The Boston Globe - 05.19.2019

12
OCTOBER 5, 2019

CHRISTOPHER WEYANT

W

HERE ARE YOU, Sen-

ators Alan Simpson

and Olympia Snowe?

Chuck Hagel and Kel-

ly Ayotte? Ben Night-

horse Campbell and William Cohen?

Where are the retired Republican

US Senate elders as the House begins

its impeachment inquiry into Presi-

dent Trump? The president has clearly

tried to use his office for personal gain

by pressuring the Ukrainian president

to investigate one of his political oppo-

nents, almost a textbook definition of

an impeachable offense. He may well

have used American military aid as le-

verage to get Ukraine to bend to his

wishes, which would be a further

abuse of power. On Thursday, he dug

himself deeper in the hole by publicly

asking China to meddle in American

politics too. Attorney General William

Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,

Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giu-

liani, among others, are implicated.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set an

expeditious timeline for that cham-

ber’s investigation. Considering she

probably has the necessary votes, it’s

possible the House will forward arti-

cles of impeachment to the Senate be-

fore Thanksgiving for trial.

Whether Republican senators have

the bravery to perform their role in a

nonpartisan fashion remains to be

seen. With the notable exception of

Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who on

Friday called Trump’s China com-

ments “wrong and appalling,” other

Republicans have been too scared of

riling up the president’s supporters to

call out his blatant wrongdoing. Maine

Senator Susan Collins is among the

GOP elected officials who have largely

avoided commenting on the presi-

dent’s behavior, a silence that signals

acceptance.

It’s incumbent on those who have

had the benefit of time to reflect on

their time in office to measure their re-

grets against their accomplishments —

who profess to care more for the prin-

ciples of America’s democracy than

partisan politics — to encourage cur-

rent Republican senators to do the

same.

In December 2018, 44 retired sena-

tors signed a letter addressed to cur-

rent members reminding them of the

oath each took pledging to “defend the

Constitution of the United States

against all enemies, foreign and domes-

tic.” That letter, a bipartisan effort, was

framed as a defense of democracy. It

was elegant and high-minded,

statesman-like in its call to ensure that

“self-interest not replace national inter-

est.” Yet that December letter, which

claimed then that America was at an

“inflection point,” while a clear warn-

ing, did not go nearly far enough. It

never named Trump, his officials, or

congressional Republicans who have

clearly replaced the national interest

with partisan self-interest. That was

clear even then and is starkly obvious

now.

On Monday, former Republican Ari-

zona senator Jeff Flake expressed his

reservations about impeachment in a

Washington Post commentary, though

he counseled his Republican colleagues

in the Senate not to support Trump’s

reelection and thereby save their souls.

Other former Republican senators

need to join him in raising their voice.

It’s essential that they directly, publicly

encourage Senate Republicans to focus

on the rule of law and not on the party

line. Sitting senators who don’t plan to

run for reelection also have a responsi-

bility to speak up and provide leader-

ship within their caucus.

It’s perhaps the most somber of all

undertakings for a member of Congress

to consider impeachment proceedings

against a president — as some mem-

bers know firsthand. Only two presi-

dents have been impeached by the

House, and each was acquitted in the

Senate. The same may happen with

Trump.

Yet in each instance, members of

both parties took seriously their obliga-

tions to “the foundational principles of

our democracy and our national securi-

ty... and the ability of our institutions

to function freely and independently,”

as was called for in that December

letter.

The goal isn’t to pressure the rest of

the Republican senators into opposing

Trump. It’s to give them the cover, and

the promise of support, that some of

them seem to need in order to find the

courage to do right by the country.

Calling on GOP Senate elders:

Speak up and be heard

Editorial

OPINION

READERS’ FORUM

Hopeful — for now

— that Trump’s

abuse of power

will be checked

Thursday was an incredible

breaking news day, delineat-

ing the seriousness and extent

of Donald Trump’s abuse of

power and undermining of the

Constitution — almost more

than could have been imag-

ined, and hard to keep up with

(“Trump asks China to review

Bidens,” Page A1, Oct. 4). Nev-

ertheless, the president keeps

flooding the zone with his out-

rage, defiance, and disproven

conspiracy theories. Trump’s

rhetorical narrative remains

unchanged since the first

charges of wrongdoing

emerged early in his adminis-

tration — a narrative we must

admit he has employed suc-

cessfully throughout his life to

escape consequences and ac-

countability.

