Democrats’ calls for an impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump finally came to a head on Tuesday when U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into the president.
The move comes after a whistleblower report from within the intelligence community that claims Trump urged Ukraine to open an investigation on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Since this report was released, it has been uncovered that Trump spoke on the phone with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and froze nearly $400 million in aid to the country.
If it is true that Trump directed the halt of foreign aid to a country in order to influence an investigation into a former vice president — one of his main political rivals — ahead of an important election, this is just one more impeachable offense to add to Trump’s collection.
The difference here is the significance of an action involving a sitting president directing another nation to embark on a path seemingly geared toward influencing a U.S. election. These egregious crimes, if proven, are at least equivalent to the crimes committed by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, with their own unique splash of treason.
Trump’s popular narrative that he puts national interests first will be shattered if it is found that he used diplomatic leverage to bribe a foreign government for his own personal gain at the expense of America.
The unprecedented report has pushed Pelosi, who many say is a moderate Democrat, toward formal impeachment on the basis of this and investigations into other reports by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Trump’s 2016 campaign finances and potential Russian interference.
Both Democrats and Republicans are criticizing the inquiry, although for vastly different reasons.
Many Democrats fear an impeachment in the House that would almost never get through the conservative Senate would simply provide Trump more fuel to use in the upcoming presidential election.
But shying away from enforcing the law and ignoring congressional duties for fear that Trump will skew this in the media is pointless and defeatist. Of course he will. That is no reason to not hold this president to the same standard we would any other that has multiple allegations against him regarding foreign interference and involvement in American presidential elections.
Republicans, on the other hand, claim the House is making a mistake by moving forward with impeachment after Trump has said he is willing to release the whistleblower report and phone call transcript relating to the allegations.
Both positions are misguided and continue the cycle American politics keeps enduring — Trump messes up, Republicans bombard the media defending him and Democrats throw their hands up as if there is nothing they can do.
But the voters that are emboldened by Trump’s messages after his questionable administration so far are not the kind of voters Democrats are looking to sway. In a sense, they are too far gone. To bring down Trump — a goal most Democrats can agree on — the party must appeal to those voters unsure if they’re uncomfortable with Trump’s actions, then convince them why they should be.
These impeachment inquiries should be approached with a sense of the severity of these allegations. Democrats cannot use this as a chance to collect one-liners in public hearings that attract attention to their own political careers.
For the first time, the party may be able to formally prove beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump has committed crimes not only in 2016 but while in office as well. If that decision is reached objectively, a Republican Senate that refuses to act on it would have a lot of explaining to do.
Democrats cannot be scared of what Trump will or will not do to sway these hearings or media coverage of him. Time has shown that he is unlike any president the U.S. has ever seen and there is no reason he would treat an impeachment inquiry differently than the several other allegations against him.
Pelosi’s announcement of the investigation is an important step toward holding Trump accountable regardless of political strategy or threat.
Trump may not take our political system seriously, but to defeat him, Democrats have to.
