No thinking Democrat believes the impeachment hearings going on in Washington over Trump’s clear quid pro quo with Ukraine will result in forcing him from office. The Republican majority in the Senate, where the trial will be held if the vote to impeach succeeds, is, and has been, in lockstep in his defense through the almost three years he has been in office.
Republicans have not admitted that the president has done anything wrong after numerous egregious missteps – except for his unilateral decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to decimate the U.S.’s Kurdish allies – and they will not begin now.
What the impeachment hearings have shown so far is the extraordinary capabilities of the nation’s State Department senior staffers, who with educational and sometimes military backgrounds are representing the United States in so many locations abroad so well.
They are dedicated, thoughtful and well spoken individuals who have applied an analyst’s eye to events in sometimes hazardous countries which are negatively impacting, or could impact, the United States.
Demeaning the State Department, and particular employees, as this president has even in the last week while he tries to defend his own actions, is doing the country no good. It is also dangerous to Americans as the U.S. tries to navigate a complex world where radical individuals and groups, small and large, can create havoc across distance and far beyond their size.
Hearings this week involve Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, who could give firsthand description of his conversations with the president about a quid pro quo – or not. John Bolton, who was forced out as national security advisor and has his own strong opinions about the country’s actions abroad, could testify.
The hearings are hardly boring, as the president’s defenders claim. They will be an important part of history.
