Should President Trump be Impeached?
The peaceful transfer of power through elections is the cornerstone of our democracy. If voters believe the president is doing a bad job or he has broken the law then he or she should face the will of the people in an election.
But then there is that pesky document, the Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution specifically made provisions that a president did not have to break the law to be thrown out of office but rather if they “committed acts that were an abuse or violation of some public trust.”
Should we wait until the 2020 election? Or would it be a dereliction of duty for the congress to not hold the president accountable for his alleged abuse of power?
At what point do the checks and balances of the three branches of government have to be restored? Have we reached that point?
To find out what Tulare and Kings County residents think I asked Valley Voice readers a simple question: Do you think President Trump should be impeached?
Of the 63 respondents, 38 were against impeachment and 25 were in favor.
That is 60% against and 40% in favor. National poll numbers as of October 1 have been evenly split, 47% against impeachment and in 47% in favor. By the time this paper hits the stands I’m sure they will be different.
Interestingly, last week national poll numbers matched Tulare and Kings County numbers. Those opposed to impeachment were at 57% and 37% in favor.
The change in the national poll numbers towards impeachment does not come from Republicans. Here are a few statements submitted by the respondents.
“I don’t know for what reasons President Trump should be impeached. So until they have a reason, congress needs to get to work on national issues.”
“I don’t think the president should be impeached and my support for him has been unaffected by Speaker Pelosi’s recent call for impeachment proceedings. President Trump has been fully transparent in regards to his phone call with the President of Ukraine by releasing the full transcript of the call and the President of Ukraine has clearly stated publicly that President Trump did not pressure him into investigating the Biden family.”
“Democrats never got over losing in 2016 and resort to political warfare instead of working for the American people…Sounds to me like the democrats are involved in a cover-up to protect Joe Biden.”
“No, I do not believe Trump should be impeached. He gets very little credit for the good he has done. Personally my retirement funds have never grown as much as they have over the past 2 years.”
Many of the respondents who were against impeachment were Democrats who wanted to wait for the election, thought it was a waste of time, and pointed out his successor would be just as bad.
“The reality is that President Trump will never be convicted in the Senate because 1) there are too many Republicans who will vote to acquit, and 2) no one has articulated a criminal offense President Trump violated, thus support for conviction will be lacking.”
“Much as I hate to say it, I think the impeachment process is doomed to failure, and POTUS in his unique style of twisting facts, will boast that he has been vindicated. Unfortunately there are enough rubes who may believe him.”
“The people who are pushing for the removal of the President seem to forget who will take his place… Mike Pence! They might regret the time they spent on this lengthy process just to get someone who they might hate more the Trump. If the process goes bad, and the evidence is not there or not tangible enough, it will look like a witch hunt and might turn against the democrats in 2020.”
The gender gap was quite pronounced. More men than women participated in the survey and most men were against impeachment. Of the 63 respondents, 35 were men and 28 were women. Out of the men, 26 were against impeachment and only 9 were in favor of it. The women were more evenly split at 12 not to impeach and 16 in favor.
But those who submitted statements were mostly women or Hispanics. They were angry and had clearly felt this way for a long time.
“Yes, I think he should be impeached. He has shown that he is a pathological liar, a narcissistic, amoral man who will do anything to stay in power. I was leaning toward just voting him out in 2020 but now I think the country cannot risk having him even serve out the remainder of his term. “
“Today I am exhausted of all that is Trump. He unleashed a horrific vibe that will take time to restore to some kind of normalcy. America needs to be restored on many levels. The biggest disappointment for me is to see the true face of many that hold a different view of the kind of America I thought I lived in, way more than I ever thought.”
“Trump has survived on “whataboutism” long enough. What about the emails? What about Biden? etc. The foolish childish games and nicknames have gone on long enough. It’s time to end the madness and Impeach. “
President Trump’s supporters like the fact that he speaks directly to them through twitter and is an iconoclast. They like that he snubs convention, confronts the “Deep State,” and is not owned by anyone.
I can understand why his base likes him and voted for him. But does Mr. Trump represent all Americans? Does he reflect American values? Has he upheld his oath of office?
A lot has happened since 2016. Until he became president I never knew of the existence of the 25th amendment. I had never heard a news anchor swear on television while quoting the president.
I do not like the president’s name calling. Every time I hear him coin a new nickname for a Republican or Democrat it makes me cringe.
I also don’t like the insults. Should the president publicly insult citizens of our country through twitter? One tweet could end a politicians’ career and I think that Mr. Trump uses his position as a bully pulpit.
I especially hate his attitude towards women. Maybe he was joking when he was caught on the Access Hollywood tape saying he could do whatever he wanted to women because he was famous. But it wasn’t funny.
And why did the Access Hollywood tape ruin Billy Bush’s career but not Mr. Trump’s? Why is Michael Cohen sitting in jail for covering up Mr. Trump’s affairs with a porn star and Playboy Bunny, an action that didn’t help him but did help get Mr. Trump elected?
Does anyone remember the day when just being divorced disqualified a candidate from getting the presidential nomination? Does anyone need a rehash of Mr. Trump’s divorces, affairs, and accusations of sexual assault?
Mr. Trump makes the old fashioned trope “A woman’s place s in the home” sound progressive.
And has this country collectively forgotten that Russia is our enemy? Putin is a murderous dictator. Why is it OK for the leader of our country to believe Putin over our own intelligence community, or invite Putin back into the G7, or work so hard to roll back economic sanctions against Russia?
I remember sitting at my kitchen table the afternoon of 9/11 waiting for my children to come home from school. The PTA meeting was canceled along with all my kids’ sports practices and their games at the end of the week.
It seems like a small thing now, but the canceling of those school activities was the first sign that American life would never be the same. All I wanted that afternoon sitting at the table with my toddler on my lap was a cigarette and for things to go back to normal. But things were never going to go back to normal.
I feel like Mr. Trump has been another 9/11. Will American presidents ever again be accountable to Congress? Will our allies ever be able to trust us with sensitive intelligence information? Will congress ever regain the power of the purse? Will the morale of the American intelligence community ever recover after Attorney General William Barr’s campaign to “investigate the investigators?”
Can someone tell me why our brave CIA operatives should risk their lives working for the United States under the current conditions? Would you?
They say presidential elections are as the pendulum swings. Mr. Trump’s election was the pendulum swinging to the opposite side of President Obama.
Let’s hope in 2020 the pendulum swings back and we can get back to normal.