In some corners it’s been suggested that, while President Trump may have committed a minor crime by pressuring Ukraine to publicly commission an investigation into 2020 Democratic candidate for President Joe Biden, surely this doesn’t rise to the level of an impeachable offense. After all, Ukraine received the military aid that was being withheld, Trump didn’t know, etc.
But this WaPo summation of the history of the inquiry summarizes why it’s necessary for the future of the United States that this impeachment inquiry take place, even if GOP control of the Senate would seem to negate the possibility of a conviction of President Trump:
Several witnesses in the impeachment inquiry have said that Trump bears significant hostility toward Ukraine, stemming in part from the country’s role in exposing the financial corruption of his 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Future victims of international bullies, regardless of the nationality of predator or prey, will look back on this incident and how the United States has handled it as salutary lessons in their international relations. If the United States had done nothing, then it’s quite possible that future victims would bow to the applied pressure, resulting in further damage to the shared democracy project of the world, and losing ground to the autocrats who would gather power to themselves, to the detriment of their citizens, soon to be subjects.
But if the United States reacts by individuals courageously reporting on transgressions, confirming them, and then the relevant authorities taking action against the transgressors, even if it proves futile on the surface, then those future victims are encouraged to resist these foul actions, to report them for assistance in repelling them, and in general making this world one of Law, rather than the brutal strong-arm tactics of the faux-charismatic autocrat.
And that’s why this apparently futile action is necessary for future citizens.