I am an optimist, firmly be-

lieving that our system of

checks and balances histori-

cally has been effective in

thwarting presidential efforts

to abuse power, as well as hav-

ing faith in the capacity of

Americans to do the right

thing, even if it takes time.

However, if we don’t start

seeing a major break in

Trump’s Republican senatorial

wall of support (silence), and

if we don’t observe a signifi-

cant increase in public sup-

port for impeachment (which

may be what will change the

former), I shall lose faith in

the decency and integrity of

my fellow Americans, and for

the first time in my life, I will

seriously doubt the resilience

of this great experiment.

RICHARD CHERWITZ

Austin, Texas

Without formal

vote, impeachment

inquiry stumbles

from the gate

Laurence Tribe’s Oct. 1 op-ed,

“If House is going to impeach

Trump, it better have a plan,”

makes the point that “process

is profoundly important.” He

rightly points out that it is

process that ensures that any

impeachment proceeding is

fair and appears fair. However,

he omits a critical first step in

that process: the formal open-

ing of the impeachment inqui-

ry.

Against precedent in the

Richard Nixon and Bill Clin-

ton examples and her own ad-

monition that impeachment

must be a bipartisan under-

taking, Speaker Nancy Pelosi

has refused to have the House

formally vote on the impeach-

ment inquiry. She has merely

declared the inquiry to be un-

derway.

In avoiding a clear declara-

tion through a vote by the

House, Pelosi undermines the

legitimacy of the process and

looks to be a partisan enabler

of President Trump’s foes. If

the House wants the extraor-

dinary investigative and con-

stitutional powers that a for-

mal impeachment inquiry un-

leashes — including the right

to consider the mere lack of

cooperation by the executive

branch impeachable evidence

itself of obstruction of Con-

gress — then the speaker

needs to open impeachment

proceedings in a proper, trans-

parent, and bipartisan way.

Hold a formal vote.

TED EVERETT

Newton

Trump stomps

onto thin ice by

prodding China

President Trump’s instinct is

to double down — to say, in ef-

fect, “Of course I chopped

down the cherry tree — just

watch while I whack the apple

tree.” Or, more immediately,

just watch while I hold the

China trade deal hostage to

my political interests. To date,

this tactic seems to have

helped him. But he may have

miscalculated with his China

demand.

Theoretically, every Ameri-

can’s security was compro-

mised when he held Ukraine’s

security hostage, but no Amer-

ican’s ox was tangibly, visibly

gored by the Volodymyr Zel-

ensky holdup. Not so with

China. American farmers,

manufacturers, and investors

need a China deal — now. The

faltering US economy can’t

wait while Trump makes new

demands and China resists, or

completes some semblance of

an investigation into the

Bidens.

Trump’s extortions of

Ukraine and China are equally

impeachable. But the politics

of his China gambit are terri-

ble. If he insists on digging in

rather than backing down,

this could be the bridge too

far.

VINCENT J. CANZONERI

Newton

Fifth Avenue

heartache

I could stand in the middle of

the White House and shoot

the Constitution, and I

wouldn’t lose Republican vot-

ers.

EDWARD L. LOECHLER

Brookline

It’s hard to be

a Democrat in a

Mass. ‘Trump town’

Re: “In Trump towns, many

exasperated” (Page A8, Sept.

26). I get the narrative you

were going for in this article,

and you’re not entirely wrong.

It is hard to be a Democrat in

a “Trump town.” But we are

here, we are active, and we are

growing. We have a Democrat-

ic state senator and Democrat-

ic congressmen.

What we could use are

more resources for organizing,

amplifying our voices, and

mounting campaigns to chal-

lenge some of the most ex-

treme right-wing legislators in

the state.

DANIELLE LAMOUREUX

KANE

Chair

Brookfield Democratic

Town Committee

The impeachment plot

thickens

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP

President Donald Trump walks back to the Oval Office Oct. 4 after returning from Walter

Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

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