The Long and the Short of It

Dems have settled on two articles of impeachment. At a private meeting Monday night with Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team, they debated whether to also include another article of obstruction of justice, per @mkraju https://t.co/pPK25j0BFk

— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) December 10, 2019

I think the idea that the articles of impeachment against Trump will only be two or three actual items isn't exactly the point--think of "abuse of power", "obstruction of Congress" and "obstruction of justice" as basically being like categories or bins into which a range of different actions of presidential misconduct can be sorted into. There is nothing that especially limits anything, even Mueller-related material, from being included in any of these broader categories, so while the list of articles is short, the conduct detailed within them can be extensive.

As my obsessive "TWGB" posts indicate, I'm kind of a maximalist in my approach to addressing what it is, exactly, that Trump does. He subverts and undermines people and institutions, and it helps to see the big pattern to understand that if he is not checked, he will just damage faith in our government further. What disturbs me from Trump apologist, which now stands as basically establishment Republicanism, is that Trump somehow hasn't really done anything that bad, and Democrats are performing this serious impeachment attempt because--we're mad and don't like him.

This is pretty much why James Rosen of Sinclair tried to nail Speaker Nancy Pelosi down on the idea of whether she "hated" Trump and the notion was forcefully rejected. The pursuit of the president in this case is not a personal issue (although I think he has some personality features that make it difficult to come to terms with him) but a question of how he uses his office, which is, in a word, deplorable.

Senator Ted Cruz, a man who has had Trump call his father an assassin, and his wife homely, and whom was the subject of a National Enquirer spread regarding possible affairs that now seem pretty likely to be at Trump's direction, what with Trump and Pecker being so friendly and all, not only joined Burr and Kennedy in spending a Sunday mouthing Russian propaganda regarding Ukraine, but now makes an astounding argument about how the persecution of Trump derives from hate:

“The real interpretation is these were hardcore political partisans that hated Donald Trump and they were willing and complicit to abuse the power of law enforcement and intelligence and spy on a political opponent” - Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/q8EGVl3kJU

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) December 10, 2019

The DOJ IG report did not indicate that this is what happened, at all. The investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia had nothing to do with political bias. Cruz is gaslighting. There was no one implanted in the Trump campaign. There was no "spying". The only person under FISA was Carter Page, and despite some discrepancies in the warrant it was deemed appropriate to have been renewed. It is neither a profile of courage nor of especial insight for Cruz to ignore everything that Trump has done, and focus his ire on Democrats. Cruz appears to be saying these things hoping that his audience can't or won't read the details--sadly, the audience he's trying to reach probably won't.

In a political environment where I've heard the phrase "we're better than that" more than I can count and have winced to know it pretty much isn't true on all counts, I'd like to think this time it could be: maybe the House Intelligence Committee report on impeachment can be read by the people who need to revisit the factual details, and maybe people can even be enticed to consult the Mueller Report--maybe the people are really paying attention, even though they are being told by Fox News talking heads that all of this is boring and they should go back to sleep. There are factual accounts of misdeeds, definitely including obstruction of justice and of Congress, which make the full accounting of the entire timeline a sketch--but still a commanding one. Maybe people will think for themselves, instead of letting Republican partisans snow them about Trump's supposed America First inclinations, when he has been looking out for Number One (himself) since the jump.

Maybe if there is anything to hate here, it's watching Republicans make themselves unreachable on the subject of the real harm Trump is doing, preferring to align themselves even with a foreign power who does not mean us any good, and a politician of no particular staggering beneficial personal qualities. I certainly don't love that. But the impeachment will go on because the rule of law and our very system of government appears to be at stake, and if that isn't enough for you, I may not hate you, but I don't feel good about you, that much I can say.