It’s Time to Punish the Toddler-in-Chief

Have you really considered just how horrible the Trump/GOP government has been over the last two years?

Consider this:

It’s been more than nine months since it was discovered that the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy created thousands of orphans, separating small children from their parents. A GAO investigation flying that officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had no plan for the potential increase in the number of children separated from their parents.

Yes, that’s right. The people in charge had no plan. They had nothing in place for tracking the children and the parents for eventual reunification. Therefore, the Department of Justice was instructed to accept all DHS referrals for criminal prosecution, and the adults were placed in criminal detention, despite the fact that, according to the actual printed law, most of these people were not breaking the law. You see, merely coming into this country is not against the law. Unlawful entry involves coming over the border and actively avoiding the authorities.

At the same time, all of the parents were being placed in criminal custody, the children were placed in the custody (I’d say “care,” but that would be silly) of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Department of Health and Human Services. Keep in mind, children under 18 have no lawful immigration status, so they were not breaking the law. And because no one had a plan, none months later, they are still trying to figure things out, after the fact. And nine months later, no one has been fired and the boss has not been impeached or censured. About 23 years ago, the GOP Congress held a president to account because an adult woman working in the White House gave him consensual oral sex. Now, another GOP Congress watched a “president” create thousands of orphans, and no one said or did anything about it. Oh, sure, a few Republicans paid lip service and said it shouldn’t have happened, but how does stealing thousands of children from their parents not rate an impeachment trial?

Now, a month into his third year as “president,” Trump has declared a “national emergency” because that is the only way he can think of to get the money for a border wall that the Democratic Congress and the American people don’t want. And let’s be real here; he wouldn’t be asking for it unless he thought he could get away with it. And sure enough, there seem to already be efforts underway by congressional Republicans to figure out a way to let him have it. Several Republican Senators have already promised their full support for this effort, and they don’t seem to care that it’s completely unconstitutional. The Founders purposely gave Congress the power of the purse, likely as a way to avoid tyrants. If presidents had enough power to dictate how tax money was spent, the country would probably already have a few Trump Castles, and Trump would be running the Executive Branch from Trump Tower.

He has to be stopped, and that means impeachment. And we can’t afford to wait for Mueller. As any parent who has ever raised a toddler knows, we have to let him know he can’t get away with anything he wants. There have to be consequences for his bad acts. Even if the GOP blocks conviction, at least all the evidence will be out there. And if we have to impeach him several times, so be it. We need a functional government, and we can’t have that with Trump in charge.

Originally published at The Pragmatic Progressive.