Democrats have a problem.
With their headlong, preordained and miscalculated rush toward impeachment of President Trump, Democrats now face an angry electorate, plummeting poll numbers among independent voters, and enough grumbling within their own ranks that a New Jersey Democratic congressman has decided to switch parties and become a Republican.
That’s what happens when you treat the U.S. Constitution as an afterthought and use impeachment as a political tool in a way that was never intended by our Founding Fathers.
This is a danger to our republic
Former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the last great bipartisan Democrats from New York and a scholar of constitutional law, was loath to use impeachment as a means of political punishment by one party against another.
In Godfrey Hodgson’s biography "The Gentleman From New York," Moynihan is quoted as warning that “once impeachment became an easy or frequent affair, the separation and balancing of the executive and legislative powers that lie at the very heart of the American Constitution would be changed.”
A not-so-funny thing happened to the Democrats as they made their way into the black hole of impeachment this week. They became the very danger to the Republic that they thought they saw in President Trump. Unfortunately for them, the American electorate has never shared that opinion, as our nation sent Donald Trump to Washington to put a stop to business as usual.
Recent political polling shows American public opinion breaking sharply against impeachment or removing President Trump from office. As such, Democrats and their political strategists are starting to wonder if they have once again overreached.
Democrats' impeachment case is weak
Don’t believe it? Just read the slim Articles of Impeachment presented by the Democrats. You could literally see the disappointment on the faces of the liberal news establishment as they reported the watered-down articles on our television screens.
Democrats promised fireworks from the Mueller Report and delivered a yawn. They promised a quid pro quo and teased a skeptical public with shouts of bribery and extortion as a result of the president’s phone call – a transcript of which the president himself ordered released.
Instead, salivating Democrats were forced to settle for groundless allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. And just like in 2016, the American electorate isn’t buying it.
What 'high crimes and misdemeanors'?
As our Founding Fathers wrote in the U.S. Constitution, impeachment was intended for “high crimes and misdemeanors” which Moynihan understood as “great and dangerous offences against the United States.” Moynihan was loath of being swayed by partisan loyalty and insisted that it was imperative to “protect the presidency as an institution,” and if not, cautioned, “do doubt that you could degrade the Republic very quickly.”
Everything the Democrats are accusing President Trump of doing, they are responsible for committing themselves.
Breaking political norms and upending critical bipartisan cooperation? Check.
Lying and using their office to advance their own personal and political agendas? Check.
Using the powers of a majority to silence the opposition? Railroading individuals to establish a false media narrative? Destroying personal reputations via attack and innuendo? Check. Check. And double check.
Ignoring critical, pressing needs of our nation, Democrats have shown a reckless disregard for our U.S. Constitution and are using impeachment of the president to settle political scores in an audacious attempt to overturn and preempt our elections.
I have confidence the U.S. Senate and the American people will rise up and have the last word.
