WHERE'S MY BARRY GOLDWATER?

When we assert that the intensity of partisanship today is far worse than anything in recent history, are we  correct? Is it really worse than ever before in our lifetimes?

It wasn't that long ago that Richard Milhous Nixon was President of the United States, and was a subject in the criminal investigation for possible conspirators in the "third rate burglary" of the Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate complex. There was circumstantial evidence of a White House conspiracy, but none of what a lawyer might consider "direct" evidence of complicity.

The partisanship was so severe, that even in the face of powerful evidence of Nixon's obstruction of justice, the Republican stalwarts chucked their pledge of fealty to the Constitution, overlooked Nixon's obvious criminality, and stood by their man. The most startling example of this blind partisanship occurred with the revelation of a conversation between White House Counsel John Dean and his boss. Dean told the President that he did not believe they could sustain the silence of the convicted burglars because it might require payoffs of up to a million dollars. Nixon's view of his Constitutional duty to "faithfully execute the laws" was to tell Dean, "We could get that."

Hard to imagine more powerful evidence of obstruction of justice, and the Democrat controlled House Judiciary Committee voted to add an impeachment count based on that obstruction. But in an extraordinary example of extreme partisanship,  a majority of Republican members of the Committee voted "NO."  One Republican member told the press he did regarded this overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice as "not as serious as spitting on the sidewalk."

Nixon was unbowed. He knew he still had the support of the  Republicans in the Senate to prevent a 2/3ds vote for conviction in that chamber.

Then came Nixon v US,  in which the Supremes required Nixon to comply with the Special Prosecutor's subpoena for White House tapes. That collection included the famous "smoking gun tape" in which Nixon told Haldeman to get the CIA to tell the FBI to abandon the Watergate inquiry. That direct evidence of obstruction of justice was too much even for the most right-wing Republicans, and a delegation headed by Barry Goldwater, the most conservative Republican in the Senate, went to the White House and told Nixon that he no longer had the support of the Senate Republicans. Facing certain impeachment and conviction, Nixon quit.

But unfortunately the facts do suggest that partisanship is indeed much more tribal today.

The Mueller Report listed a score of instances of obstruction, including this parallel to the smoking gun tape: Trump told his Director of National Intelligence to tell the FBI to drop the Russia investigation!  But Moscow Mitch is no Barry Goldwater, and to their everlasting disgrace, the Republicans did nothing but continue their full throated support of this President.

But the Mueller report was not the end of the Trump story. This President has not the faintest idea of what the Constitution requires of him, so he doesn't scruple to trash it at every turn.

Recall, please, that the primary goal of the Mueller appointment was to determine whether the 2016 Trump campaign cooperated with the Russians to influence the way Americans voted. It is a felony solicit or accept foreign aid in a federal election. Mueller found conclusively that the Russians did indeed provide substantial aid to the Trump campaign, but he gave Trump and his team a pass because he found no persuasive evidence that they "cooperated" with the Russians. While the issue was generally described as a search for "collusion," Mueller read that to mean "conspiracy," and found no direct evidence of an agreement or solicitation that would be a key element of that crime.

But in Ukrainegate, Trump has supplied that missing ingredient. Though he has thus far (illegally) blocked supplying to Congress the whistleblower's report, and he has so far not responded to the Congressional demand to turn over the transcript of his conversation with the President of Ukraine, Trump has now admitted that he did talk to the Ukrainian President about Joe Biden's son Hunter, and urged him to listen to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani who admits visiting Ukraine for the purpose of urging the Ukrainian government to conduct an investigation into possible corruption by Hunter Biden, who had been elected to the Board of Directors of a Ukrainian gas company five years ago.

Put aside, please, just for the moment, i) the damning circumstantial evidence that, while pressuring Ukraine, Trump was illegally withholding a $250 million foreign aid grant earlier approved by Congress and ii) the Ukraine President has confirmed he was being pressed by Trump to investigate Biden despite the fact "there was nothing there," and  if he failed to investigate he might lose his promised military aid, and iii) Trump has supplied zero evidence that Hunter or Joe Biden did anything wrong.  The "smoking gun" fact is the incontrovertible evidence that Trump has solicited a foreign government to attack the son of his leading 2020 election adversary. Trump has admitted soliciting foreign assistance in his 2020 campaign for re-election. That is a crime. It is the piece of the puzzle missing from the Russia investigation. That Trump used his power as President of the United States to induce the illegal foreign assistance just makes the felony even more reprehensible and more corrosive to our Constitutional norms.

Yet, aside from a few tepid questions, we hear nothing but more slander of Biden and more support of Trump from Republican elected officers and appointees.

Where is our Barry Goldwater?

Conclusion:

I am now persuaded the Dems should no longer pussyfoot around the impeachment question. Start a formal impeachment inquiry. NOW. Put a professional legal team in charge of the effort and replace the incompetents who have managed the insipid effort thus far. I suggest adopting a calendar whereby the House votes on impeachment resolutions before the year is out, or possibly as late as February 28, 2020. Full court press. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

Let the Republicans find their Barry Goldwater, or pay the price.

A bientot!

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