I Support Impeachment, But Not Like This

26/09/2019

Trump has been caught trying to get dirt on potential Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, through the Ukrainian government. This, for whatever reason, has thrown Pelosi into action – impeachment is now an acceptable move, unlike… when exactly was it not acceptable? Is this really the excuse they’re going to use to try and drag the cult leader of the Republican Party down?

I’ve never been the greatest proponent for impeachment so far, mostly because such a move would have undoubtedly failed and all but assured Trump’s victory in 2020 if it did. The majority in the House and the Senate would need to be a safe one to convince me it’s worth the risk. Now it is vaguely possible that it could succeed, but the motives are absolute nonsense.

I’m not saying that Trump’s communications with Ukraine regarding Biden is not an impeachable offence – from what I’ve read, the POTUS is obviously not allowed to use their position to further their own political or economic goals. Digging up dirt on the Biden’s in this manner does fit the bill, but it raises so many more concerns.

1. The DNC carried out similar activities on behalf of the Clinton campaign in 2016, also with Ukraine. You can chatter over details like DNC vs sitting President all you want, but the actions were no different and yet the DNC was excused because Russia’s alleged hacking of Clinton’s emails and other Russiagate controversies were obviously so much worse. Both moves were carried out to damage the campaigns of rivals with aid from other countries.
2. In all cases – the DNC, Russiagate/emails, and now Trump – corrupt dealings were discovered and only in one were the findings properly discussed in the media, which was the dirt on Trump. The conduct of the DNC was passed because the juicy stuff was about Trump, not the Democrats, and the email release was glossed over by ignoring the dodgy actions of the DNC and Clinton campaign (which were essentially the same thing) and by focussing on conspiracy theories like pizzagate to discredit the newsworthiness of the leak.
3. Yes, uncovering Trump’s own dirt digging efforts and screams for impeachment are nice, but is the dirt on Biden and his son not worth looking into as well? Like how the email revelations in 2016 highlighted DNC rigging of the Democratic primaries was put aside for the cheering of the Clinton campaign, the current revelations about the Biden’s is being put aside for the cheering of the impeachment proceedings, and to perhaps save Biden from further embarrassment.

And no, bringing all of this up isn’t to defend Trump and condemn the Democrats – the whole lot of them are worthy of criticism, and the Democrats’ self-righteous bullshit is merely unbridled hypocrisy of the kind that must be called out.

Because the intended impeachment proceedings against Trump amount to very little in terms of long-term or institutional change. All of the charges relating Trump to Russia are personal and specific to Trump. Corrupt? Yes. Impeachable? Seemingly so. But what would a Russiagate impeachment achieve, other than a riled up Trump base and an even more vicious campaign by Trump to combat the ‘witch hunt’?

As David Swanson of World Beyond War wrote earlier this month, it leaves no…

“… hope of cleaning up actual problems with the U.S. election system, including the financial corruption, the media failure, the electoral college, the two-party system, debate access, ballot access, gerrymandering, unverifiable counts, racist roll purging, and a candidate who openly intimidates and instigates violence.”

He also goes onto list a number of things that Trump could (and should) have legitimately been impeached for, but the Democrats have been silent and complicit in many of his atrocities by allowing them to continue. They challenge him with words, but their actions have been silent. Because they know if they were to challenge anything Trump has done, the house of cards would collapse.

Every President since WWII, as Noam Chomsky observed in an interview once, would have been indictable if their actions were judged by the Nuremburg principles. Most, if not every, President would also have committed acts worthy of impeachment too, no doubt. But that would imply some deep, deep reflection and systemic change. That would spell the end of US imperialism and hegemony, and of the corporate dictatorship and two-party system. It could even mean calm, if distant, relations with Russia – imagine that instead of a world of endless proxy wars.

A Russiagate impeachment, if successful, is completely harmless to the powers that be, but if failed would be the end of the Democrat’s hopes in 2020. Any worthwhile impeachment, if successful, would be unacceptable, even if it meant Trump’s fall. Trump isn’t being challenged now because he is an awful human being and has atrocious policies – he is being challenged because his own personal aims are themselves a challenge to the other half of US authority.

I would not be unhappy if Trump was impeached at the end of all of this, but I would be extremely disappointed at the shallowness of the gesture. The world deserves better than US hegemony, even if America’s doltish masses only see a single, orange problem.

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