Trump is Embarrassing
You’d think if you were President of the United States, you’d know the Constitution. President Trump Thursday morning warned in his “press briefing,” held almost literally under the blades of Marine One, that he hasn’t even started using his “…Article II powers.” At least he knew where the powers of the Presidency lie in the document.
But then he said he would go to the Supreme Court if the House of Representatives tried to impeach him. His argument: that he has never committed, “ treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors,” the Constitutional reasons for impeachment. You can’t blame him for seeking a more favorable venue than the House. He appointed two justices to the Supreme Court, and there are three more who come from a Federalist Society background that Trump feels favors him. That’s five judges out of nine, a lot better odds than he has in the House of Representatives.
His problem is that another portion of the Constitution, Article I, Section 2, states that the House “…shall have the sole power of impeachment.” A Federalist Society justice, committed to the original meaning of the Constitution, would have a difficult time trying to tell the House how they are to use their “sole power,” not talking about the four “more liberal” justices. Clearly it’s a power that doesn’t include the Courts, and allows the House to interpret their authority as they choose.
What high crimes and misdemeanors were to the founding fathers was based on English Common Law. High crimes were crimes against the state, as opposed to “common” crimes that were crimes against individuals. Kill a neighbor: a common crime, kill the King, a High crime. High crimes were not necessarily felonies, and not even necessarily crimes in the statutory sense. A President who fires an employee like the FBI Director, or directs another employee to lie to Federal investigators, may be acting within his authority, but may still be committing an act in the “impeachable” sense if that act abuses his powers and injures “the state.”
The classic “government class” scenario, is that the President shoots someone, say on Fifth Avenue. He cannot be arrested or charged (though I expect the NYPD would still try), he would have to be impeached and removed from office first. The impeachment would be for the “high crime” of conduct unacceptable for the President of the United States. Then the common charge, murder, could be brought in Court. President Andrew Johnson was impeached for breaking a Congressional law, the Tenure of Office Act, which had no criminal penalty attached. The House determined he had committed a “high crime;” that was enough to bring on impeachment.
And one last “government class” reminder: impeachment is the process of bringing the President (or other Executive or Judicial branch members) to trial in front of the Senate. It is the House of Representatives’ duty, passed by a majority vote of the members. The Senate then determines whether the accused is “convicted” with the penalty of removal from office, and requires a two-thirds majority vote.
So, surprise, President Trump doesn’t know the Constitution, even when it directly affects him. You’d think all of those high-priced lawyers working for him would clue him in. He probably doesn’t listen; he’s too busy tweeting.
It’s embarrassing.
There’s a mythological concept called “drunk truth.” It goes that if you say something when you’re drunk, it’s more likely to be true because – well – you’re drunk and less likely to be careful about your speech.
President Trump might have a different “truthiness disability” called “pre-dawn truth.” In a 4:57 AM tweet storm Thursday, he sent out the following:
Russia, Russia, Russia! That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax…And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected. It was a crime that didn’t exist. So now the Dems and their partner, the Fake News Media,…..…say he fought back against this phony crime that didn’t exist, this horrendous false accusation, and he shouldn’t fight back, he should just sit back and take it. Could this be Obstruction? No, Mueller didn’t find Obstruction either. Presidential Harassment!
Oops!! Did he really confess that Russia helped him get elected? The tweet was soon denied (thank you internet for saving everything) and Trump reversed it to the media under Marine One, but there it is. And our President has made it clear; he is a VICTIM!!! A VICTIM of Presidential Harassment! Talk about a “snowflake,” I guess this harassment is waking him in the pre-dawn hours, making him sit up in bed in his expensive silk underwear and tweet; forcing him to tell the truth.
But the VICTIM is on the attack, back against Robert Mueller again.
And it’s embarrassing, that the President of the United States lies to America like a sixth grader caught with a cigarette. He tells lies, about why Mueller went to the White House (to advise the President on who to select for FBI Director, not get the job), and about the “thirteen angry Democrats” in the Special Counsel office, and about just about everyone else who has the courage to stand up against him, including Congressman Justin Amash, a conservative Republican from Michigan who actually read Mueller’s Report. The lies are recognized by most Americans, and has become so common that little is said. The Washington Post (certainly not Trump’s favorite) keeps count: 10,111 lies in 828 days since Trump assumed the Presidency.
A President who doesn’t understand the Constitution or the law, who has “pre-dawn honesty syndrome,” who claims victimhood, attacks our most outstanding citizens, and constantly, consistently, and pathologically lies.
Trump is embarrassing.
