The House of Representatives this morning began formal debate on articles of impeachment against President Trump. Sadly, Democrats on the House floor, led by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, kept repeating the same bad arguments that conflate their political case against the president with criminal allegations.
McGovern led the way with a lofty but empty soliloquy lambasting the president. He said the debate over impeachment would determine “what a nation defined by the rule of law will tolerate” and “whether America is a nation where no one is above the law.” He continued, “If [Trump’s withholding of Ukraine aid] is not impeachable conduct… then I don’t know what is.”
I know what is, Congressman — an actual crime, maybe? Remember, for all the lofty hand-waving from McGovern and his Democratic colleagues about “the rule of law,” they included no actual crimes in their articles of impeachment. The “bribery” and “extortion” they’ve railed against were never mentioned — just nebulous, noncriminal allegations about “abusing power” and “obstructing Congress. And yes, you don’t need actual violations of the written law to impeach a president, but you do need them to use language like this.
McGovern tacitly admitted the lack of legal violations as he made a political, not legal, case against the president, arguing that Trump “endangered our security.”
That may be true, or it may not be. Either way, it’s an argument about political merits, not “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Democrats ought to be making that case to voters, not launching a hopeless quest to toss the president out of office. McGovern should realize that this, not the failure to impeach, is what is truly setting the “dangerous precedent.”
