December Editorial Winner

And Next…

By Wayne Trotter, Countywide & Sun

All right. The Democrats are trying to do what so many of them have yearned for throughout the past three of what they consider very long, long years. On Tuesday morning, Democratic leaders announced plans to move ahead with two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump. The first is “Abuse of Power,” the second “Obstruction of Congress.” If they flipped those titles so Congress could take a look at “Obstruction of Power” and “Abuse of Congress,” the Democrats might tempt a Republican or two to their side while maybe ... just maybe ... the GOP might temporarily attract at least one nervous Democrat ... perhaps even more.
Ah, politics. Don’t you just love it?
Here’s the truth, gentle readers: Members of both political parties plan to stay home for this fight. Why? Because if this were poker, there’d be a lot of money on the table and the guy or gal who folded or just ran away would find himself in extremely hot water. That overheated water, if you’re wondering, would be personally delivered by the Speaker of the House (that’s Nancy Pelosi, D-California) or the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
Nobody wants to be the villain ... and politicians of both stripes take that possibility very, very seriously. In unique situations, most “pols” will up their concern level six of seven points. Impeachment absolutely qualifies as a unique situation ... and this one is different in practically every way. Nevertheless, it looks a lot like “Clinton Two” without a sex angle.
Why Clinton Two? Well, back in 1998 things were upside down compared to the present. The Democrats held the White House with Mr. Clinton back then. The Republicans have the presidency today with Donald Trump. The Democrats were in command of the United States Senate at that time. The GOP holds the Senate today. Guess what else? The Democrats are in charge of the House of Representatives now and the Republicans were in the minority in the House. And, oh yes. The Republicans were trying to impeach a Democratic president in 1998 and the Democrats want to oust a Republican president today. In terms of power, everything on Capitol Hill has switched.
Things could change. While President Trump has accomplished some remarkable things in a lot of areas — especially employment and the overall economy — the impeachment-hungry Democrats have been dragging their feet and a lot of things that need to be done haven’t been. Perhaps to soften the tone in the two areas of the impeachment (Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress) Ms. Pelosi moved quickly to actually work with the “animals” in the White House and finish up one of the many issues that have been hanging out to dry. This was the USMCA Agreement. That non-word (USMCA) stands for U.S.-Mexico- Canada. That is government talk, you know.
Don’t expect an impeachment conviction. It’s not going to happen. Yes, the Democrats control the House but members of that body can only “indict” a sitting president ... and by the time you get this newspaper, that part may be over. After that, the Senate takes over and conducts a “trial.” It takes a two-thirds vote of the senators present to remove a president. The GOP controls the Senate. There are 100 members in the Upper House. Fifty-three are Republicans. Forty-five are Democrats. Two are independents who caucus with the Democrats. If all the Democrats voted to impeach and the two independents concurred, that would be 47 votes. If every senator is present, it would require 20 Republican votes to remove Mr. Trump. Barring some stunning development, there will be no change at the White House.
And after that, friends in Washington, get together and approve all those bills your constituents really need. Those are piling up on both sides of Capitol Hill. In short, quit impeaching and start working in earnest.
Please. Times a-wastin!