ART BY JOSEPH MENDOZA Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this piece are not a reflection of the views of Paw Prints Weekly as a whole. They are the sole views of the author. Paw Prints Weekly celebrates a diverse audience and staff, and it supports the declaration of the duties and rights of a Journalist per the U.S. Constitution.
America has never wanted to replace a leader so badly before.
There is an ongoing clash in Washington between House Democrats and the Trump administration—and it seems that the former is winning.
But what is the fuel for this fire? An intelligence community whistleblower report between between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky. A ten minute phone call between Trump and Zelensky shows the two discussing the 2020 election where Trump is heard bribing Zelensky to investigate 2020 Democrat candidate Joe Biden and his family. With house democrats’ intentions of impeachment since his inauguration, Trump’s recent dealings with Zelensky is its catalyst.
And to no one’s surprise, the release immediately spurred house democrats to take action. On Sep. 25, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry. Regardless of political faction, impeachment is a necessity. Trump’s actions in the transcript are anti-american to the core, and a looming reminder of someone who is unfit for the presidential position.
After the whistleblower report, Trump declassified his call with Zelensky, and released a memo on their conversation. Trump asks and essentially pawns his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, for uncovering information on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Trump referred to Barr almost four times during the call, suggesting that his attorney general and Giuliani could assist in restarting a case into Burisma, a gas company where Hunter Biden served on the board in 2014 when his father worked very closely with the Ukrainian government.
While those in his camp argue that there was no quid pro quo dealings, plenty of legal experts say that Trump’s actions are far more severe than his team paints it.
Bribery. Honest Service Frauds. Extortion. Witness Intimidation. Obstruction of Justice. Conspiracy. All of these laws broken by the hands of our country’s leader, and it is still a shock to others that Trump is considered along the process of getting impeached?
Trump’s illegal actions have been piling high up behind him, and it is time that it staggers down with him.
On January 20, 2017, Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol, raised his right hand, and solemnly swore to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States to the best of his ability. He swore to millions that he would preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of our country. He has not kept that promise.
Instead, he has built up challenges on the separation of powers, rules of law, and civil liberties in our founding father’s documents. He has held his head high while purposefully adding fuel to the flame.
Ironically, many of the president’s harshest critics come from his own party. Officials and observers who support his policies are appalled by his declarations, and those who have witnessed firsthand the actions he has committed and is unrepresentative of the American people.
“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naïveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” the late senator and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain lamented last summer. “The president has not risen to the mantle of the office,” the GOP’s other recent nominee, the former governor and now senator Mitt Romney, wrote in January.
By uncovering information on Hunter Biden that would conveniently help him in the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump has put his own privileges over the responsibility of his position. The oath of office represents a sacrifice, which is to put your country before oneself. Because of the president’s lack of selflessness, this has led to the mass of actors, domestic and foreign, to influence his decisions by sneaking cash under the table to build Mar-a-Lago, (the Winter White House,) and his hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. His presidency is marred with constitutional violations and is a prime example of an abuse of power.
Ironically, while Trump demands that his public officials put their loyalty to him ahead of their duty to the public, he told his press secretary to lie about the size of the crowd waiting for him and fired his first attorney general for failing to cover up the collusion between Trump and Russia and even attempted to have the Department of Justice launch support for his actions. His desperate efforts to mislead, impede and shut down the Mueller report have caused the special counsel to consider whether or not the president had obstructed justice.
The fight over whether Trump should be removed from office has increased dramatically, and the raging public are demanding answers regarding Trump’s impeachment process. In the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, forty-six percent of voters said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. Eleven percent of people that did not vote stated that Trump “has proven he is unfit to serve and should be removed,” even if he has not committed an impeachable offense.
During his 2016 campaign for president, Trump bragged that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone, and I would not lose any voters.”
What a physco.
Impeaching a president does not require a full-blown crime, but criminal behavior would strengthen the hands of those seeking to boot Trump from office in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of the official impeachment inquiry against Trump.
No president in US history has been impeached. As the impeachment proceedings go forward, it is up to the Senate to decide this country’s fate–and as it is GOP controlled, the future is tricky.
America deserves a true leader who fulfills their basic responsibilities, stays true to their promises, and inspires others by enforcing the American idea.
You cannot get rid of the smell without getting rid of the rotten food. Let us impeach Trump. We have waited long enough.