Though it’s not even happening within our borders, the most enticing news story that Canadians are talking about is Donald Trump’s “impeachment”. This is the third time in US history that a sitting US president has been impeached, and the second time that it has directly stemmed from embarrassing Hilary Clinton in the White House.
For those of us living under a rock, the United States Congress voted on December 18th to impeach President Trump for “obstructing Congress” and for apparently “abusing his power”. Democrats claim that Trump pressured the Ukrainian Government to investigate: the Biden family for their shady business dealings in Ukraine’s energy sector, and Ukraine’s role in trying to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election. These complaints stem from an unidentified whistleblower; and now that they have passed through Congress, these allegations are due to face trial before the Senate.
I’m no doctor, but I can confidently say that this impeachment hearing is doing more harm than good for American political discourse. First of all, it has drawn a line right down the centre of Washington, pinning Democrats and Republicans completely against each other. Impeachment essentially nullifies the results from the last presidential election, and was never intended to be used on a partisan basis. Nevertheless, it certainly looks as if the Democrat-controlled house is trying to guarantee Trump’s impeachment, all while the Republican opposition is trying to quash it.
The second reason why the Impeachment hearings are a sham is because believe it or not, the whistleblower himself actually admits to having no first-hand knowledge of Trump’s interactions with the Ukrainian government. The letter that he sent to congressman Adam Schiff in August 2019 is almost entirely comprised of hearsay (the legal term used to describe basic “he-said she-said” dialogue that can’t be substantiated with evidence). The first three pages of the letter consist of the whistleblower bragging that White House officials leaked to him that they’re worried about the President’s actions, but who is to say that this “whistleblower” isn’t making this all up on the spot? In addition to this, it’s absolutely worth noting that hearsay evidence isn’t admissible in the US’ common law court system. I’m not sure if the whistleblower knew this before writing to Adam Schiff, but I can assure you that he shot his case in the foot before it even had a chance of making it to the Senate.
The last reason why I can’t stand to hear about these impeachment proceedings is because the Mainstream Media’s coverage of events have been completely one-sided. Ever since Trump announced his candidacy for US President, the American mainstream media has sought to undermine his every move, with Canadian media outlets closely following suit. In the case of impeachment, every news outlet is reporting that the “walls are closing in” or that “Trump’s worried about how things will play out”. Ladies and gentlemen, if Donald Trump is actually worried about being found guilty in the Senate, he’s sure doing a great job of hiding it. While Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are struggling to keep their narrative straight, Trump is continuously using the impeachment debacle to rally up his base. If someone was about to convict me of high crimes against the country on a national forum, I doubt I’d be able to keep my cool the way Trump has.
To conclude, the Democrats might continue with the impeachment process and put it before the Senate, but at this point they’d only be beating a dead horse. Whether it be via the Russian Collusion Hoax, the Stormy Daniels litigation, or most recently through impeachment, the Democrats have spent Trump’s entire first term trying to illegitimatize his Presidency, It’s all made for an entertaining show to watch. As a Canadian, I always love it when an American Drama makes it to the big screen. However, as a citizen of the Western World, I struggle with the fact that elected American legislators are trying to convict Donald Trump of crimes committed by Democrats.
When Hollywood makes this into a movie, I hope they get John Travolta to play Donald Trump. Alec Baldwin is over-rated.