At the suggestion of a good and old friend, here’s a “what-if” story!!!! There’s a lot to talk about – you can check out part one here: The Clinton Years – Part One. So here’s part two:
In the Year 2020
Can’t help that this song got stuck in my head (In the Year 2525)
Impeachment
It was towards the end of 2019. The Republican dominated House of Representatives moved to impeach and remove Hillary Clinton from the Presidency. Congressmen Trey Gowdy and Jason Chaffetz turned down lucrative media offers to stay in the House. They joined the other “crazies” of the right, Jim Jordan, Mick Mulvaney, Mark Meadows and the rest. All wanted nothing more than to remove a Clinton from office.
The case against Hillary Clinton was not based on the 2016 campaign. They were unable to find charges against getting aid from foreign powers, or using hush money to pay porn stars (Bill, if he did, was “slick” at it). The Republican Judiciary Committee brought a single charge against the President: abuse of power. That charge was based on subversion of the Constitution. They claimed the use of executive orders circumvented the legitimate legislative authority of the Congress.
The hearings began in the fall of 2019, with the predetermined full vote of the House at the beginning of 2020. The timing wasn’t about when the alleged abuse occurred, but as an opening gambit to the 2020 Presidential campaign.
Still in Office
The Republican leadership of the House, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy, stood back and let it happen. The impeachment hearings went on just as the Benghazi hearings, ad naseum. As McCarthy said before the 2016 election:
“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought.”
Hillary Clinton became the third President of the United States to be impeached (and the first Presidential couple to share the dubious honor). But the Republicans had only a narrow majority in the Senate. After a long drawn out hearing with multiple witnesses, they could only muster fifty-four votes for removal, far short of the sixty-seven needed. She remained President. But the Senate did drag Hillary Clinton through the mud, putting dirt on for the 2020 campaign.
Pandemic
The administrative prowess of the first woman President proved important when US intelligence sources reported to her about the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China back in November of 2019. She immediately put travel bans on China, and demanded that American scientists from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the World Health Organization, be admitted to the scene. These early actions gave Europe and America a fair warning of the impending pandemic. By Christmas world health organizations were tracking the virus, and isolating any cases that spread out of China.
Testing and tracing became commonplace in the United States. And while there were outbreaks of the disease, quick and decisive quarantines led to limited social upheaval, and controlled the spread. The United States adapted to a new normal, a world of facemasks, temperature taking and constant testing. Actual infection rates remained low, with hospitals able to handle the additional burdens, and the fatality rate stayed at a “flu like” fifty thousand.
The economy took “a hit”, with a modest increase in unemployment and a fall in the stock market. But, with some modifications, most Americans were able to continue their normal lives, jobs, schools, and recreation without too much disruption. Like the “bird flu” of 2005, or the Ebola outbreak of 2014, the COVID-19 virus was contained and controlled.
The leading virologists praised the Administration’s efforts. They spoke of the catastrophe that was avoided, having to shut down the entire country and hundreds of thousands dead. On “Trump TV” though, the ex-candidate and others were quick see the government action as overreach, making conspiratorial claims that Clinton was trying to assume dictatorial powers. The ugliness of 2016 was still here.
Violence
Hillary Clinton shared the frustration of Barack Obama when it came to mass shootings. Unable to pass any meaningful gun restrictions through the Congress, she tried to regulate guns through changes in the administrative codes. High capacity magazines and bump-stocks were banned, but shootings continued in a nation now even more divided. The Supreme Court, in spite of the addition of Garland, upheld the Second Amendment right to own weapons, and pro-gun activists joined in organizations even more extreme than the National Rifle Association.
Law enforcement, aware of the divisions caused by social upheaval, tried to gain control by the use of “broken windows” philosophy. Small crimes were swiftly and dramatically punished, with the idea that action would prevent more serious behavior. But the death of several unarmed black men at the hands of the police caused mass demonstrations in the streets. Clinton agreed with the demonstrators in her famous “Black Lives Matter” speech, but “Trump TV” and other sources encouraged counter “blue lives” and “all lives” demonstrations. There were violent clashes between the forces. The National Guard was back at work, trying to maintain order.
Summer of 2020
Donald Trump chose not to run for President again, saying that he was too old, and so was Hillary. After the declaration, he famously picked up a golf club and teed off on the first hole at Mara-Lago. House Speaker Paul Ryan “reluctantly” accepted the “draft” of “moderate” Republicans to run for President. He was able to overcome more extreme opponents like Rand Paul and Trey Gowdy to gain the nomination. But the cost of his victory was acceptance of a “pro-Trump” type agenda, putting him firmly on the side of gun and police rights.
Hillary Clinton ran for a second term, though she dropped moderate Tim Kaine from the ticket. In solidarity with minorities, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is the new Democratic candidate for Vice President. As we enter a 2020 election the need for that change demonstrates how divided the nation really is.
Clinton Report Card
The first term of the Hillary Clinton administration had successes. She has proven to be an able administrator, and an effective leader of American foreign policy. The alliance with the European Union and NATO are stronger than ever, even more so with the collapse of the Putin regime in Russia. It is still unclear what will follow his demise.
The goals of the Paris Accord are slowing being reached. Only China and India remain as the world’s great polluters, and the combined economic pressure of the European Union and the United States is gradually forcing them into compliance. There is great hope that the radical climate changes caused by carbon pollution might be avoided after all.
But domestically the nation is torn. The Republican dominated Congress has done little to aid the racial strife, and the constant friction between Congress and the Presidency is wearying. That, by the way, is the basis of the Ryan for President campaign slogan: “Return to Normalcy”. It should surprise no one that he reached back to Warren Harding to find a theme. It worked for Harding in similar circumstances.
America’s Choice
The other question to be determined by the American people is whether they are in favor of a divided government, with the Presidency and the Court controlled by moderate forces, and the Congress more conservative ones. The outcome of the Clinton-Ryan choice is unclear, but just as unclear and important is who will control legislation when the dust clears in November.
So America, 2020 offers a choice. Vote Republican, for Ryan and the Congress, and get a government that can act as one. Or vote for Clinton, and change the Congress to do the same. Or reflect the current state of the nation, and continue a divided government that doesn’t seem to work at all.
