Democrats should listen to Alan Dershowitz.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File
Retired Harvard law professor and avowed liberal Democrat Alan Dershowitz is one of the few sane voices on the Left. He currently warns the House Democrats that if they carry through on their plan to impeach President Donald Trump, they will fundamentally alter the presidency and the operation of the United States government.
Dershowitz correctly argues that an impeachable offense must be a serious crime. In writing Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution, the framers specifically mention bribery and treason before going on to add, “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Any reasonable person interpreting the word, “misdemeanor” understands that it isn’t used in the Constitution the way we use it today. It doesn’t mean that the president may be removed from office for a traffic ticket. The word, “misdemeanor” as used by the founders refers broadly to criminal acts of a serious nature.
If the current Congress impeaches Trump in the absence of a clearly provable serious crime, it will have created the precedent for the attempted removal of future presidents over partisan policy differences.
And that may be giving today’s Democrats more credit than they’re due. The truth be told, it’s not Trump policy to which Democrats object. It’s Trump himself. They hate the man. And their hatred is clouding their judgement.
But be it policy differences or hatred, it makes little difference. In either case, absent a provable serious crime, the only proper venue for removing presidents is the ballot box. As of this writing, if the voters in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia who hire and fire presidents wish to fire this one, their opportunity is only 369 days away. A decision as to the future of Donald Trump’s presidency made on November 3, 2020 will be much more readily accepted than any disposition thereof made by Congress.
Democrats don’t want to wait that long but they haven’t made the case for a serious crime. Should Trump, in a conversation with the president of Ukraine that included discussion of arms aid, have brought up Ukraine looking into possible corruption involving Joe Biden’s son? One could argue that he might shouldn’t have. But in making that argument, one cannot leave out two important facts.
The first is that Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky has stated publicly on numerous occasions that he did not feel pressured by Donald Trump. And the second fact is that the Trump administration wound up delivering the requested weapons to Ukraine without receiving any of the actions from Ukraine that Trump purportedly sought.
We’re on dangerous ground. If this continues, any time Congress is controlled by the opposing party, the president could be threatened with impeachment for minor infractions and insubstantial reasons. It would have a chilling effect on the executive branch and unacceptably alter the balance of power between the nominally co-equal branches.
Democrats today are setting the predicate for the destabilization of all future presidencies. They should recognize that one day, the shoe will certainly be on the other foot.
Trump and the electorate that voted him in are an existential threat to Dems and Deep State. So ALL considerations are out the window. Shoe on other foot is down the road. Don’t think they fear it that much because Media,Tech Education work with them. Historically, many Republicans have neither the stomach nor inclination for such egregious abuse of the Constitution. Also, more and more Dems want to overthrow our system of government. Look at their candidates and Obama.
Reference your quote: “Democrats today are setting the predicate for the destabilization of all future presidencies. They should recognize that one day, the shoe will certainly be on the other foot.”
Paul, I don’t think the forces that are determined to take down this Trump Presidency care about the “other foot”. They are going for broke and expect that this Impeachment of Trump (and removal from office) will be a death blow to any future threat from the Republicans in any form. The Democrats have succeeded in almost total capture of the Deep Administrative State, the Socialist activist Judges, the Marxist propaganda media, the huge influx of illiterate peasants (ILLEGAL ALIENS – NOT the soft word IMMIGRANTS or MIGRANTS), and the Socialist educated and illiterate youth produced by our government schools.
This guarantees that their juggernaut to demolish the Constitution can continue regardless of any attempt by Conservative forces to defend it. This trend has been firmly established and is accelerating. They view the Trump Presidency as a minor bump in the road.
If Trump doesn’t successfully expose and dismantle these subversive forces designed to mortally weaken the Constitution during his second term (if he wins), then we will have lost for generations the strength to reverse course. Once these tyrants are in power, they will ostracize all who oppose their dogma and eradicate any vestige of the human freedoms we cherish in order to establish absolute State control of the masses.
Oh ye of little faith in America’s foundation. If we survived Nixon’s bug-out, Clinton & Johnson impeachments, and the dang Civil War, we’ll get through this.
I quote from Coffey above who said: “Also, more and more Dems want to overthrow our system of government. Look at their candidates and Obama.” The corrupt, radical, Marxist, Socialist, Fascist Democrats (the vast majority in the Party) ARE bent on the overthrow of our system of government in favor of a top-down dictatorial control of our society by ANY MEANS NECESSARY including the elimination of the most fundamental, Constitutional, human rights we enjoy. Look what has happened to Democrat bastions of power in California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New York, Maryland, and Massachusetts, etc. The USA is NOW under mortal threat of abandoning its fundamental founding by the Saul Alinsky tactics being forced down our throats by Democrat radicals, everywhere they are tolerated.
Nations don’t survive this degree of virulent sabotage from within. Argentina is the perfect example of this. So please don’t spin you fake words of comfort that we can survive your buddies that hate this country as founded. We are under attack and you aren’t concerned. Your silence is deafening! This illegal and subversive attempt to demolish the Constitution is a political cancer greater than any threat we have faced as a nation. It has no cure if not eradicated by Trump, and will permanently change the USA into a crucible of Marxist experimentation as controlled by the latest “elected” Tyrants in charge.
Thanks, Paul, Directly and with a modicum of words, you rightly address the impeachment issue–what the Democrats are up to, and the negative consequence that must inevitably follow should they continue their partisan witch hunt. What the Democrats are doing will hurt them, and the damage to their credibility will be well earned, but our nation would be best served if they back off, because a greater damage will be done to governance itself if the Democrats, for short term gain, establish pernicious new conditions of governance that will have long term consequences.
I agree wholeheartedly, Paul. Except the implied message of the last line. Indeed, someday the shoe will be on the other foot. The problem is that the Republicans won’t have the balls, lack of ethics , disregard of the Constitution, party priority,or cohesiveness to do what the Democrats are doing now.
I would say that you’re selling the Republicans short, if Lindsey Graham and his cohorts weren’t SUCH cowering invertebrates.
Yes, undoubtedly at some point, the shoe will be on the other foot, but will a Republican House have the same disregard for the future of our country? The Democrat(ic) Party is now dominated by a multitude of hippies, draft dodgers, entitlement seekers, and America haters that have transitioned into the political policymakers. The same lefties that spat upon our returning Vietnam veterans, and wore Che Guevara tee shirts have now infiltrated our universities, news media, entertainment industry, and especially the once great opposition party. This was no accident, but a product of the Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky “long game” playbook. I never realized how deep and slimy the swamp has gotten, but the current blatant attempt to overthrow a president should be a wake up call for all of us, including some who have a generational attachment to the Democratic Party. There are very legitimate disagreements between the two parties that invite an honest debate, but at some point, we need to think very seriously about what will happen to our country if these Socialists prevail. Absolutely no one, except the ruling class and their families and friends, will benefit from the Socialist road to deprivation and misery. When we have such obvious examples of the failure of such governments throughout history, it is amazing that there is anyone who would want to be a citizen of such a country. Of course, those who are in control have a very comfortable lifestyle, and they really do not like the United States anyway. The same radicals who hated our country and our military back in the sixties, still hate our country now; however, they have more power.
“Draft dodgers,” you say?
Ya SURE ya wanna go-there?