History Is Watching

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FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | JANUARY 23, 2020freadshot

“History will record the enormous damage done to our democracy and our country by President Trump and by the congressional Republicans who gave license to Trump’s past and future attempts to rig the 2020 presidential election.”

The “meticulous and scathing” presentation yesterday by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff of the facts in the impeachment trial established beyond any doubt that President Trump engaged in improper and illegal acts for his personal benefit and at the expense of fair elections and our national security.

It is incontrovertible that Trump attempted to blackmail Ukraine into improperly interfering in the 2020 presidential election by illegally withholding congressionally-approved military assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.

It is incontrovertible that Trump made clear to Ukraine he was holding the military assistance hostage for a public statement by the Ukraine president that Ukraine would conduct a corruption investigation into a leading Trump political opponent in 2020, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden.

In doing so, Trump engaged in illegal, improper, and indefensible actions.

Senate Republicans have adopted the attitude of “see no evil, hear no evil” and are going to reject the House’s articles of impeachment.

History, however, will record the enormous damage done to our democracy and our country by President Trump and by the congressional Republicans who gave license to Trump’s past and future attempts to rig the 2020 presidential election.

The latest poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Center found that, by 51 percent to 46 percent, the American people believe the Trump should be removed from office. That poll also found that a substantial majority, 63 percent, believe President Trump definitely or probably acted illegally as president or as a candidate.

The effort to hold President Trump accountable for his outrageous abuses of office will not end with the Senate’s dismissal of the case.

This will become an important part of the national debate that takes place in the coming months over who should become our next President.

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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.