Democracy and the Constitution

The Democrats keep telling us that they are our "protector's of democracy and the constitution." That would be the same political party that tried mightily to destroy the reputation of a future supreme court judge without any credible evidence; the same political party that once back in power in the House, used a felon who was convicted of lying to Congress as their star witness, and then had the audacity to suggest that he was being truthful; the same people political party whose candidate for president colluded with the Russians to create a phony dossier intended to destroy her opponent; the same political party that looked the other way when the FBI was caught planning a soft coup of a duly elected president. Yeah, that party.

And now in still another effort to "protect democracy and the constitution," that same party has decided to conduct yet another witch hunt. It would also be okay to call it a fishing expedition that proceeds a witch hunt. Rep. Gerald Nadler (D-NY) has decided that Donald Trump obstructed Justice by ... well, the details remain murky but since Dems never, ever lie, it must be true.

Recall, if you will, that the Democrats assured us all that Donald Trump "colluded with the Russians" to tilt the election in his favor and that the sainted Robert Mueller would find irrefutable evidence that he did so. Looks like Mueller failed, although I'm certain that if Trump drank a black Russian at a bar in one of his hotels and Mueller notes it in his report, the same protectors of "democracy and the constitution" will conclude that "collusion" has been proven.

But just in case, the Dems have decided to do what they always do, use government as a cudgel to intimidate their opponents and concentrate their power. Roger Kimball comments:

What does desperation smell like? It smells like House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, who is reprising his ‘Impeach Trump!’ act from 2017, this time with a gavel in his hand ...

... no one not named Bill Kristol [a virulent GOP NeverTrumper] now thinks that Mueller’s expensive, long-running entertainment will issue in any actionable charges against the President.

Hence the ‘insurance policy’ being framed by Congressman Nadler. The headline of a column in Politico yesterday cut to the chase: ‘House Democrats open sweeping corruption probe into Trump’s world.’ They’ve sent letters to 81 people associated with Donald Trump demanding ‘documents.’ Which documents? All the ones that show the President in a bad light or that might be used to frame him for misconduct or ‘high crimes and misdemeanors.’

Like what? Well, they aren’t quite sure, but it is not stopping them from ‘demanding documents from the White House and Trump’s namesake company, charity, transition team, inauguration and 2016 campaign, as well as several longtime associates and the president’s two adult sons.’ Hoover it all up, boys! There has to be something, somewhere in Trump’s past we can nail him for.

It would be funny if it were not so pathetic. Congressman Nadler says that ‘President Trump and his administration face wide-ranging allegations of misconduct that strike at the heart of our constitutional order.’ Asked to be specific, he mutters darkly about ‘abuse of power’ and ‘obstruction of justice.’ For example? Are you ready? Donald Trump has frequently disparaged Robert Mueller’s investigation as a ‘witch hunt.’ That, according to Congressman Nadler, constitutes obstruction of justice.

Except, of course, that it doesn’t. Yesterday, President Trump dismissed the flood-the-zone probe as a ‘political hoax,’ which is too kind a phrase for malevolent effort to unseat a duly elected president.

Nadler contends that by calling Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt," Donald Trump obstructed justice. After all, the new Democrats believe that only they have a right to express an opinion. Nadler believes that by firing a dishonest and duplicitous FBI director (who by the way, admits he leaked confidential information to the media), Trump obstructed justice. After all, only Democratic presidents have the right to hire and fire their senior people, not Republicans.

The editors of the Wall Street Journal comment:

Credit Mr. Nadler for candor that Democrats didn’t display when they campaigned last year. Then they talked only about holding the President “accountable.” Now they claim they already have enough to impeach Mr. Trump, though as Mr. Nadler admitted Sunday, “you have to persuade enough of the opposition party voters, Trump voters . . . that you’re not just trying to steal the last—to reverse the results of the last election.”

That may be harder than he imagines, and not only because of Mr. Nadler’s Freudian slip there of “steal.” Based on the public evidence so far, Mr. Trump hasn’t obstructed justice in any of the examples Mr. Nadler cited. Mr. Nadler wants to turn the President’s exercise of his normal constitutional powers into impeachable offenses.

Hence, the Nadler fishing expedition in which the Dems are looking for something, anything that they can twist into an impeachable offense. During the previous presidency, the GOP was highly partisan, played politics, and even resisted Obama's actions in their own way, but they did't apply the vile tactics that we're now seeing from the Dems.

Trump Derangement Syndrome has caused far too many Democrats to reject decency and adopt a scorched earth approach to governance. So be it. When the tables are turned, the GOP should do exactly the same thing—reject a duly-elected Democrat president, and even as a minority, harass and obstruct everything his or her administration tries to accomplish. After all, they'll be saving Democracy and the Constitution, right?