The rot in our democracy

In a piece in The Atlantic, Prof. Marty Lederman and Ben Wittes (editor in chief of the respected blog Lawfare) carefully review the impeachment inquiry being conducted by the House of Representatives into Donald Trump's 25 July 2019 phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Of greater importance, though, are their insights into the context of the call — specifically, what the call says about Trump and his world view, and what the reaction to the call says about us.

Trump defenders want us to believe that impeachment is only appropriate for a violation of the law. Lederman and Wittes know better.

The president’s derelictions are far more profound and more fundamental to the constitutional order than a mere violation of the criminal code. To use the scholar Charles Black’s canonical test for whether impeachment is warranted, Trump engaged in (1) extremely serious conduct that (2) corrupts or subverts the political and governmental process and “tend[s] seriously to undermine and corrupt the political order,” and (3) is “plainly wrong in [itself] to a person of honor, or to a good citizen, regardless of words on the statute books.”

Lederman and Wittes note that while both Nixon and Bill Clinton had their defenders, those defenders argued that the wrongdoing didn't constitute an impeachable offense. No one argued that no wrongdoing had occurred.

Yet that’s effectively where we find ourselves now—confronted with a president, and some of his defenders, who would insist that abuses of presidential authority are unexceptional or, worse still, consistent with the president’s constitutional oath and duty.

In the long run, this defense of Trump’s Ukraine machinations may well prove more corrosive than what occurred in the July 25 conversation itself. ... [W]e’re perilously close to the point at which there may no longer be a national consensus that there’s anything constitutionally problematic about using governmental powers to advance one’s own pecuniary and electoral interests.

The fact is, Trump followers' identification with Trump has gotten so problematic that they can no longer see an attempt to hold him accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors as not merely sanctioned, but required, by the rule of law. To those followers, any attempt to hold Trump accountable is nothing less than an attack on them, singly and collectively. Because Trump loyalists make up the largest constituency in the Republican Party, that party's lawmakers have refused to condemn what they know — or at least knew, before Trump came along — is Trump's copious track record of degrading the office of President.

The time of reckoning is at hand. Congressional Republicans now must ask themselves if their desire to stay in office is worth killing their consciences and bidding farewell to their morals. Their souls are at stake.

If Congressional Republicans continue to honor the demands of those of their supporters whose moral compasses have been deranged by Trump, all in hope of remaining in office, those lawmakers will have betrayed their oath and their country. They know what they're witnessing in Trump is abhorrent to the nation. They know he debases his office with his shameless greed and corruption. They know he is more sympathetic and attentive to the needs of Vladimir Putin than to ordinary Americans.

The damage Trump has done goes way beyond his own misdeeds. He has debased the country's sense of right and wrong. Impeaching him for a phone call seems like a ridiculously small amount of punishment for such grave harm — but it might be all we can do. Let's at least not blow it.

Our integrity and honor are at stake.