Now that the Trump impeachment hearings have gone public, I have to ask myself, “What was Adam Schiff afraid of?” Or to put it more generally, “What have the House Democrats been afraid of?” It’s now increasingly obvious that this impeachment is a show trial for the media, and to turn public opinion against President Donald Trump.
Yes, he is still our nation’s chief executive unless and until convicted and removed from office. Somewhere along the way, the presumption of innocence has fallen by the wayside, and I would say the date of that is close to Jan. 20, 2017.
Why the emphasis on turning public opinion against Trump? Is it to get voters to persuade their representatives and senators to vote for impeachment or conviction? It’s sort of a verdict looking for a trial to provide corroborating evidence. And this bizarre “trial” has violated almost every principle of sound jurisprudence. For example, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said, “Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct.” Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., calls the evidence against Trump “damning.” I once saw a poster on the wall at one of my workplaces that said something along the lines of: “If you’re going to work for a man, then work for him. But if you reach a point where you no longer can do it, have the decency to resign, and damn him to your heart’s content.”
In our system of government, where the three branches work in constant tension, there is still the expectation that all three branches will still cooperate to get the business of government done. Sadly, that expectation has not been met since Trump’s inauguration, with Democrats willfully and gleefully participating in the “resistance” to ensure that Trump’s administration is a failure. Sadly, he hasn’t helped his cause by past actions and frequent ill-considered tweets.
The only place where it may be appropriate to try to turn the tide of public opinion against a sitting president would be in the voting booth in November 2020, provided things are allowed to get that far.
WILLIAM A. WITTIK
Hartford
In an October 2010 interview with National Journal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” That same month, in reference to President Barack Obama’s health care bill, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told Sean Hannity, “This is not a time for compromise. … We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything — we can do, to kill it, stop it, slow it down.” As I recall, they did their level best.
Now, three years into President Donald Trump’s first term, Attorney General William Barr tells The Federalist Society that Trump’s opponents “essentially see themselves as engaged in a war to cripple, by any means necessary, a duly elected government … using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch and his administration. … The fact of the matter is that in waging a scorched-earth, no-olds-barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law.”
Some might see this convenient flip-flop of perspective on political opposition as hypocrisy when comparing Republicans’ statements in the two paragraphs above. Ralph Waldo Emerson, however, famously opined that, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Perhaps we should all be grateful that our elected leaders are apparently not handicapped by small minds as they labor night and day to make America great again.
DODD STACY
Etna
In reference to the “Ukraine whistleblower”: Let’s say a man robs a bank and gets away with it, but in the process leaves his hat behind. Fortunately for the police, the robber’s name and address are on the inside band of the hat. They go to the robber’s house and arrest him. As he is being escorted into the back seat of a cruiser, do you think he’d be screaming about the hat?
PETER HALL
Tunbridge
A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when seen through the lens of Valley News chief photographer Jennifer Hauck. I wake up each morning smiling in anticipation of what I will find — usually on the front page — of the day’s paper.
I’m rarely disappointed. Beauty in the ordinary abounds, positivity rules, community speaks.
I have begun finding myself seeing things through “Jennifer’s lens” throughout the day, and am grateful. Try it. I find it the best medicine for contentment and serenity in these challenging times.
Thank you, Valley News, for continuing to be the best small-town community newspaper we could ask for.
SALLY PAGE
West Lebanon