The United States House of Representatives should impeach President Trump and the Senate should convict him. The United States, at this perilous moment in history, must do better than this contemptible man, who may be losing his grip on more than a Republican-led Congress that until very recently has conducted itself not as co-equal branch of government but as an obsequious and unquestioning suck-up.
The headlines on any given day provide more than enough justification to call for the president’s removal, but in the first two weeks of this year the administration has outdone itself. Poorly trained Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have flooded the streets of Democratic-run cities and states, harassing, assaulting, and terrorizing immigrants and citizens alike. Public opinion in recent weeks has begun to move, with a handful of Republicans summoning the courage to defy a president whose approach to government is akin to that of a crime boss.
Last week’s incident in Minneapolis, in which a woman who had the temerity to oppose her government’s inhumane actions was shot and killed by one of these masked, unaccountable assailants, was inevitable. If the Trump administration continues or even intensifies this invasion of American cities, Renee Nicole Good’s needless death will hardly be the last one. Whether or not the intention is to normalize the presence of heavily armed federal personnel on American streets, to intimidate voters on Election Day, or, most likely, both, it is as un-American as it is unacceptable.
The pardons of some 1,500 insurrectionists who attempted to block the certification of Joseph Biden’s 2020 victory is another sorry example of the president’s unsuitability for the office. Since that Day One mass pardon, at least 33 have been rearrested, charged, or convicted of new crimes, including plotting the murder of F.B.I. agents, reckless homicide while driving under the influence, sexual assault of a child, online solicitation of a minor, and possession of child pornography or illegal weapons. These are the “great patriots,” in the president’s estimation, whom he saw fit to reward for their treason.
There is not adequate space in this newspaper to document the staggering corruption of this administration. From the acceptance of a jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One, a clear violation of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, to the pardon of the former Honduran president despite his 45-year sentence for drug trafficking, even President Nixon would blush at the fraud and degeneracy practiced openly by this administration. The pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez, juxtaposed with the administration’s kidnapping of the similarly corrupt and criminal leader of Venezuela on the obviously phony pretext of combating drug trafficking, demonstrates this president’s contempt for the law.
There are far too many more examples of the president’s shocking unfitness for the job, from his lapdog Lee Zeldin’s assault on the environment to his utter failure to address the affordability crisis he promised to quickly resolve. Alas, tomorrow’s headlines will likely offer still more. Congress should act now.