Need Sleep? Watch Impeachment Coverage

December 1, 2019
Philip C. Johnson, Ph.D.
www.globalnext.org

If you’ve ever had trouble falling asleep, I’ve got the solution for you: Watch the Democrats try to impeach Donald Trump.  It’s mind numbing – in fact, I would have written about this sooner, but apparently, I fell asleep while trying to find some meaningful aspect of this particular episode in human history that was worth staying awake for. But now that we’ve entered the final month of 2019 and the impeachment inquiry is moving out of the Intelligence Committee to the Judiciary Committee, I’ve roused myself to make a few comments – for the sake of history and to enter my official thoughts into the record so that my grandchildren can know what I thought. Or more likely, I’m just making it easier for my words and thoughts to be used against me at some point. (Usually, I just leave that job to Google, Amazon and Siri…)

As complicated as politicians want to make the effort to impeach Donald Trump seem, it’s really not that complex. As dull as it appears to be, it is actually more boring.  Here’s what you need to know:

THE RESISTANCE ISN’T NEW: 

The resistance to Trump’s presidency – which includes most of the traditional media, the unelected political establishment, the military industrial complex and the intelligence communities- you know, all the people that NO ONE voted for – began as soon as Trump got elected. 

Russian collusion and obstruction of justice didn’t work, and just wasted a lot of time and tax payer money. But Trump’s political enemies finally thought they had something when they pounced on a phone call between President Trump and the newly elected president of Ukraine last July. 

THE ACCUSATION: 

Trump is accused of withholding financial aid to Ukraine in order to get dirt on his political rival, Joe Biden and/or his son, Hunter. (Hunter Biden was inexplicably working for the corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma while Biden was vice-president.) 

The complaint came by way of a so-called “whistleblower” who issued a concern regarding the phone conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. None of the people who have testified during the impeachment inquiry have had any first-hand knowledge of president Trump asking Ukrainian president Zelensky for political favors in exchange for financial aid. Just personal thoughts, wishes and feelings. Just a series of “I overheard someone saying something about what they thought they might have heard Trump saying.” Combined with a nice dose of “My assumptions were that Trump was probably withholding aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors.”  

The Media has been full of “bombshell” and “explosive” headlines. But there’s not been much of a bang nor evidence to back up those hopeful claims. If you thought an impeachment would be based on primary sources and first-person evidence, you’ve obviously not downloaded your most recent software update. Removing an elected official from office is now a matter of feelings and hearsay, not facts.

WHAT TRUMP DID: 

Trump temporarily delayed financial aid to Ukraine.  Trump hates giving money to most countries (he would prefer US tax dollars be spent on Americans) and wanted to make sure that corruption issues in Ukraine were being dealt with by the new president. Ukraine was previously listed as the third most corrupt government in the world.

Was aid given? Yes. Was it temporarily held up while President Zelensky was vetted to make sure that any US money would go where it was supposed to go? Yes. Did the Ukrainian president have to do anything to receive the aid? No. Did President Zelensky believe that financial aid was delayed in order to pressure him to provide political favors for Trump? No. Did President Trump release the transcripts of his phone conversation with President Zelensky? Yes. Was there any “quid pro quo” (this for that) in the transcript? No. Does that matter to Trump’s political enemies? Also, no. Are you sleepy yet? You should be. 

THE EVENTUAL OUTCOME: 

In a normal political cycle in the US, if you don’t like the president or the direction that he’s taking the country, then you wait four years and vote for someone else. In fact, there are only 11 months left until the next presidential election. 

The House of Representatives, with the majority of members being Democrats, might follow through and vote to impeach the president.  At this point, I don’t think that it’s working out the way they had hoped.  America is not interested and not overwhelmingly supportive of impeachment. The Democrats have made an embarrassingly weak case for their position. If the House votes to impeach the president, it will be obvious to Americans that it’s a political move, not a criminal issue. 

And Trump won’t be impeached by the Republican-held Senate. He will not be removed from office. Meanwhile, issues that are important to Americans, like infrastructure, border security, immigration reform, a job-making trade deal with Mexico and Canada and healthcare are being ignored. I think many voters will remember this the next time they go to the polls. 

TAKEAWAYS:

1.) Apparently the political and media establishments don’t care, respect or trust the will of the American people and believe it is their sacred duty to remove someone from power in ways that are questionable, filled with hearsay and misinformation, and destined to exacerbate more division in our country. 

2.) I believe that one of the key motivators in trying to remove Trump from office (or to significantly damage him so that he cannot win a second term) is due to the likely prospect of needing to choose another Supreme Court justice in the near future. Clearly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will not last forever – and the progressive, neo-Marxists cannot risk another constitutional conservative being appointed to the highest court in the nation. (Side note: While the Democrats have been busy pursing Russian collusion and impeachment, Trump has appointed a historic number of Federal judges – 158 –  who will be committed to interpreting the Constitution as written. Not bad.) 

3.) If Americans aren’t happy with the booming economy, record low unemployment, the shrinking of government regulations, prison reforms, efforts to protect the unborn, a tough stance on Russia, the lack of new foreign wars, stronger trade policies with China and support of democracy in Hong Kong…then everyone will have the opportunity to vote for someone else in 11 months. That’s how it works. 

And if you really need something to worry about – concern yourself with this headline from a few days ago: Iran, Russia, China to Hold Joint Wargames in ‘Message to the World’  

And then ask yourself who you’d like to have dealing with those characters in this kind of world? Bernie Sanders? Joe Biden? Elizabeth Warren? Regardless, whoever gets to lead this great country of ours in the next term- let him or her do the job that Americans will have elected them to do. And if you work for the government, but were NOT elected to that position – remember, it’s just your job. And it’s your job to serve. And the people you’re serving are the American people – the one’s who get to vote in a Constitutional Republic. Sleep well.