1939 – As Hitler’s Nazi Germany waged war in Europe, the United States adopted a cash-and-carry policy of selling arms to its ally Great Britain in order to maintain a bulwark of freedom and democracy against the totalitarian Third Reich. Replacing the Neutrality Acts of 1937, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. to sell weapons to Great Britain to aid in its defense.
In 1940, President Roosevelt faced Republican Wendell Willkie in the U.S. presidential election. Like Roosevelt, Willkie favored direct U.S. involvement in the war.
What if FDR had stopped shipments of military equipment purchased by Great Britain until Winston Churchill publicly announced a criminal investigation into Willkie? What if Roosevelt had demanded of Churchill — as a condition to a White House meeting to discuss the war — that Churchill publicly announce that Willkie actually favored a British surrender to Germany?
1984 – During the height of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan obtained massive increases in Defense Department spending, and the U.S. military staged extensive show-of-force training operations with NATO forces in West Germany.
What if Ronald Reagan had withdrawn American forces from NATO bases in West Germany, promising to return them only if West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl publicly announced a criminal investigation into Walter Mondale? What if Reagan refused to meet with Kohl until the German leader publicly announced that former Vice President Mondale had secretly relayed NATO battle plans to Russian spies?
2019 – What if Trump directed Medicare administrators to withhold Bernie Sanders’ benefits so that he was unable to obtain medical treatment for his heart attack?
What if Trump ordered the FDIC to seize Elizabeth Warren’s bank accounts so that she couldn’t pay her mortgage?
What if Trump ordered U.S. Navy SEALS to hunt down and kill Pete Buttigieg?
The specifics in these examples are extreme, but they are all the same things conceptually as what Donald Trump did with Ukraine.
They all involve a president using U.S. resources in service of his corrupt personal interests.
Trump used the assets of the United States for his own personal political vendetta against the Bidens.
Trump withheld Congressionally mandated military aid to a vulnerable ally, in order to get that ally to smear his presidential election opponent.
Trump solicited foreign interference in a U.S. election, from a democratic ally fighting a common totalitarian enemy.
Trump used the office of the presidency to attempt to induce a foreign country to propagate false information about a U.S. presidential candidate and long-time public servant.
In the guise of fighting corruption in Ukraine, Trump attempted to make Ukraine his corrupt accomplice.
Trump tried to trade U.S. military assistance for some credible-sounding fake news about Joe Biden.
What’s so bad about that?
Plenty. We are either a country of laws, in which no person is above the law, or we are a banana republic with a corrupt dictator who makes his own rules, and who uses the nation’s resources for his own personal gain.
We are either a nation committed to truth and justice, or we are a confederacy of kleptocrats, who are free to use the nation’s assets to purchase personal favors from foreign state actors.
In the modern age of social media and a never-ending news cycle, false information is weaponry, which can be (and was) deployed in the Russian war on our democracy.
Donald Trump tried to join that war, siding with Russia against our ally Ukraine. He tried to obtain an arsenal of fake news about Joe Biden, using official acts and U.S. aid as his currency.
Ronald Reagan traded arms for hostages; Donald Trump tried trading arms for official-sounding, foreign-manufactured fake news.
Trump tried to use U.S. military aid to buy false information from Ukraine, which he hoped to deploy against American citizens in Russia’s ongoing war against a truthfully informed American electorate.
Donald Trump used American resources for his own corrupt endeavors. In so doing, he allied himself with Russian misinformation propagators, working to sabotage a free and fair U.S. election.
We pledge allegiance to the flag, “and to the republic for which it stands.” The cornerstones of that republic are free and fair elections, independent of foreign interference and tampering by government officials.
Trump violated his pledge of allegiance to the republic. Trump used the power of his office to assault our democracy, and attack the republic for which the flag stands.
What possible offense is more impeachable than that?
Clarion Call 