Tony Smith
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
The sad case of Donald J. Trump should result in an impeachment proceeding. Impeachment has never led to removal of a president. Still, Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin and others discussed this. They believed impeachment was worthwhile even if it did not result in removal from office.
They stated that impeachment needed to be in our Constitution for three reasons: 1. To remind both the country and the president that he is not above the law. 2. To deter abuses of power. 3. To provide a fair and reliable method to resolve suspicions about misconduct.
So far, the Republican defense of President Trump is that no wrong has been done. Facts do not support that. Republican officeholders have stated that the released White House transcript does not describe a "shakedown" of a foreign leader nor the withholding of military aid for a favor. Many Republican prosecutors around the country dispute that and flatly state that a "quid pro quo" arrangement is demonstrated by the transcript.
The senator in charge of the Judicial Committee has asserted that the whistleblower document and the White House transcript do not support each other. That is false. The simplistic facts of this case are so compelling that the public is quickly seeing the need for an impeachment inquiry to give the president his day in court. Trump and the Republican Party have never wanted a day in court to clear their names. Instead they spin conspiracy theories and try to direct the public's attention to other matters.
If Republicans believed that the president's actions were lawful, an inquiry exonerating the president would be the greatest reelection gift imaginable. Democrats would be devastated. Until recently President Trump said as much. Now he looks like a deer in the headlights.
This is a sad time for America. Our future is uncertain. The president tells us impeachment will get his voters out to the polls. He also tells us an impeachment inquiry will result in Civil War. Trump supporters have been at a fever pitch for three years. They are a minority of Americans. President Trump has been their president, but he has not reached out to the rest of America. To win re-election his plan was to bribe a foreign leader to trump up a lie against a political opponent. Great but illegal plan.