On Wednesday the sun came up, night followed day, and the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
None of these three things was ever in doubt. From the moment an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller failed to produce the damning evidence Democrats needed to drive Trump from office, it was clear they would seek another way to negate the results of the 2016 election. Mueller was looking into Russian efforts to influence that campaign. The impeachment drive sought to prove Trump abused his power in trying to get Ukraine’s president to launch a corruption investigation that could have embarrassed Democrat presidential rival Joe Biden, then obstructed justice by refusing to co-operate in congressional hearings.
Just as certain as the outcome is the expected result in the Senate, which is dominated by Trump allies who will refuse to convict him.
To all but the most partisan observers, a few other things are pretty plain. Yes, Trump spoke to the president of Ukraine and asked him for a favour, which had a good chance of providing mud he could use to damage Biden and improve his own chances in the 2020 election. Yes, officials in Ukraine could be forgiven for guessing that the sudden uncertainty surrounding $400 million in U.S. military aid they’d been expecting was linked to Trump’s request. And yes, Trump did all he could to make it difficult for Democrats to rush ahead with their attempt to oust him.
The difference is in interpretation. Of course Trump did all those things, and hoped to get some dope on Biden. He’s Donald Trump, that’s how he operates. The man has no concept of limits on what’s appropriate for a president, and what isn’t. Democrats insist it’s a crime and justifies turfing him before voters get a chance. Republicans say all presidents engage in dirty tricks — it’s politics after all — and Trump is no different. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Of course Trump did all those things ... He’s Donald Trump
Democrats have known from the beginning that their drive had little to no chance of success, given the certainty of Senate Republicans defending their champion. If they hoped to somehow shift public sentiment against Trump, they appear to have failed. Other than those who were already committed to one side or the other, the American public has shown a yawning indifference to the entire spectacle. Trump is just as popular with his fans, and just as unpopular with others, as he ever was. Democrat hopefuls criss-crossing Iowa in advance of the caucuses that will kick-start the final run to the nomination have found voters keen to discuss any number of issues, but impeachment isn’t anywhere near the top of their list. Financial markets, having long ago spotted the likely outcome, are unfazed. There isn’t likely to be much in the way of international reaction, foreign leaders having come to appreciate — not without help from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — that upsetting Trump’s delicate sensibilities offers little of benefit.
This does not mean the impeachment drive, and the Mueller investigation before it, have been without consequence. There has been great damage done, mainly to the institutions of government that both the president and members of Congress are tasked with defending.
To suggest Donald Trump has undermined the presidency is to state the blindingly obvious. He’s been hacking away at its dignity and credibility since the day he entered office, and insisted that “alternative facts” showed there were more people celebrating his inauguration on the Washington Mall than everyone could plainly see for themselves. To list the ways in which he has sabotaged the office he holds is beyond the capacity of any single observer. Indeed, many media outlets have dedicated themselves to it virtually non-stop for the past three years.
In their determination to defend the indefensible, Republicans too have covered a once-great party with an enormous stain. Historians will have great difficulty understanding what could have motivated such a dogged refusal to admit the obvious, other than concern for their own self-interest. For their part, Democrats will have no less to answer for, having hijacked one of the two houses of Congress and dedicated it wholeheartedly to their absolute refusal to accept the results of the 2016 election. When critics accuse the party of seeking to reverse the results of a democratic vote by alternative means, they strike at the heart of the issue. It’s entirely possible that, in the process, they’ve reduced the grave process of impeachment into just another partisan tool to be wielded against opponents.
No one comes out of this sad spectacle looking good. There is an argument to be made that Trump has so misused the powers of the presidency in so many ways that someone had to step forward in an official capacity and say so, and that — doomed or not — the impeachment effort represented that attempt. Perhaps history will see that to be the case. Or perhaps people will look back, shake their heads, and wonder what could possibly have brought so great a country as the United States to so sad a position as this.
Twitter: KellyMcParland
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
