Kevin Williamson argues at National Review Online that the public should know why congressional Democrats are pursuing impeachment of President Trump.
Republicans and Democrats, partisans of Donald Trump and those looking to impeach him, should speak with one voice about at least one thing: It is time for Nancy Pelosi to bring the impeachment process out of the shadows, out from behind closed doors, and into the light and air, such as it is, of the people’s house, where the people may oversee it.
The power and the responsibility in this matter are expressly Pelosi’s in her role as speaker of the House. If you doubt for a moment that this blessed republic has entered a penitential stage in its history, then behold the fulcrum of the U.S. government’s credibility and her wan, conniving aspect. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Because the legislative power is divided bicamerally, the three branches of government have four leaders. The two more capable of them, Chief Justice John Roberts and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are for the moment kept at the edges of the impeachment drama. If they have large roles to play, that will come in the third act. That leaves the two less capable leaders, Pelosi and Trump, at its center. If moral authority were electricity, that duo couldn’t recharge an iPhone.
The rest of the motley cast hardly inspires trust or confidence. Adam Schiff? A cretin. Lindsey Graham? A sycophant entirely divested of credibility or self-respect.
Trust and confidence matter, not as abstractions but in practical ways. Impeaching the president and removing him from office is an act in which Congress substitutes its own judgment — and its own political preferences — for those of the electorate.