Fellow Patriot: The voluntary financial generosity of supporters like you keeps our hard-hitting analysis coming. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today. Thank you for your support! —Nate Jackson, Managing Editor

December 19, 2019

Article I: Remove This Beast From My Sight!

In the history of politics, there is no precedent for the media’s entire focus to be on undoing the last presidential election.

In the history of politics, there is no precedent for the media’s entire focus to be on undoing the last presidential election.

True, the left has wanted to impeach every Republican president, but at least they used to wait a decent interval between the inauguration and concocting some preposterous “impeachable offense.”

With Trump, it’s never been about anything he’s done. It’s him they can’t stand. The technical grounds for their impeachment is: REMOVE THIS MONSTER FROM MY SIGHT!

The left has gone from “literally shaking” on election night 2016, to “literally shaking” at Trump firing the FBI director (a.k.a. “his employee”), to “literally shaking” at Trump engaging in foreign policy.

On cable news, they’re still talking about Trump’s “Russia, if you’re listening” joke.

U.S. media: Proud not to get a joke.

The media pretend the president engaging in standard foreign policy is a big constitutional crisis. It is, but not the way they mean.

As explained in the seminal book on impeachment, “High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton,” impeachment is not for policy disputes. That’s why, in any five-minute span on cable TV, you will hear someone say that James Madison expressly rejected “maladministration” as a ground for impeachment at the Constitutional Convention. Otherwise, he said, “so vague a term” would mean the president could serve only at “the pleasure of the Senate.”

This isn’t a random quote, selectively plucked from the convention notes. It’s the entire point of our country.

In Great Britain, impeachments were used as a weapon against a king whose veto Parliament could not override. Impeachment was often the only way members of Parliament could express themselves on policy matters. They couldn’t block the king’s policies, but they could impeach his ministers for giving him “bad advice.”

As history buffs will recall, we fought a revolution to get rid of the king. No king — and Congress has plenty of tools for stymieing a president’s agenda and pushing their own, such as that thing that’s completely slipped their minds: enacting legislation.

Moreover, the president, unlike a king, would not govern by divine right, but by the consent of the people. Staging impeachments over policy disagreements is a logical absurdity under our Constitution.

Worse, the Democrats are impeaching Trump over his foreign policy, nearly the exclusive province of the commander in chief.

To be extra clear that they don’t care about the Constitution — much less the Founding Fathers, whom they keep solemnly invoking — the Democrats’ second article of impeachment against Trump is for “obstruction of Congress.” That is pretty much his job. How about impeaching a president for ordering a surprise military attack or appointing members of his Cabinet?

The Constitution gives each of the three branches devices to oppose the others. Congress can issue subpoenas, and the president can claim executive privilege. Then a court — probably the Supreme Court — will decide who wins.

Democrats have spent three years doing nothing but trying to obstruct the president. They’re indignant, scribbling up articles of impeachment, because he refuses to help them obstruct him.

The Supreme Court just took a case that will decide whether Trump can “obstruct” a House Committee from subpoenaing his financial records. So now it’s not just the executive branch, but the judicial branch, that’s obstructing the almighty, shall-not-be-defied legislative branch. I guess the House will have to impeach the Supreme Court, too.

At least they’re not wasting time passing any laws. That will save us the embarrassment of the House impeaching the president for vetoing a bill.

In an attempt to prove the wide acceptance of their insane ideas about impeachment, the media keep telling us that, as Mike Murphy put it, “if it was a secret vote, 30 Republican senators would vote to impeach Trump.” (In his defense, Murphy also thought Jeb! was going to be president.)

Murphy’s non-disprovable smear has been repeated all over — by E.J. Dionne at a Brookings Institute forum, on cable news shows, and in several articles in The New York Times just in the last week.

This drop-the-mic charge is one of most cynical and anti-democratic arguments you will ever hear. It’s rolled out as if it’s argument for impeachment, when in fact it’s an argument against.

The “secret vote” claim is the precise reason these people should never be anywhere near power — not even with a White House tour group. They think a presidential phone call should be broadcast on Netflix, but a senator should only vote in private, like having sexual relations.

I’m to vote in full view of the public? Oh, how awful!

Yes, I’m quite certain that most politicians would love to do things differently — if only they could be rid of the pesky rabble looking over their shoulders. I just didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to admit it.

COPYRIGHT 2019 ANN COULTER

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.