If you are up to your gullet with all the mud-slinging in Washington, you have come to the right place. I am right there with you. I have spent enough time in and around D.C. to know the impeachment controversy involving Donald Trump is partisan political posturing by Democrats and Republicans.
This issue isn’t about you and me. It is an Inside-the-Beltway war designed to fire up wingnuts on both ends of the political spectrum in order to gain (or retain) the political advantage in the 2020 elections and beyond. It will also provide fodder for the screamers on cable news as well as newspaper pundits with a political view an inch-wide and an inch-deep. Not to mention deepening our disdain for the media which the American public currently ranks about as low as the politicians they cover.
Paraphrasing that noted philosopher, Yogi Berra, it is impeachment déjà vu all over again. Change the names and the dates and it is Bill Clinton versus Newt Gingrich, 1999.
Article One of the United States Constitution gives the House of Representatives (currently a Democratic majority), the power to impeach and if they do, the Senate (currently a Republican majority), will hear the case and render the final verdict. I think you can see where this one is headed.
In our history, two presidents have faced an impeachment trial, and both survived the experience– Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Richard Nixon resigned, or he would likely have been the first president to have been impeached.
What the politicians and their media friends don’t seem to understand is that We the Unwashed have our own impeachment process. It is called elections. You don’t think it works? Ask Jimmy Carter.
I had to chuckle when I saw Carter had told a group at Emory University that reelecting Trump would be a “disaster.” If anyone is an expert on disastrous administrations, it is Jimmy Carter. I know. I was in Washington during his four years there and the term “disaster” fits him well. Or maybe “woefully inept” would be more accurate.
To keep things in perspective, if you are located south of the Gnat Line impeachment talk is probably of little interest to you. You care more about when you are going to get your promised relief from the federal government after the pounding you took from Hurricane Michael a year ago.
Why didn’t aid come sooner? The same politicians who are mudwrestling over impeachment, including the president, spent eight months in partisan gamesmanship over funding or not funding the border wall as well as how much relief money should go to Puerto Rico. Democrats wanted more funding for Puerto Rico. Republicans didn’t. Again, this wasn’t about the victims, it was about politics.
Even after the measure was signed, for some Georgia farmers it is too little, too late. Planting season has come and gone. And for many tree farmers, a generation of farming has been wiped out.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall hearing anyone in Washington apologize for inexcusably putting their partisan political interests above those they were elected to serve.
For those of you to whom the impeachment talk in Washington is The Thing, I am sure I will hear from you, including those who think I am pro-Trump or anti-Trump. (Keep in mind that I am the only columnist you know who has been called an “Obama bed-wetting liberal” and a “racist redneck” in the same month.) Have at me. It is a free country. But do hurry because I plan to move onto other things.
For example, I have discovered that there are many special days to celebrate in October besides Halloween. There is Name Your Car Day (October 2nd) and Moldy Cheese Day (October 9th.) Babbling Day is October 21st, in case any politicians or inch-wide-and-inch-deep pundits are interested. Mincemeat Day is the 26th. (I will take a pass on that one.)
On October 31st, I will be celebrating Psychic Powers Day. You might want to mark that one on your calendar. On that day, I will use my awesome psychic abilities to reveal to you the oldest state-chartered university in the nation. Hint: It has 24 Rhodes Scholars, an outstanding Journalism college, a nationally-ranked football team and isn’t on probation.
As for the outcome of the impeachment debate, I’ll let you deal with that yourself. I am busy making plans for Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day on November 14th. Hopefully, I will see you there.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb
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