As the House votes to proceed with an impeachment inquiry against President Trump – a vote Republicans have been asking them to take to make it official (you’re welcome!) – and we move closer to an actual impeachment vote, the rhetoric among House Republicans is starting to grow more sinister, to the point where congressman Mark Green has just gone so far as to express support for “Declaring War On Dems”, tweeting a link to an article that says as much with a simple phrase: “What he said.”
To be clear, Republicans are not engaging on the merits of the situation. The article he links to in the tweet does nothing to undercut any of the arguments for impeaching the president or address what he has done.
They don’t want to talk about the fact that Trump’s own Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Vindman told congress he reported Trump’s conduct to his superiors twice and tried unsuccessfully to fix the doctored transcript of Trump’s “perfect” call, which was then hidden away. (translation: the cover-up)
They don’t want to talk about Trump’s own ambassador Bill Taylor confirming the “crazy” quid pro quo.
They don’t want to talk about Morrison, another of Trump’s own top national security officials, confirming the quid pro quo just yesterday.
They don’t want to talk about Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s associates – who were working with him on this Ukraine conspiracy, and who were on Trump’s own legal team – being charged with serious campaign finance crimes, and being linked to a Russian mob-tied oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who is close with Putin, and who himself is wanted for crimes.
Yes, Trump shared a legal team with a Russian oligarch linked to the mafia, and Putin.
The list goes on.
The truth is clear. The president did bring the force of the United States government to bear on an ally under duress, withholding key military aid and other necessary help against Putin’s aggressions to pressure them to investigate his chief political rival Joe Biden.
A quid pro quo if ever there was one.
But instead of standing up to all of that and doing – or at least SAYING – what’s right, as many other prominent Republicans are (not enough though), Green is instead joining the fight against those who are standing up to defend this country.
To be clear, the “declaration of war” article Mark Green links to makes no arguments on the merits. It’s a diatribe of whining and complaining about a situation they don’t like, because Republicans don’t want to answer the key question: “Is it right for a president to pressure a foreign government to investigate political opponents and get involved with our elections?”
Time after time, Republicans have been left looking silly as they try to dodge this very simple, very obvious question.
Instead they attack the process – “behind closed doors!” “We need a vote!” “They’re not letting us in!” – and now that all of those things have been addressed, with the inquiry moving into the public view, a vote having been held, and the revelation that Mark Green, who is fundraising off of being kept out of the hearings, WAS ALLOWED IN THE HEARINGS, because he was on the committee… they’re ratcheting up the rhetoric.
Declaring war.
One would think Mark Green would be extra careful about how he speaks about matters of “war”, considering he’ll be the first to tell you he’s an army doctor who spent the night with Saddam, and made sure to write a book about it. (So far he won’t release his un-redacted discharge papers, and has taken to calling constituents who ask him about his rumored less-than-honorable-discharge liars, but that’s a story for a different day).
The truth is, many Democrats didn’t want to take this step. Impeaching a president is not to be done lightly, even if Republicans did do it to Clinton for a FAR more trivial issue.
But at a certain point, when you have a con man in the White House using the constitution like toilet paper and the Oval Office like an ATM Machine, with scores of his allies and Russian mafia-linked henchmen behind bars and charged with crimes, somebody has to stand up for what’s right.
Or else, as Pelosi says, what do we have left? If they don’t impeach, it says everything Trump is doing is ok. And it isn’t.
Somebody has to put country first. Clearly, the Mark Greens of the world will not, as he admitted with his George Washington quote yesterday, which made it clear Green has no problem putting the president before the country.
Last we checked, the oath Green and everyone he serves with took was to protect this country and the constitution from all enemies, foreign AND domestic, not to protect a president who puts himself above all else.
But perhaps Green can relate to that sentiment?
The bottom line is this: As Democrats, many prominent Republicans, and highly decorated ex-military members of Trump’s own cabinet are doing their patriotic duty, standing up for what’s right in the face of tremendous pressure and at great risk to themselves and their families, instead of joining them, Rep. Mark Green is joining the effort to”declare war” on them.
He may think he’s declaring war on Democrats, but the truth is by “declaring war” on those who stand up to this president and the damage he’s doing to our nation, Mark Green is not declaring war on Democrats – he’s declaring war on law and order, the constitution, and real American values.
Justin Kanew is the co-founder of the Holler
(Kiran Sreepada is running against Green in 2020)
