Made by Americans but not for all Americans

Jan 16, 2021 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

The impeachment of a sitting president is politically equivalent to a criminal indictment. The constitutional mechanism for the impeachment of a federal officer, including presidents, vice presidents and federal judges, is laid out in Article 2, Section 4 of the US Constitution, which says “the President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” President Donald trump has been impeached not once, but twice by the House of Representatives during his term as President of the United States.
The first time was in December 2019 on charges of abusing his office and obstructing Congress before being acquitted in a Senate trial in February 2020. At the center of the first impeachment inquiry are Trump’s efforts to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election while withholding a nearly $400 million military aid package to the country, which is at war with Russia. Trump also refused to grant a White House meeting to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The catalyst for the enquiry was a whistleblower complaint detailing a July 25th phone call during which Trump repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate then Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian oil and gas company. The second time was last Wednesday, when the House passed an article impeaching Trump for inciting the January 6th insurrection on the US Capitol as Congress was counting slates of electoral votes submitted by the states. A mob of pro-Trump rioters descended on the US Capitol that day, forcing Congress to go into recess and members to evacuate and hide for their safety. Five people died during the day’s violence, including a US capitol police officer who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. So far, there has been over a hundred arrests made, including prominent citizens, many were fired from their jobs for participating in what is now considered “domestic terrorism,” others have resigned and many have gone into hiding. The anarchists were influenced and manipulated by Trump’s persuasion.
Trump has lost all his election petitions in the courts, including the Supreme Court where Judges were appointed by him. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the 2020 election, but Trump has repeatedly spread the baseless conspiracy theory since his loss in November. His last Attorney General, William Barr, who resigned, attested to the effect after being asked to conduct investigations also. About a week prior to Capitol Hill’s attack, in a lengthy phone call, Trump had pressured Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, to find some 12,000 votes to overturn his loss in the state. President Trump agreed to a video criticizing the Capitol rioters only after he realized he could face legal consequences. In a video on the following Thursday, he said he was, “outraged by the violence,” and promised a smooth transition to the Biden administration, but did not concede. He is secluded and he has built a wall around himself, all alone, wallowing in self-pity and sulking, in the White House. What a turn of event and fate for a man who was once king of the world, the leader for the most powerful nation on earth and the head for the richest country. The entire world looks up to America for precedence, leadership and guidance. What Americans ended up with is a President leaving the White House in shame and disgrace and one who could very well be facing criminal charges. As at the time of writing, 98 charges were instituted and the number is exponentially growing, expecting to surpass 300. He has constantly refused to declare his income tax and the city of New York is still to complete his tax investigation. Also there is a bounty on his head by the Iranians.
It is sad to note the language shared universally and the derogatory words used to describe a degraded man, rotting in embarrassment: bigot, racist, dishonest, clown, disgusting, narcissist, bully, stupid, a.., egotistical, ignorant, unqualified, liar, incompetent and idiot. After all, he comes with a history of six bankruptcies from his businesses and hardly paid any taxes. Was Trump power drunk, aloof of reality, too ambitious, intellectually bankrupt, arrogantly insane, ill-advised, too proud, irresponsibly misled or simply reckless and heartless? Democratic Representative, Hakeem Jeffries described Trump as a man “ too dangerous to be allowed to stay in office,” and former acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, who made a craven and hasty exit, ably summoned up courage to declare that, “I don’t know what’s going on inside the president’s head.” Were all the psychologists sleeping or were they too afraid to announce or denounce what has been so obvious from inception?

Respectfully,
Jai Lall

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