As We Near a Conclusion

Senators Blackburn and Alexander,

I didn't vote for either of you, and I cannot imagine any circumstances under which I would. My political attitudes reside solidly on the left, on a number of issues which either of you would be unyielding on. So I won't lie to you or attempt to bargain with you to try and get what I want - I think it would be pointless for both of you and insulting to the intelligence of at least one of you.

But I will say this: though an ardent liberal, I was never an enthusiastic supporter of impeaching President Donald J. Trump. Nor was I an enthusiastic supporter of NOT impeaching Donald J. Trump. Whether I like it or not, my mental math for our nation's future is not optimistic because, from the very beginning of his term, this president has cast doubt on the validity of our elections.

During the course of his 2016 campaign, Donald J. Trump violated conventions again and again - norms which exist not simply for politeness's sake, but for the integrity of our electoral process. Always in the guise of jest, he asked Russia to take action against the campaign of his primary rival in the election, and went so far as to less-than-subtly float the idea of 'those 2nd Amendment people' assassinating her. With less subtlety he promised his voters that his opponent would go to prison, a truly chilling moment that turned into an ardent rallying cry in his base. None of these heavy-handed bullying tactics inspired average voters' confidence in the electoral process, which went from a matter Americans discussed civilly and critically like baseball stats, to a muddy brawl of veiled and unveiled threats of violence.

Then Donald J. Trump took office despite losing the popular vote. By virtue of a technical defect in the badly broken electoral college system, he thwarted the people's power to decide their leadership. For many of us, it was disillusioning to know that - although we turned out in force and, as a nation, rejected Donald J. Trump - our votes didn't matter, or at least, they didn't matter as much as the votes cast by people in other states. It left wounds into which the presidents' defenders have ground salt every time they talk about 'letting the will of the people be heard' or 'tearing up voters' ballots by impeaching the president'. Most of us weren't heard the first time, we were ignored, our ballots treated like trash by a broken system none of you have done anything to fix.

But, that wasn't enough. The president could not accept that he'd lost the popular vote. Rather than comport himself with humility as any reasonable civil servant would under these awkward circumstances, he peddled ridiculous allegations of voter fraud to account for the two million votes by which he was defeated in the election. He leaned hard into these conspiracy theories, even throwing around the weight of his  newly won office to back himself up, and going so far as to inflate inane details like the turn out at his inauguration, all to convince his base that, really, the overwhelming majority of voters loved him, and the only reason he lost the popular vote was the deep state conspiring against him, undocumented residents voting illegally, or something else absurd.

On the left, our faith in fair elections has been thin ever since the president 'won' the 2016 election despite his opponent garnering the larger number of votes. On the right, I imagine faith in fair elections has been thin ever since the president began throwing about allegations of voter fraud. Because of this bipartisan existential crisis, the 2020 election was always going to be problematic. Due to the conditions of the incumbent's previous 'victory' and his prior and subsequent conduct, the truth is that no matter who wins the election, many voters will believe that the outcome is illegitimate, and most will at the very least have doubts.

But it didn't stop there, did it? The president began asking foreign powers to investigate his campaign rivals, again - first in phone calls, and then on TV screens around the world. He fostered an international image that promises to reward those nations who collude with him, and to punish those who refuse to be involved in our elections. And it seems to matter little to him whether they are America's allies or enemies. Rather than let the crack in our nation's confidence mend, the president went at that weak point like a badger prying apart a bee hive.

And then the calls for impeachment began, not from congressmen and women, but from their constituents, the voters. How could they not call for his removal?

Ordinarily, we should be able to trust the mechanisms of democracy, to trust voters to judge their presidential candidates critically and carefully, and allow them to remove an unsuitable candidate from office, but when the president uses the power of his office to exercise an unfair campaign advantage, how can we trust our elections to be fair? In 2016, our faith in fairness was rewarded with a president that lost his own election - we'd be right to have a crisis of confidence just for that alone, but even without the electoral college handing victories to candidates rejected by the people, we now have a system in which any challenger must defeat an incumbent who has, essentially, unlimited resources to invest in his opponents' destruction.

