Finally, US lawmakers voted
to impeach President Donald Trump in December. It was a sad day for America, because for the House of Representatives to resort to such a drastic and historically rare punitive act suggests just how severe Trump’s
transgressions have been.
However, the two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – hardly describe Trump’s repeated
blunders,
lies, habitual
abuse of the power of his office and
obstruction of justice. Indeed, the two articles barely scratch the surface of his untamed behaviour, which is devoid of any civility and moral responsibility.
In less than three years under this president, the absurd became the norm, ignorance became a virtue, and lying sadly became the order of the day.
He has brought shame and dishonour to the most prestigious office in the world. His moral lapses, notoriety,
vulgarity and self-deceit are beyond the pale of human disorder.
As much as Trump must pay for the debased behaviour which led to his impeachment, it is the corrupt Republican establishment that enabled him throughout the past three years to violate both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. It is the Republicans – not the Democrats – that eventually precipitated his
impeachment.
Whether he escapes conviction in the Senate, the Republican Party, as much as Trump himself, will be held responsible for the damage they have inflicted on America’s democratic institutions, the rule of law, and its global leadership and moral standing.
Dr Alon Ben-Meir, professor, Centre for Global Affairs, NYU
Start a war to win an election, it’s nothing new
The right-wing “grand old party” of the United States is being its predictable self, with Donald Trump ordering and perpetrating the drone strike killing top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani (“
Iran mourns slain general as it plots ‘severe revenge’ against US”, January 5), described by Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations as an “act of war”.
It is part of the perpetual electioneering campaign, that didn’t stop at withholding the Congress-approved Ukraine military aid of
US$400 million. Clearly the 2020 elections are in play, just as it was with the war on Iraq years ago, during President George W Bush’s first term!
The Iraq war energised the good national patriotic impulses that got Bush his second term. So what else is new?
Donald Trump is even worse, he reneged on the
Iran nuclear deal that was the result of painstaking negotiations between six powerful nations, and surely he is praying fervently that the impeachment trial will go away with this pre-emptive dismissal or a war strike with a Tomahawk.
Gerald Heng Snr, Washington
What will be the cost of Trump’s Iranian adventure?
As the
impeachment hearings drag on and the Ukrainian debacle is yet to be resolved, what better way is there than orchestrating a “war scenario” directed by our president who hopes it plays out so he comes out looking like a super-patriotic hero? His tenure in office has been all about him.
He is playing a dangerous game, and I must ask: at what cost?
We have had a plethora of lies, misinformation, hateful rhetoric and a skewed view of history, but our president assures us it’s the truth because he says so.
The good news is, hopefully, that all of the aforementioned will come to an end on
November 3, if voters wake up to the fact that we’ve been had big-time from a TV personality who played “I wanna be president” – and won.
Let’s vote him and his sinister administration out of office and make sure this travesty doesn’t happen again!
Herb Stark, North Carolina
