Last Tuesday the midterm elections took place in the U.S. When the dust settled, there was a massive recount needed in some races in Florida, the Republicans took more seats in the US Senate and the Democrats took control of the US House of Representatives.
That last one is a major shot at Donald Trump and possibly at his presidency. Now, the democrats have the opportunity to start impeachment proceedings and look into his tax returns. And if there is a time to really go after this unhinged president it is now.
Just in the last week after the election, Trump lashed out at CNN’s Jim Acosta and had a video of him doctored to make it look like he was hitting an intern, he lashed out at another reporter when asked about Matthew Whitaker and the Mueller investigation and chirped the Forestry service for the fires in California.
In my personal opinion, the democrats’ best hope is to expose Trump for the monster he really is and go after him in a way that will attack him personally. One way to get to a narcissist is to make him/her vulnerable. In the case of Trump, they have to go after his tax returns. Since he ran for president, he has kept them secret and refuses to disclose them. If the Ways and Means committee controlled by the US House can vote to request his tax returns, he will become very vulnerable.
If the Mueller probe shows that Trump has committed high crimes and the unraveling of his psyche is shown time and again in the public eye, it has to be overwhelming so they can flip enough Republican senators to get to the 67 per cent mark.
The trickiest part for the democrats is the impeachment proceedings. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, says that in order for impeachment to happen, it has to be proven that the president has committed high crimes and misdemeanours in the Senate. For the house, it only takes an allegation of these two things to get a vote on it. That’s why Bill Clinton wasn’t impeached in the Senate while he was in the House. The first part should not be the problem as it takes 51 per cent of the House to impeach. However, in the Senate the allegations need to be proven and the vote must be more than 67 per cent in favour of impeachment. This has never happened before in history.
One silver lining for the democrats to get the proof that Trump has done something very wrong is the Mueller investigation. If Robert Mueller, the Republican-leaning former director of the FBI, can show that Trump was directly involved in high crimes the case for having him impeached will be much stronger. High crimes can include perjury, obstruction of justice, treason, misusing/abusing the office of the president and many others.
If the Mueller probe shows that Trump has committed high crimes and the unraveling of his psyche is shown time and again in the public eye, it has to be overwhelming so they can flip enough Republican senators to get to the 67 per cent mark.
The window to go after Trump is very small, but it is a shot that the democrats need to take if they want to take down this president. Because the consequences of not trying could be disastrous. If you don’t believe me, go watch the Bill Maher new rule called The Slow-Moving Coup. Unless he is taken out of office, it’s really starting to look like Trump isn’t going to give up his power any time soon.