ARE IMPEACHMENT REPUBLICANS PATRIOTIC OR DANGEROUSLY POLARIZING?

Interpretive Analysis by Mona Austin

Today, an explosive impeachment finale  had Pres. Donald Trump locked onto Twitter  his morning. Ahead of a possible post-impeachment trial, he fought with his fingers online while Republicans on the Intelligence Committe defended him in the televised proceedings. Parts of the 5-day trial were   reminiscent of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing where emotional GOP lawmakers depicted lying Liberals wee picking on an innocent man, who stood accused of raping Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.  House Democrats wanted America to look at the facts and determine -- to the dread of Trump's supporters -- was the president was wrong in the face of the law? The answer could carry perilous consequences for the 45th president of the United States.  Trump seemed to welcome a Senate trial in which the Republicans will have the upper hand tweeting, “They will soon be on our turf.” The case at hand further  asks the leader of the free world to  take personal responsibility like each and every citizen is required to do when either accused of doing wrong or breaking the law. We are ultimately, as on-lookers faced with making a moral decision about the behaviors that landed  I want to offer some background of the thinking from both sides that  findings from the fifth day that

In the public impeachment hearing on Thursday, Dr. Fiona Hill stressed that the national security interests of the United States are being compromised and will have an impact on the 2020 election.  A highly studious testifier, she expressed dismay over Republican insistence that the Ukraine is the real perpetrator of U.S. election interference, having first-hand knowledge in her role that Russia had been and continues to be the bad actor in cyber attacks that thwarted the tabulation of accurate results of the 2016 election (i.e., cheated to put Pres. Donald Trump in office.)  She is not the first or only public servant to testify about this threat.  However,  she is the one who is crushing the Republican fairytale about the Ukraine.  Dr. Hill was deliberate in stating that she would not participate in energizing this "fictional" narrative that feeds into Russian propaganda. 

Hill was joined on the witness stand by equally  competent foreign affairs expert David Holmes about who also  emphasized the U.S. needs to focus on the Russia threat.

Sondland testified that he knew the president was willing to provide aid to the Ukraine only on a conditional basis.  Pres. Trump walked out the White House with hand written notes about his conversation with Sondland reminding media that Sondland admitted that he did noy say he wanted quid pro quo.

Speaking before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Mr. Sondland said that the State Department had not given him access to his own emails and telephone logs to prepare for his testimony, which would have allowed him to refresh his memory.

Mr. Pompeo was criticized by the chairman of the House panel, Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, in the opening moments of the hearing. Mr. Pompeo, he said, was engaged in a Watergate-style “obstruction of this investigation.”

“We have not received a single document from the State Department, and as Ambassador Sondland’s opening statement today will make clear, those documents bear directly on this investigation and this impeachment inquiry,” Mr. Schiff said. He added: “The knowledge of this scheme was far and wide. And included, among others, Secretary of State Pompeo.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are propping up the President, vice president , secretary of state and others in the Trump Administration who aided and abetted in their underground opposition research campaign as dedicated patriots -- potential martyrs in their pursuit of corruption. They are leading the American people to believe that Pres. Trump's way of conducting business with the Ukraine was flawless, when asking for a favor and withholding aide until he gets it -- is not only flawed, it is Constitutionally forbidden. In fact, when impeachment was created, abusing the power of the office of presidency in foreign affairs was the basis for what is impeachable.

As this impeachment hearing unfolds, we, the jury must keep our attention on the main issue, one that binds us all regardless of political affiliations -- NATIONAL SECURITY. Republicans on the Intel Committee, which Devin Nunes has dubbed the "impeachment Committee" are attempting to persuade spectators to believe that their senses are failing them. They want us to believe that our eyes are seeing another word instead of the word "favor" when we read it. They want us to believe that are ears are hearing something else when that word is read out loud. Even though they are reading the same thing we are and hearing the same testimonies.  They want to hold a free American public captive in a web of deception to accept it as a grandiose scheme that Democrats have concocted to waste our time and money. In the end, not a single Republican indicated they thought Webs made of lies aren't just outright wrong and flustering.  They can be mentally draining too and cause one's thoughts to drift from the obvious truth. But, we owe it to the preservation of our democracy to be attentive and not be swayed by the tricks of legal folly.   The American public has a social and moral obligation to act fairly and objectively.

A favor, without a doubt is what the president requested in the context of his conversation with Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky in the context of  launching an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. This exchange has been referred to in the media as quid pro quo, but it is basically a bribe.  This bribe implied that without reciprocating dirt on the Bidens the Ukraine would not get aid from the U.S. Each one of the

Evidently, it has become a trait of that party to operate dubiously and take matters into their own hands.
For instance, Sec. of State Mike Pompeo  -- the head of said Department of State -- has traveled the globe at the expense of the American tax payer visiting "Five Eyes" countries (Australia,  New Zealand and Great Britain among them) to investigate the so-called trail of corruption by his own authority. Rudy Guiliani, the personal attorney of Pres. Trump is also acting as a supposed crime-fighting  "watchman" for the nation, completely disregarding the standards for democratic governance to which other presidents have adhered.

Pres. Trump has take it upon himself to smear the various ambassadors who have represented the nation around the world honorably for decades before he arrived. The impression is that the president can operate to protect the nation by any means necessary.Their style throughout this proceeding is to bottom-line every thing their opponents say as false because their #1 key witness is not in the room, rendering the entire process unjust.  Using this as an excuse when a quadre of  non-partisan witnesses cooperating is a sign they are not in control and know they are losing. Sondland's testimony placed Giuliani, Vice Pres. Pence and Pompeo in the irregular communication channel about the call. Pompeo's camp denies he knew about the attempt to force an investigation. 

 

The likely articles of impeachment are:

Bribery

Contempt of Congress

Abuse of Power

Obstruction of Justice

The House may impeach with a simple

This approach to foreign affairs shows not only a discrediting distrust for  federal law enforcement agencies, but also disrespect them. The degradation of both the Intelligence and National Security communities is an affront to patriotism and  The work of the FBI, CIA and Pentagon and apparently individual diplomants who are meaningless in the eyes of a leader who feels he can appoint others to investigate suspicious activities in  other countries for opposition research purposes or to otherwise have those in an "ordained" inner-circle do his bidding.
 

It is laissez faire leadership to the extreme that influenced an overall puffed up mentality in the Republican party.  While Democrats have long established that they are legally obligated to protect the identity of the person who reported Pres. Trumps alleged

sketchy dealings, Sen. Rand Paul called for the whistleblower to come forth. The testimony of the witnesses trumps that of the whistleblower at this point as they were directly apprised to or connected to the the communications channels the informant exposed. On one hand -- inside the hearing proceedings -- the Republicans are saying Democrats can produce a whistleblower as a witness because the person was made up. On the other hand, Rand Paul is This kind of confusion has to be called out. It leaves the jury -- the American people-- confused and is anything but patriotic.

Quoting the late Elijah Cummings, Chairman of the Intel Committee Adam Schiff gaveled saying, "We are better than this."  The days-long hearings have ended and America, we must pick a side as lawmakers continue to battle in the media. 

only two American presidents have been impeached and tried in the Senate: Andrew Johnson—Lincoln’s successor—and Bill Clinton. Both were acquitted. Richard Nixon would certainly have been impeached had he not resigned his office in August 1974.
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