Political Liminal Space Thoughts on Impeachment and Getting Out the Vote
The Chicago Municipal Elections wrapped up a couple weeks ago. Whenever people talked about the 2020 Election, I would say that I couldn't spare thought to it yet. I had to focus on the local election (which can sometimes be more important and have more of an effect on our everyday lives).
That liminal state between elections has started. Tensions have risen because the Justice Department released the Mueller Report and the House of Representatives pushes to investigate more. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, two 2020 candidates for President, have called for the House to file to Impeach Trump. Others want it, too.
I don’t know what to think about pushing for impeachment. The Senate plain doesn't have the numbers to remove Trump from office. Events and revelations have very little chance of influencing Republicans to push out Trump. Even with the numbers, Pence replacing Trump looks unattractive (though removing them both at the same time?).
If impeachment fails, it will likely improve Trump’s approval rating. Trump could play up the persecuted victim role (though he fills himself with spite and resentment), which could garner Trump points. Bill Clinton had that result when Gingrich and the Republicans tried kicking Clinton out of office back in the ‘90s.
An impeachment process, especially a failed one, could also embolden accusations by the Right that politics and government have become corrupted by the Left and the Left's supposed "shadow government". How much would Trump question fraud in Election 2020? Even if Trump lost legitimately in 2020, would he step down peacefully? Would strong enough doubt in the government and politics by a certain, aggressive, armed group of people on the Right lead to Trump becoming a dictator without the blessing of our democratic process? Could Civil War break out as this country takes sides, voluntarily or involuntarily, then fights for rule? The It Could Happen Here podcast makes a plausible case that any of these scenarios could occur.
At the same time, impeachment could have its uses, even if Trump doesn't get removed. Trump has and continues to cause damage to the structure and existential existence of the government and the United States liberal values. Impeachment could become a tool for harm reduction. The Mueller investigation and the House investigations have done their part to slow down Trump in "Making America Cruel Again" and has made many of his past staffers hesitate to follow Trump's orders because they fear the law. Investigations and even impeachment keep the dangers of misbehaving in the conscious mind of staffers who believe they have loyalty to the United States, not Trump, or fear repercussions.
Impeachment and investigations also cause Trump and his staffers to deal with demands put on them, whether by Congressional request or subpoenas and also from the media trying to get their story. Addressing these demands probably wouldn't cause too much trouble for a President or a staff trying to do the right thing for the country with nothing to hide.
On some level, though, these people know the wrongness of many things they do. They have to try saving face and put up a distorted facade of reality or use litigious ways to delay the inevitable. These steps take time and energy to strategize and think things through. Dealing with these threats, Trump and his cronies have less time and energy to increase the level of cruelty in the country.
Impeachment would cause major delays in Mitch McConnell's agenda to appoint as many young conservative judges as he can. These appointees will make decisions about laws for decades to come and cause much more impact than McConnell, Trump, or any policy maker could do alone. Keeping the number of justices appointed at this point to a minimum will do much to maintain the integrity of American liberal and pluralistic values that McConnell and Trump would love to see taken apart for many years to come.
The two I's also provide the function of getting information out to the public. Just look at people poring over the Mueller Report. The press has leaked out much more information about this administration that the public generally doesn't get wind of during other political configurations. Trump and his cronies fear rightly the kind of information that will get out to the public. As this information leaks out, the public can see that Trump and his cronies distort reality and have motives that seek to undermine the liberal and pluralistic values that make up America and actually make it great.
At this point, though, impeachment looks more damaging and risky than helpful, especially since the tools of investigation and oversight the Constitution gives Congress haven't been exhausted. Having impeachment on deck for use later can time shift the power of delay and harm reduction, holding back Trump and his administration from unleashing their cruelty and distortions over a longer horizon of time.
Using all these processes to expose Trump and his cronies as incompetent bad actors can get fatiguing and play into the accusations of partisanship on the Left, though. Democrats, the Left, and candidates need to focus more on issues, platforms, and even the larger story of the United States. Trump should leave office, but he should leave office because he has bad views, bad opinions, bad ideas, and bad policies in addition to his incompetence and bad faith, not just because he is Trump. If the Senate is convinced he should be impeached, sure, do it. . .but until enough in the Senate are convinced. . ..
Hillary campaigned a lot in the 2016 Election on Trump's not being qualified. The media made it about Trump's incompetence. The Left didn't believe that Trump had become a threat because the Left took for granted that everyone in the country would base their vote on Trump's incompetence, not on lies and distortion of reality as Trump painted a compelling picture and a hopeful story for a certain subsection of the American populace.
However, Trump and the Republicans have shown they want to tear down the good things the United States government can do, like
By focusing on the issues, platforms, values, and clear true facts, the Democrats, both in office and on the election trail, can do a lot to unveil the distortions of Trump and the Republicans. Trump and the Republicans act in bad faith, illusions, distortions, and misunderstandings of reality.
Maybe these Republicans come from a genuine place, believing the things that they spout. Nonetheless, they still spew out distorted illusions that provide everyday people, especially in a certain subsection of the population, with compelling images and hopes. The Republicans fail to meet both reality and everyday people where they are, instead just offering more and more political junk food and veils of illusion to keep the momentum going forward.
Not to say that the Democrats will prove a savior to the United States. Trump and illiberal conservatives have simply pushed things too far to the Right around the world. In comparison, the big tent Democrats provide a viable alternative because they generally want to
Once the government and world returns to a more sane state, we can focus more on nuanced and intense issues that this cultural and political climate can't even allow into the discussion. Maybe even defeating the illiberal forces in the country and world will allow a breaking up into more political parties to argue over these matters and actually progress to form
So, how about it? Why don't we form some coalitions to have the People of the United States tell Trump and the backwards Republicans to get out of office during the election rather than try to force them out through a process that could just convince the Right that he was kicked out illegitimately? Getting Trump and Pence out sooner rather than later would help cut down on harm in some ways, but it could also create even more harm is causes the Right to harden their hearts and try to stamp down to force their ideology onto the rest of the world.
The Left shouldn't go high when the other side goes low because it's right and decent. However, the Left should strike hard with rhetoric, ideas, facts, truth, platforms, issues, and good stories to win over the People and show the People that they've been hoodwinked by Trump and by the Republicans. This fight isn't about power. It's about truth and taking the blindfolds off the world, off the People to see the bankrupt system that the Republicans have used to empower and enrich themselves.
Trump and the Republicans can win Election 2020. Accept this as truth. Use it to motivate yourself. As another motivator, remind yourself that the less that people vote, the worse the government and politics get, the more these spaces get filled with corruption. Get out there to vote to bring decency, civility, caring, and function back into the world.
And don't stop with yourself. Fight so that our states don't supress swaths of the population from voting. Get others to fight their apathy, so they educate themselves and get out the vote.
Your vote matters, it matters even more when you work to get other people to vote.
If you don't have the means or ability to help people in the flesh register and to get out the vote, contribute money to the following organizations that work to fight voter suppression and work to educate people about the civic structure of this country:
The future is on us, the People, the citizens, not just our elected officials and their appointees. We put the officials there. We hold the officials accountable. We do it through voting. We do it through organizing. So get off your ass and help make the world better in the future, whether through activism in the flesh or by contributing your money to organizations and candidates that will improve the world.
And don't hesitate to report back to let the readers of The Lextopia know how you've improved the world.
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