Core impeachment

Earlier this week Rachel Martin of NPR’s Morning Edition talked to Neal Katyal about his new book Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump. Katyal is a law professor at Georgetown University and a historian of the Constitution. The audio is 7 minutes or one can read the web story.

Back in 1787 when the Constitution was being debated some founders were concerned about having an impeachment clause. We have elections. That’s the way to check an abusive president.

James Madison responded: What if you have a president who gets help from a foreign power? What if you have a president who cheats and puts his own interests above the American people?

Madison’s argument changed minds and the impeachment clause was inserted.

Which means what the nasty guy has done and is doing is core impeachment.

So how to define what is impeachable? Some thought a president could be impeached for bad administration or bad policies. That was rejected for something much higher. The phrase actually in the Constitution is “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” We forget those first two words are there. And what happened in Ukraine is bribery, plain and simple. It is core bribery. It is an impeachable offense.

We even get help from the vice nasty guy, words he spoke when he was in Congress back in 2008. He laid it out clearly. He said a high crime is when the president puts his interest over the interests of the American people. Is the president acting in the nation’s interest or is he acting in his personal interest?

Very clear. And with this Ukraine story, very obvious.

So I wonder why the vice nasty guy now supports the nasty guy. Actually I do know why – his supremacist urges are really strong. He wants to inherit a supremacist organization when the nasty guy is no longer there.