Article by Larry Elder in "PJMedia":
The Democrats' purported
outrage about President Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian
president Volodymyr Zelensky might be taken seriously by the Republicans
were it not for the Democrats' drive to oust Trump from the moment he
won the presidency.
CNN's Van Jones, with zero proof, attributed Trump's victory to "whitelash." Trump received 57% of the white vote, actually a lower percentage
of the white vote than the 59% received by Mitt Romney, the Republican
presidential candidate in 2012. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama received a
greater percentage of the white vote than John Kerry did four years
earlier. Obama also received 95% of the black vote. None dared call it
"blacklash."
Stunned, angry
and bewildered by Trump's win, some Democrats urged the Electoral
College to refuse to certify his victory. In a Washington Post op-ed,
John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, said, "The (Obama)
administration should brief members of the electoral college on the
extent and manner of Russia's interference in our election before they
vote on Dec. 19 (2016)."
Nearly
70 Democratic lawmakers vowed to boycott Trump's inauguration. Nearly a
dozen Democrats refused to attend Trump's first State of the Union
address. In explaining his refusal to attend, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill.,
said, "This is a presidency that has been built on racism, stupidity and
lies, which has already wasted enough of America's time and I will not
waste any more of mine."
Trump's
refusal to turn over his tax returns provoked claims of corruption.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said: "What's unprecedented is (Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin) refusing to comply with our lawful, Article I
request. What's unprecedented is a Justice Department that again sees
its role as being bodyguard to the executive and not the rule of law.
What's unprecedented is an entire federal government working in concert
to shield a corrupt President from legal accountability."
There was the bill
introduced in April 2017 by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., with 67
co-sponsors, to determine whether to invoke the 25th Amendment, under
which a president can be removed if "unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office." About his bill, Raskin told Vanity Fair last
month: "It is still very much on my mind and the time will come. I don't
think of it as an alternative remedy for impeachment. They address
different problems. The core of the concern of impeachment is high
crimes and misdemeanors committed by the president. The core problem
addressed by the 25th Amendment is the mental or physical incapacity of
the president."
Then
there was the outcry over Trump's payments to former mistresses. About
the payments, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said: "The president is a
criminal. ... This criminal must be brought up by the Congress of the
United States for impeachment."
Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said from "day one" Trump committed
an impeachable offense by allegedly violating the emoluments clause of
the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits all persons holding federal
office from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any
kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." Last year,
Ocasio-Cortez said about Trump: "I think that there are serious grounds
in violations of the emoluments clause from day one. I think that is,
first and foremost, one of the basic elements and violations. And then,
once again, it's hard to predict what's going to happen over the next
few months. There are one or more investigations happening. But I think
from day one we have had violations of the emoluments clause with the
presidency."
In
July, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, wanted Trump impeached for his "racist
tweets" that attacked several Democratic freshman House members known as
"the squad." Green tweeted: "(Trump's) racism, anti-Semitism,
homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and Islamophobia can no longer be
tolerated or ignored. We must impeach."
One
can only marvel at how, with a straight face, Democrats call Trump
"racist" while embracing as "kingmaker" the race card-hustling Rev. Al
Sharpton and refusing to denounce anti-Semitic Minister Louis Farrakhan.
Of
course, for 2 1/2 years, special counsel Robert Mueller investigated
allegations of Russian "collusion," and he drilled a dry hole. On the
issue of obstruction of justice, he punted. Before the Mueller report
came out, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
claimed there was "direct evidence (of collusion) but ... also abundant
circumstantial evidence."
If
Congress impeaches Trump, the Senate will not convict. Meanwhile, all
this Ukraine business just places attention on Joe's Biden's son. Hunter
Biden received a lucrative monthly fee to sit on the board of directors
of a Ukrainian energy company, despite his lack of energy expertise or
his inability to speak the local language. Joe Biden's candidacy will be
irreparably harmed, increasing the odds that hard-left Elizabeth Warren
will win the Democratic nomination. Trump, post-impeachment, can
credibly call himself a victim of a political vendetta and ride that
narrative to victory in 2020.
Well played, Speaker Pelosi.
