The Connecticut Post is the first I’m aware of:
This is an impeachable offense. Republicans spent Wednesday arguing there was no explicit quid pro quo, but there is seemingly no line the president can cross that would inspire them to put the public good ahead of politics. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, joined by the entirety of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, has called for impeachment proceedings, and that process must now begin in earnest.
The proper next step for the president is clear. He should resign. He has repeatedly proven himself unfit for office and appears to view the presidency as a position meant to benefit himself personally, not as one that must represent the interests of an entire nation.
It’s good to see they recognize that it’s not just Trump who’s fatally flawed, but the entire GOP. It simply sharpens the point. Their shame, even if they vote for conviction at Trump’s impeachment trial, will be great for letting this go on for so long.
But – to be fair – way over on the other end of the spectrum, and perhaps exhibiting his lust for prestige, position, and power to an untoward degree, Presidential advisor Pastor Robert Jeffress has his own opinion, delivered in a Fox News interview, for which I’ll use Crooks And Liars for a partial transcript:
“I think it’s hard to take Nancy Pelosi’s call to prayer seriously. I mean it reminds me of a pyromaniac with a match in hand about to set fire to a building saying, ‘Please pray with me that the damage I’m about to cause isn’t too severe.’ I mean if you’re really sincere about that prayer, then put down the dang match.”
“[I]mpeachment is the only tool they have to get rid of Donald Trump and the Democrats don’t care if they burn down and destroy this nation in the process,” …
“If the Democrats are successful in removing the president from office, I’m afraid it will cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”
A load of hooey. A sober analysis would ask what the results might be depending on the evidence and arguments presented at the impeachment and the trial. Sure, if Trump is getting shafted, there’d be a sizable segment of upset people. But if the evidence is overwhelming does he still think a Civil War fracturing will follow?
Or will the American people, exercising their wit and wisdom, kick Trump and, tragically for Jeffress, Pastor Jeffress to the curb? All we’d lack is Mark Twain to deliver the final, poetic kick to the nuts.
No, the problem with Pastor Jeffress – and why his prating should be ignored – is that he has way too much skin in the game. He has, as I said, power, prestige, position, all things that this agnostic knows Jesus Christ would have despised. And now he’s defending it in the face of not only alleged, but apparent multiple abuses of executive power. His willingness to continue to back Trump in the face of severe moral failings, not to mention Trump’s intellectual limitations, disqualifies him from any consideration of his ramblings.
Surrounded with the best? No, Trump seems to attract the worst.
