With the felony convictions of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and of his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the multiple investigations of the president acquire a new clarity. Demonstrably, this is no “witch hunt” sustained by “fake news” and conducted by “enemies of the people.”
While it would be premature to predict with certainty that Trump eventually will be impeached and convicted, the possibility of such a trial now seems obvious and should be examined.
England ruled the 13 American colonies before the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. English law and precedent form the foundations of our legal and constitutional systems.
In a procedure that predates even the English Bill of Rights in 1689, the lower house of the English Parliament, the House of Commons, could by majority vote force a trial of impeachment in the upper house, the House of Lords. Entirely exempt from this convention, however, was the sovereign.
Indeed, the inability of Parliament to peacefully remove a wayward monarch led to the English Civil War of 1642-51. But the vanquished King Charles I insisted even in defeat that a monarch “cannot be tried by any superior jurisdiction on Earth,” and that “no learned lawyer will affirm that an impeachment can lie against the King.”
While this view may have had theoretical value, it had been overtaken by events. The victor of the Civil War, the zealous and vengeful Oliver Cromwell, angrily convened a tribunal that condemned Charles as a “tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy,” and ordered his execution by beheading. The king was killed in the very heart of London at his own residence, Whitehall Palace.
Entirely mindful of this history were the framers of the American Constitution, which declares emphatically in Article II, Section 4, of the document that impeachment could apply to the “President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States.”
It is a common misconception that Richard Nixon was impeached. Rather, it was Nixon’s reluctant but voluntary resignation from office under extreme political pressure that forestalled such a fate.
Two of our 45 presidents actually were impeached. Having entered the White House upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Andrew Johnson never had had a popular mandate. Also, he was clumsy and ineffectual in office, but no worse than that. The criticism of Johnson was tawdry and exaggerated, and the Senate failed to convict him by a single vote.
Just two decades ago, Bill Clinton was impeached over the Monica Lewinsky matter. Clinton rightly was acquitted, as the charges against him were grossly unfair and laughably hypocritical. At least Lewinsky was not a porn star and not paid to be silent.
Again, it is too soon to say whether Donald Trump will be impeached. But if character is any clue to destiny, he could be on the knife-edge of a calamity.
Notwithstanding his incessant claims to the contrary, Trump is neither a “genius” nor even a pale shadow of God’s gift to the world. He’s just an old man who lies through his teeth.
Joseph Tipler
Centralia
