Sorry for taking so much time to get back. I was tied down last week writing software for a data science project and was out over the weekend.
What you are missing is that Trump didn’t care about corruption in the Ukraine. He just wanted dirt on Biden. Trump doesn’t care if that dirt is real or manufactured. In short, he just wants help with the election. Clearly, this deserves an impeachment inquiry. Does it deserve an impeachment trial? I think the evidence will be overwhelming and that we will all agree that such a trial is necessary. Now, here is the clear reason that we cannot wait for an election to decide the issue: If Trump has done what he is accused of here, what else has he done? Second, what will he do over the remaining year until the next election plus the 2.5 months after that election assuming he is defeated. A President can do a lot of damage to our intelligence community, law enforcement community, and foreign relations in a very short time. These are the less damaging risk. I will let your imagination consider the much worse damage he could do to our country.
Impeachment and removal from office will not necessarily prevent Trump from running for office again. The Senate has traditionally decided removal and banning from future office separately. I think there have only ever been three officials removed from office and the Senate having found their behavior so bad that the Senate voted to also ban them from holding office in the future. One of these three was prosecuted by Adam Schiff in 2010. Clearly, Trump is one that should be banned from ever holding office again — not even dog-catcher! The man is a danger to the Republic.
I was a Republican. I became an Independent over twenty years ago. I began to lean more toward the Democrats in the middle of the last decade. I became a bonafide leftist late in the last decade. Of course, I am anti-Trump. My rationale for wanting him impeached has nothing to do with my political disagreements with Trump. My reasons to support impeachment is because Trump is exactly what the Founders envisioned when they wrote the impeachment provisions into the Constitution. He is a danger to the Republic. This is one of America’s saddest hours. Trump must not only be removed; he must be banned from holding office in the future. Furthermore, he must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The prosecution of Trump will not make America a banana republic. It was the election of Trump that makes America look like a banana republic.
The mere asking for help in the election in return for the performance of his official duty is Bribery under the United States Code. The Constitution specifically mentions two particular crimes that a President should be impeached for: Treason and Bribery. The reason for the Framer’s of the Constitution being concerned with such issues is spelled out in the two stories below:
Trump’s behavior during the 2018 mid-terms showed how desperate he is. In October of 2018, Trump promised a new middle-class tax cut before the election. It was impossible to get the tax cut in time. Furthermore, this class tax cut still hasn’t happened. Regardless of what you think of the 2017 tax cut, Trump was talking about a new tax cut in 2018 that still hasn’t arrived at the end of 2019. He will promise anything. He will say anything. He will lie about anything. Why? Because he knows that he is in severe danger of losing his freedom and/or losing what wealth he does have shortly after leaving office.
