporary replacement, but he poses no risk of being electable.
I say kick trump out and let the House block Pence’s every move until November.
I agree with the article. This trial is needed to expose Donald Trump and the Republican Party. However,to remove him from office through the impeachment process would just make him a martyr. This November if we value our democracy we need to come together and repudiate this man and his policies by resoundingly defeating him at the polls.
But do you fear any long-term damage to our democracy? If acquitted, Trump will essentially be authorized to continue doing as he pleases. Think of the (further) damage he could incur before November. Might the GOP join together with a message of “See? it was all a sham!”
Well stated. Let’s see the process through, exposing as much of the demagoguery of the Republicans as possible. And then let’s get out the vote!
After Trump is voted out or removed from office, I am counting on SDNY put him on trial, have him found guilty and place him in the big house where he belongs.
Totally agree. He has been a clear and present danger to this country since day one. The support he has, however, is even more freightening.