Dangerous Precedents: Why Democrats’ Refusal to Impeach Threatens Democracy

Last night I made a post about how Nancy Pelosi is secretly the biggest threat to American democracy. I made that post before the Mueller hearings had ended and the Democrats gave their press conference. This post is a sort of addendum to my last one where I will discuss why their refusal to impeach the President puts our entire democracy at risk.

I have a somewhat different take on the impeachment issue than many of my fellow progressives. I don’t think it’s a good idea to attempt to impeach Donald Trump over the obstruction of justice he demonstrated during the original Mueller Investigation.

But Mike, you ask, why not? The evidence that he obstructed is obvious and large enough to fill the Pacific Ocean. True. Very true, in fact. But here’s the thing about that.

People are stupid. And Trump supporters are advanced stupid.

People who understand nuance understand that Obstruction of Justice is it’s own, independent crime, separate from the investigation itself. So the fact that Trump interfered with the investigation at all is enough to make him guilty of obstruction regardless of the outcome of the original investigation.

So, yes, technically there are grounds for impeachment because of the obstruction. But its not a good idea because of the aforementioned stupid people thing.

Here’s what would probably happen if the Democrats pursued impeachment over obstruction:

• The House pursues impeachment proceedings
• It passes the House
• Mitch “Fuck the People” McConnell looks at it, laughs, and tosses it in the garbage
• On the 2020 campaign trail & on every TV spot, Trump screams about Democrat witch hunts and how he can’t be guilty of obstructing something that didn’t exist
• His supporters eat it up because they don’t understand how obstruction of justice works and won’t listen to anything that disagrees with Trump because “fake news”
• The Democrats look bad in the eyes of the masses and their candidate takes a hit
• Trump’s numbers go up because he “defeated the evil fake news”
• Trump wins

So, what, we just don’t do anything? No, I didn’t say that. Again, I’m in favor of impeachment. But you have to do it right.

So what’s the right way, then? Glad you asked. The answer is simple.

We impeach over violations of the Emoluments Clause.

What The Hell is That?

The Emoluments Clause, simply put, is the law that states the President can’t personally profit from being the President. Donald Trump has violated this law so often and so blatantly that you wouldn’t even know it’s a law at all. But it is. And we can use it.

Note that this doesn’t mean I think this impeachment route would work either. But here’s the difference: normal people can understand it way easier than the nuances of obstruction of justice. Again, let’s look at a hypothetical result of this route of impeachment:

• The House pursues impeachment over Emoluments
• It passes the House
• Mitch “Seriously, why is he still in office?” McConnell looks at it, laughs, and throws it in the garbage

Whoa, wait, this seems to be the same progression as last time, isn’t it? You’re right. But wait and see:

• Democrats flood the media with examples and facts of all the times he’s violated the clause and how Republicans love corruption
• Trump tries to deflect and somewhat succeeds amongst his base (the ones who will never abandon him no matter what)
• However, he either doesn’t get a poll bump OR it’s way less than it would have been in the obstruction example (people don’t like rich people ripping them off)
• The Democrat candidate continually brings it up on the campaign trail and contrasts their own policies against Trump’s corruption
• The Democrats (maybe) win in 2020

You may notice that even with this route, Trump losing the White House in 2020 isn’t a guarantee. That’s true, because a lot of other factors will decide that, chief amongst them who the eventual Democratic Nominee is. If it’s Bernie Sanders, Trump is toast. If it’s, say, Joe Biden, nothing will work and you might as well get ready for 4 more years of Trump. But, pursuing impeachment through this route will help the candidate, no matter who it is, in a way that obstruction will not.

What Does This Have To Do With Our Democracy?

Aside from the obvious threat of continued and probably accelerated fascism in our government if Trump is allowed to continue for four more years, failing to even try to impeach him is an affront to the very core of our democracy, and sets a dangerous precedent.

What Nancy Pelosi and her ilk are doing is essentially saying that the President is above the law. That they can do whatever they want and don’t have to be concerned with losing their seat and their freedom. That’s not how its supposed to work.

We have a checks-and-balances (in theory) system for a reason: so no one branch of government is more powerful than the others. By allowing Donald Trump to remain in office unchecked, Nancy Pelosi is taking that balance and chucking it out the window.

A common excuse is that you can’t indict a sitting President. Cool. That’s what impeachment is for. You impeach them over improper conduct, kick them out, and then let the justice system eat them. It’s what happened with Nixon. Hell, the Republicans tried real hard to make it happen with Clinton. And that was just because he lied about getting a blowjob.

Yea, remember the more innocent days when that was more than enough to get impeached? Good times.

Anyway, my point is that Nancy Pelosi is guilty of dereliction of duty of the highest magnitude. By refusing to impeach Donald Trump, she’s giving him a blank check to do whatever. And worse, she’s giving every subsequent President a blank check to do whatever. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that we may eventually see a President just straight up take an envelope of cash from someone and then write an executive order to help them out in some way.

This can’t be allowed to continue. We have to make our voices heard and get rid of Nancy Pelosi. Replace her with someone better. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to do what is right for our country. But where are we going to find someone like that?

How about this guy? He seems pretty capable. Go ahead and give him a buck or two. You’ll feel so good for contributing to our democracy. Oh, and spread the word about his campaign.

We’re up against formidable forces. We need all the help we can get.