Eugene Robinson, writing in the Washington Post, is old enough to remember what Lindsey Graham had to say about impeachment when it was a Democratic President in the cross-hairs:
“You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body [the Senate] determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role . . . because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”
After pointing out Graham’s hypocrisy, Robinson looks into the future if the democrats do not go on the offensive soon:
“Anyone who thinks there is a chance that Trump will lick his wounds and move on has not been paying attention. Having escaped criminal charges — because he is a sitting president — Trump will go on the offensive. With the help of Attorney General William P. Barr, whose title really should be Minister of Spin, the president will push to investigate the investigators and sell the bogus counter-narrative of an attempted “coup” by politically motivated elements of the “deep state.”
Here is the important thing: Trump will mount this attack no matter what Democrats do . And strictly as a matter of practical politics, the best defense against Trump has to be a powerful offense.
I fail to see the benefit for Democrats, heading into the 2020 election, of being seen as such fraidy-cats that they shirk their constitutional duty. Mueller’s portrait of this president and his administration is devastating. According to Graham’s “honor and integrity” standard — which he laid out in January 1999, when he was one of the House prosecutors for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in the Senate — beginning the process of impeaching Trump is not a close call.”
And then goes on to destroy the fraidycrats main argument against holding Trump accountable…
“The conventional wisdom is that Republicans made a political error by impeaching Clinton. But they did win the White House in 2000 and go on to dominate Congress for most of President George W. Bush’s tenure. If impeachment was a mistake, it wasn’t a very costly one.”
While we dither about holding this hearing or that, Trump just goes on committing impeachable offenses — telling members of his administration not to comply with oversight, suing Elijah Cummings for asking one of his accounting firms for financial info because he had ordered his Treasury Sec. to refuse a lawful request for his tax returns, continuing to rake in graft from his hotels and on and on.
And he will continue to scoff at accountability because he has taken our measure and has no fear of us.
As Robinson sums up:
“Does it “play into Trump’s hands” to speak of impeachment? I think it plays into the president’s hands to disappoint the Democratic base and come across as weak and frightened. Voters who saw the need to hold Trump accountable decided to give Democrats some power — and now expect them to use it.”
It’s time to impeach.
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[cross-posted to PolitiZoom]