Trump’s impeachment is too little, too late

Very few people are literate in the language of President Donald Trump. Within recent days, his under-the-table dealings with Ukraine and whistleblower complaints have pressured Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives and democratic majority leader, to open up an official impeachment inquiry. While some might see this as another blip in the news cycle, Pelosi’s endorsement carries more political weight.

President Trump may have to enforce the laws of Congress, direct our military, be our chief diplomat and from time to time and sit in front of a camera and lie to us, but the current grounds for impeachment are not quite to my liking. 

Are we truly executing the fullest extent of the law? Is it not a reflection of our hopes and values when a man so dangerous and volatile is brought to court not for his detrimental actions at home, but once again, only when some millionaire politician in Washington has the short end of the stick?

When the president rolled back water standards and allowed higher levels of asbestos to potentially leak into waterways, was that not a danger to the public? Was his neglecting to provide aid during Hurricane Maria and the consequential deaths in Puerto Rico not enough to show his complete disregard for Latino people? 

Thanks to President Trump’s disproportionate tax cuts, oil and gas companies continue to boom, yet extreme weather events (caused by emissions from the fossil fuel industry) rage through our farmlands, causing slews of destructive flooding. The president claims to represent middle America, but his policies are destroying its way of life. His government might be able to sneak the construction of a seawall around oil facilities in Houston, but would poor neighborhoods like the North End be able to fend off the effects of massive floods?

President Trump’s support of the Saudis in the Yemeni civil war shovels taxpayer money into an oil-for-arms exchange, arming Saudi Arabia to the teeth. Many human rights analysts call it the first genocide of the century, and thanks to the president, American arms are being used. Is he truly representing our values, or supporting the slaughter of innocent Yemeni toddlers? 

Private prisons have thrived under President Trump. He takes donations from political organizations that extract and exploit labor from vulnerable communities of color. Do we truly want the “Made in America” sticker to cost us only 14 cents per hour? Is this not a violation of some kind – moral or legal? 

Are the deaths of hundreds of children in our schools enough for President Trump to be decisive on comprehensive gun reform? Or does he need to listen to the “financial incentive” that so many Trump supporters hail as the ultimate motivator? It shows that money means more to President Trump than the civil rights, health and mortality of his constituents. We view basic information through the smokescreen of partisanship, blind to the reality of the scientific world around us but too susceptible to propaganda to believe it. 

Congress, as inefficient as it is, can’t even perform its one job: congressional oversight. This administration consistently refuses congressional document after document, despite subpoenaing officials and calls for testimonies. It seems as though the Republicans are preparing for an exit. They continue to rapidly appoint judges into circuits and seats all around the country, and that isn’t a political strategy for an expected win.

Yet, the premise of Donald Trump’s supposed demise does not come from the evil he has done unto this country, but the affairs of yet another conflict the disconnected and tyrannical military-industrial complex has dragged us into. The worst part is, while most of the Trump administration’s actions have been some variation of unconstitutional or illegal, a lot of them aren’t. Americans have restricted the laws of the land to a thin legal boundary in which people like President Trump thrive. 

When someone who has pathologically endangered the lives of Americans reaches his potential downfall, one would think the moral consequence would be enshrined in law. However, we continuously bow down to one nation, under greed, indivisible, with exploitation and persecution for all. Trump and his cabinet might be juggling super PACs, billionaire donors and corporate conglomerates, but, I ask, who are the true jesters in the court of America?

Daniel Cody is a freshman journalism major who writes on topical politics and the discourse that follows. Find him on Twitter @danielhcody