I am
a recovering political junkie. Social media and 24/7 cable TV are not helping.
It’s a bit like the alcoholic who spends all day in a bar refusing drinks from
everyone who knows his name.
I
watched most of the impeachment hearings. The majority party got to call the
witnesses, determine how the hearings were conducted, who could speak when and
for how long. The minority party got to ask questions and fulminate about
non-related conspiracy theories since they were not allowed to call witnesses
or enter much evidence. I suppose that for a partisan event, it was reasonably
even-handed.
The
witnesses were highly respected professionals from the State Department or a
national security organization. Like most people in the Foreign Service,
they’re always among the best and the brightest. The one exception was a
pay-to-play ambassador with no experience in foreign affairs who it turns out
gave some of the most damning testimony.
The
prepared statements and answers to questions were lucid, thoughtful, and in
some cases emotional. The evidence they presented is undisputed. The President
is accused of withholding military aid to a foreign government unless its
president was willing to call for an investigation against one of Trump’s
political opponents.
Bad
things happened, the President and his staff admit it. So, where is the “so
what?”
The
minority House members appeared unwilling to accept under-oath evidence and
continued to broadcast factually debunked conspiracy theories. The President
blocked other people with firsthand knowledge of the alleged abuse of
power from testifying. That in itself is obstruction of justice. The first
article of impeachment against President Nixon was the simple act of refusing
to allow his staff to testify against him, enough to force his resignation. I
was gobsmacked by the President’s twitter intimidation of witnesses while they
were testifying. Presidents aren’t expected to intimidate witnesses.
Discontent
permeates the nation. Polls indicate that the nation is divided almost
fifty-fifty on the question of impeachment and the question of removal from
office. Trying to remove a duly elected sitting president stirs emotions,
upsets the initial will of the people, and divides the country to a greater
degree. Educated people on both sides of the issue have deep-held feelings and
convictions.
Despair
has the nation in its grasp. Those who pay attention fear for the future of our
democracy and the disruption of our national values.
Watching
the hearings in real-time, and then watching the talking heads in the evening
makes you wonder if they watched the same hearings. Hannity, on Fox News, and
Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC, represents two different Americas and they report the news
in two different ways. It’s no wonder that the nation is divided. CNN looks
downright moderate in comparison. During some of the televised testimonies, I
flipped back and forth between Fox News and MSNBC. Both carried the same
pictures and sound, but the ribbons going across the bottom of the screen were
totally different. It was as if I was watching two different hearings at one
time. Am I sounding like a political junkie?
The
hearings have concluded for now. The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will
send its findings to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which will decide if
there is enough evidence to impeach. If it believes there is sufficient
evidence, it will recommend Articles of Impeachment to the full House, which
will vote whether to send them to the Senate for a trial. Think of impeachment
as an indictment by a Grand Jury.
Impeachment
is as much a political issue as a legal issue. While many see the President’s
actions as a minor lapse in judgment, others see it as a major diminution of
the nation’s status in the world. They argue that if a president has a State
Department and national security apparatus going in one direction and a rogue
group of personal representatives going in another, seeking political favors,
who will trust the US again? How will we, the world’s icon for freedom and
rule-of-law, ever regain our reputation? How can any nation, especially NATO
member states, ever trust us to come to their aid, to invoke Article 5, when
Russia invades them as it is now doing in Ukraine?
US
foreign policy ebbs and flows a bit with each new administration, but our
values should stay the same. People should know that we believe in and strive
to bring freedom and democracy to all nations of the world. Nations should know
that we will protect them against involuntary border changes by an invading
country. Today, those values seem to be in flux. That cannot be good for the US
or the world.
Irrespective
of how the impeachment process ends, it has and continues to divide the nation.
Few people will change their minds about impeachment regardless of the facts
presented. The bases of both parties will stick to their beliefs and the division
will expand.
This
is, without a doubt, our winter of discontent and our winter of despair.
[i] “It was
the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was
the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. Charles Dickens – A Tale of
Two Cities - 1859
