By Andrea Shorter–
’Twas sometime before Christmas, when all through the House, impeachment was stirring, to hold Trump to account; his stalking for foreign interference in U.S. elections was laid to bare, in hopes that Ukraine (and China) would be foolishly ensnared.
With Congressional millions he wrestled to hold over their heads, with visions of Zelensky succumbing to pledge; his drama, mischief, and just endless crap, he peddled to constrain Biden in a cumbersome trap; when out like Khan, someone rose up on this matter, sprang up and said, “There is more to this chatter.”
Away from innuendo, spectacle, and flash, more was spoken and uttered by Trump in trade for the cash. And soon, the rest of this crestfallen woe, gave Congress a muster to do away with such nonsense bellowed, when, what for our governing demise, should appear, but a particular array of nearly eight timely hearings, with civil toned drivers led wisely by Schiff, we knew in a moment that Trump must be dropkicked.
Most vapid and illegal his course of disdain, as he tweeted and shouted and called for names: “Now, Barr! Now, Poe! Now, Rudy and Pence! On, Kellyanne! On, Tucker! On—oh, snap! Wait a minute, my other enablers are in jail … . On, whomever is standing next to me! To the top I extort, for the love of my wall, now, stash away! Stash away! Stash my lies, all!”
As dry heaves that before the big migraine goes goodbye, when they meet with the oligarchical, mount bigger lies, so up to the White House top the cursers they spew, hoping to get away with a bunch of ploys, just oh so villainous. And then, more than an inkling, we heard of the proof, the planning and plotting of each committed goof.
As we knew from what we read, that he was bound to go down, down the litany of predicaments each sound as a pound. He suppressed all that occurred, misled as he could, and the oath he had taken was so tarnished with soot, a bumbler of ploys he had flung on our backs, as he continues as a peddler just totaling his stacks.
His lies—how they’re sprinkled! His impulse—how scary! As Chief he’s a poser, exposed, and God willing temporary. This foul little lot thinks this is a reality TV show, as the weird from his end has just got to go. The stump of the bully pulpit he’ll hold tight in his teeth, until the yoke of justice leads to him being impeached.
We have a broad space but little ground truly to be shook and collapsed by a vacuous bully. We are justly and stump for our Constitutional right to a President less in it for himself, who acts on his behalf, in awe of himself, in spite of ourselves.
In a wink of her eye, and a twist of her head, Lady Justice will soon give us some hope of less to dread. She’ll speak true words, remain straight away at work, work to quell our longings; then, turn this necessary Congressional work, without delay, linger or postpone, impeach against this litany of woes. Justice will reign, albeit received with a Senatorial rush for dismissal, and display for full view the bowers called by whistle. But it will be proclaimed, on that solemn night, “The Law is for All, and No One Above the Law.”
And then, of course, “You’re Impeached.”
Andrea Shorter is a Commissioner and the former President of the historic San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. She is a longtime advocate for criminal and juvenile justice reform, voter rights and marriage equality. A Co-Founder of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, she was a 2009 David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Published on December 19, 2019
President Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”
So ends the Articles of Impeachment released by Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on December 10. By the time that you read this, the Democrat-majority House will have voted to impeach Trump, making him only the third U.S. President to have been impeached. The others were Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson.
Impeachment procedure holds that a Senate trial follows, with a two-thirds supermajority required for conviction that results in removal from office. San Francisco Bay Times columnist Ann Rostow wrote in the November 14 issue: “Depending on how things go, if I’m a Republican senator, I might have the flu that day. If 20 GOP senators simply didn’t show up, you’d need only 54 votes to convict; 47 Democrats (and Independents) plus seven of the remaining Republicans. Given that the mood of the country would have to be dark indeed in order to send 20 senators into hiding to begin with, that’s not an impossible number. You can play with the math yourself. For example, 10 absent GOP senators means you would need 13 of the remaining 43 Republicans voting to convict.”
Nevertheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News’ Sean Hannity: “There’s no chance the President will be removed from office. My hope is there won’t be a single Republican who votes for these two articles of impeachment.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham echoed that view during an interview on December 14 with CNN International’s Becky Anderson. “This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he said.
Impeachment Tickets
Before Johnson and Clinton’s impeachment hearings, actual hard-copy tickets were issued, permitting bearers entry to the Senate Gallery. In Clinton’s case, for example, tickets were issued for all 19 sessions of the hearings. That number carried through to the date of his impeachment: December 19, 1998.
Here we are once more, on a December 19, with tickets likely again about to be issued. Trump’s nationwide approval rating is down to 42 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, and much lower in Western states and especially California. Such public disapproval will contribute to the tickets becoming the hottest in town.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed the views of many coveting the tickets and desiring Trump’s conviction when she said, “Our democracy is what’s at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit.”
Recent Comments