Sunday, February 19, 2017

Do Not Impeach President Trump

Impeaching Donald Trump is going to be the Holy Grail of the political left in this country for the next four years. It is also, like the Holy Grail of legend, a complete fantasy. The Democrats in the Senate do not have the votes to achieve an impeachment. And also in what should be more a important detail: they don't have a crime. There is plenty of insinuation, and rumor, but no evidence of a law being broken. People have made phone calls, other parties were hacked, weird statements were made, Donald Trump has lied openly, and his positions have been contradictory. But it's all smoke, no fire.

Russia has returned to be a specter in politics for half a year now, at least as long as Donald Trump appeared to have a legitimate chance to beat Hilary Clinton. It seems that Vladimir Putin wanted Trump to be president. (In the Cold War Khrushchev also bragged about "voting" for JFK, a vote he probably regretted by 1963.) As sexy as stories of Trump having wild piss parties with prostitutes on the bed that the Obamas slept on are, they're suspicious. These are exactly the kind of thing liberals were dreaming of. The story only could have gotten better if Trump had also used the N-word. National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn has been fired over what is, right now, a minor infraction. He's not going to jail for this, he isn't going to be tried for treason. He is not a Russian sleeper agent.

I've loved the idea of a giant "do-over" button too. One where Trump breaks the law somehow and he's stopped before he takes office or does real damage. But unproven conspiracy theories are not the answer, they're just a repeat of utter nonsense. We can toy with this idea that maybe this Trump thing can go away, that divine intervention will put Hilary Clinton into office (or if you prefer, Bernie Sanders or Michele Obama or Chef Boyardee). However, that intervention isn't coming, nor should it. President Trump is the, if not democratically elected, at least legally elected president. He will have his four years in office, barring actual proof.

The alternative is far worse.