Trump impeachment seems inevitable

As the allegations mount up and calls for impeachment are rising we seem to have hit the point where impeachment proceedings are inevitable. Here’s why:

In recent US history, there have been two major impeachment hearings. The first against Richard Nixon in the 70’s which at it’s bare bones was a result of Nixon attempting to cover-up a break in that he may have had some involvement with the Nixon administration, which resulted in Nixon resigning as President. The second was in the 90’s under President Bill Clinton, due in a large part to lying about his affair with Monica Lewinski.

At this point, pretty much everyone has an opinion on President Trump, but no matter what than opinion, or how true the stories are we have reached a point where the impeachment process is not just warranted but needed. The charges against Trump by far outweigh those of either Nixon or Clinton. First there was concern about collusion between the Trump administration and Russia to rig the US election last year. On multiple occasions Trump has claimed that this allegations are completely false.

The it was revealed that Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, Trump’s National Security Adviser had indeed been working with foreign powers, which resulted in him loosing his job as NSA, although once again Trump denied publicly that he had any knowledge about Flynn’s involvement. On the flip side, there have been unconfirmed stories that Trump did in fact know, or at least several key members of the Trump administration, who would have been expected to inform Trump. Again, not being present at the time, none of us can truly know what Trump was, or was not aware of, but it has certainly raised a few eyebrows.

With the FBI investigating the potential connection between Trump and the Russians, Trump has had a lot of contact with the FBI Director James Comey, and – again allegedly – tried to put pressure on the director to find out details of this investigation, which if not 100% illegal is certainly unethical, and an attempt to use the power of the president to potentially divert the course of an FBI investigation.

Next we have the sudden shock firing of FBI Director Comey. When this was announced White House staff claimed it was due to his mishandling of the Hilary Clinton e-mail scandal during the election, but since Trump himself has almost admitted that his firing of Comey DID have something to do with the Russia investigation. I’ll say that again. He has practically admitted that he fired Director Comey because of an active investigation involving the President and his staff.

Now we come to the latest and most damning reports. It has been reported that Trump has leaked classified information to the Russians in a private White House meeting, information fed to the White House in private from a foreign power. Again, having not been in the room none of us can say for certain what was discussed, but the ramifications are clear. Even ignoring the fact that this story once again features the Russians, the fallout would be the same no matter which country President Trump supposedly leaked information to. Foreign powers have already begun to express their reluctance to share information with the US due to this potential leak.

Half way through Trump’s first year as President the legitimacy of his role is constantly becoming less stable. No matter the validity of all these allegations it’s still having a negative effect on the world view of Trump. People no longer want to share vital information with the US, and it’s been rumoured that at the impending NATO conference speakers have been told to ‘dumb down’ their speeches for Trump’s sake. The President of the United States is a person who needs to be taken seriously, and needs to be able to be trusted by other global powers, but that trust has been constantly eroded and will continue to do so.

Impeachment proceedings will finally bring all of these allegations into the spot light and hopefully resolve them one way or another. For Trump it will finally give some legitimacy to his failing leadership should be acquitted, and should he be forced to resign will finally bring the whole mess to a close.

For the Impeachment proceedings to start both Democrats and several Republicans will need to agree, but it is now in the Republicans best interest to impeach as well. The longer they let it drag on then they run two risks. First, Trump’s decreasing popularity will erode support not just for the president but also for the party. Secondly, and most worrying, the longer it drags on they run the risk of looking complicit in the issues that have plagued their candidate from the start.

With all this in mind the impeachment of Donald Trump, however it is resolved, HAS to happen and the sooner the better. The alternative is just unthinkable.