Editor’s note: This commentary is by Brian F. Carroll of West Glover.
In my lifetime, there has been one president who resigned while in office and another impeached. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 after reports of covering up a bungled burglary in an opposing party’s campaign headquarters. President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for reports of receiving a sexual act while in office. At the time, I vividly recall the opposing party loudly and frequently contending that such an intimate sex act would compromise national security.
With regard to national security, we now have a president whose public behavior far exceeds either of those infractions. His intentions have been clear since the first Trump Tower was built — acquire power through division and conflict. To this end, he promotes a message of anti-immigrant and white supremacy that has been consistent for the past two years. This message allows a segment of society to further promote and display their destructive intentions. His public comments, actions and “policy tweets” unnecessarily and inhumanely punish immigrants, ignore the victims of mass violence intended for minority citizens and prevents the reconsideration of legislation that would substantially reduced mass shootings (because it was the former president’s legislation).
Through his divide and conquer philosophy, he is attempting to author a message that would steer this country toward a path of destructive civil discourse that could pale in comparison to the civil discourse of the ‘60s.
In addition to his domestic agenda of internal division, he has brought further risk to our country internationally. Through his business dealings and international collaboration (or collusion) with Russia, he has chosen an ally and apparent mentor in Vladimir Putin. The president has consummated this relationship by refusing to acknowledge the Russians’ successful manipulation of our national elections and refuses to acknowledge Putin’s human rights violations as a ruthless dictator, both of which would be incomprehensible three years ago.
The United States is at a critical crossroad. We have a president with no apparent allegiance to the Constitution, a Senate that is doing nothing to hold him accountable for these high crimes, and a misinformed electorate that is more confused and devisive than anytime in the past three decades. And if that isn’t bad enough, we have an election system that our own intelligence departments confirm is at “significant risk” of Russian manipulation.
These are serious threats to both our national security and our democratic principles. Whether to impeach President Trump should not be debated anymore. It can no longer be simply a political consideration. The president needs to be impeached if only to delay his mission to personally gain wealth and attention at the expense of national security, and, having access to his tax returns would be a bonus.