And I do not say that lightly. Think about it. If - as the president's defense has argued - any action the president takes to secure his re-election is ethical and not an abuse of power, where is the line? He took money away from the military to build his border wall - could he not take more of the taxpayers' money to finance his campaign? Could he not leverage his control of the executive branch to relentlessly investigate and harass his opponents and their families, while himself being immune to any such investigation? What exactly prevents himself from having opponents arrested, just for the fun of putting them through the process of delousing? There would be no recourse, no defense for the victims of his political persecution, and even if there were, no rebuke would offset the damage of having their 'mugshots' shared in every campaign commercial he ran thereafter.

If Donald J. Trump is on the ballot in November, few Americans will have any faith in the integrity of our electoral process. If he wins, extremists like Antifa will feel his election tampering gives them free-reign, morally speaking, to take violent action against the U.S. government. Worse, an awful lot of us non-extremists are going to start thinking that, maybe, the guys in the black masks are not the bad guys anymore. If Trump actually loses, despite his systemic advantages, then militia groups around the nation will believe that he was the victim of some liberal/Jewish/deep state/gay conspiracy. They will declare the new administration invalid, and likewise feel that they've been given just-cause to engage in activity that will pass from domestic terrorism into insurgency - and a lot of the president's supporters will follow them, especially if he stands in front of a camera and claims that the election was rigged against him, which - if the past is any indication - he almost certainly would.

Any outcome of the election ends in violence, martial law, and a low-key civil war that may not see troops on a battle field, but will see bombs in our schools, churches, and government buildings. People will die. Real people; adults, seniors, children, babies - ripped apart in parking lots by the bullets of right-wing insurgents' assault weapons or in state office buildings by the shrapnel of left-wing revolutionaries' improvised explosives.

But the impeachment does not likely offer a better outcome, does it? If the president is acquitted, Americans on the left will be further embittered against the government - it will confirm every pessimistic thought they have going into the election. If the president is found guilty by a slim majority, and removed from office, Americans on the right will believe that the handful of congressmen and women who crossed party lines are guilty of treason. All roads, that I see, lead to disorder and death, and those in power only have a few options left to consider as they vote first on whether to allow witnesses in the senate trial, and then vote later on whether to remove the president from office.

The first option, of course, is to actually try and prevent this. Senators could band together and reject President Trump's amoral behavior with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. That would be great, but my opinion of your party's integrity is not so great that I imagine that happening. The second option, of course, is for all of you to cover your own asses. After all, when it all falls apart, the best protection one can have is power, right? Do whatever you can to stay in the president's good graces, and live comfortably like nobles at Versailles, while your constituents burn. The third option is the most arduous - defy the president, even knowing that he will likely remain in power, and turn against you with the might of his office, his foreign allies, and his violent base.

I'll admit that, being a father now, I might go with the second option in your position. If the Republic truly cannot be saved, I might do almost anything to protect my family against what will come. But then, I didn't run for public office. I didn't campaign for the privilege of safeguarding the well-being of the American people. I never took an oath to defend the Constitution or the nation it governs. Both of you did. Playing it safe to stay on the 'winning side', aiding and abetting President Trump to remain in his favor and avoid his reprisal, breaks that oath as deeply as anything I could imagine.

In the end, I cannot offer you some quid pro quo to persuade you to proceed forward in the fashion that I want, but I can ask you, truly, how do you want to be remembered? When they write the history books for whatever nation will succeed the United States, do you want to be remembered as people of integrity who fought to safeguard and protect the Republic? To salvage the American dream? Or do you want to be remembered as the shills who sold out democracy for a few pieces of silver?

You will face two critical decisions in the next couple of weeks. The first comes later today when the Senate votes on whether to hear witnesses. Senator Blackburn has repeatedly declared the House investigation a sham, but has done 'F'-all to rectify that in the senate. This is the moment for that to change - if you truly think that the House's deliberation was unfair, do better. See every lead pursued thoroughly, every line of inquiry considered. Call Hunter Biden, or Joe Biden, even. They're not relevant to the proceedings, but if bringing them in to the Senate helps you reassure your conservative voters that the process was fair, fine. That's essentially all that's left at this point - doing something, *anything* to restore the people's faith on both ends of the political spectrum, that the U.S. government still functions as a nation of laws rather than as a land of tyranny.

Thank you,

Dr. James N. McDonald
Oak Ridge, TN

[Image from: https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Washington,_D.C.]