According to Wikipedia: “Impeachment in the United States is the process by which a legislature (usually in the form of the lower house) brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed, analogous to the bringing of an indictment by a grand jury. At the federal level, this is at the discretion of the House of Representatives. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office”. For any interested in the history of impeachment in US life up to the present, the Wikipedia article provides a helpful account. As for whether or not impeachment is a good thing, I feel in principle that it can be, as it is an important check and balance over political excess, bribery and corruption etc., but in practice it can be a bad thing when the path to impeachment is followed for purely political reasons and based on flimsy grounds, as is happening now.

What I have in mind and what triggered these thoughts is the present impeachment hearings concerning President Trump, which if you were to check out Google / YouTube you will see there are many accounts and opinions being offered, often quite different when it comes to offering perspectives and conclusions. As I see it, Trump has done nothing that is impeachable if rules of fair play etc. were the only consideration; he is hated by a whole host of powerful people of which he has their measure and is part of the swamp he is seeking to drain, who want rid of him by fair means or foul and are of a view impeachment is one way to achieve this, led by liar in chief Adam Schiff who is supported by an assortment of those of dubious character, like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren and Jerry Nadler, all of who after following these past three years I now see as swamp creatures and unfavourably size up, having followed their public pronouncements in that time.

The behind closed doors hearings and leaking on snippets seeking to portray Trump in a bad light have had a sense of farce, following the failure to get Trump on Russian collusion. One of the many depressing aspects is the move to the next stage of impeachment was done on purely party lines. Watching the first day of hearings, I find nothing to even remotely prove the assertion that Trump has done quid pro quo with the Ukrainians by offering / withdrawing aid if they give / withhold information that will dish up dirt on his political opponent, Joe Biden, who is on record, when he was Vice President, of threatening to withhold aid if they did not sack a prosecutor investigating among other things his son’s dealings concerning a certain energy interest. As I write, I am listening to Day 2 testimony of ex-US Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, which admittedly raises concerns. It seems to me the aim is to derail Trump, fearing his re-election as President in 2020. I will continue to follow this story with interest given it is part of the spiritual war we are seeing and like Nancy Pelosi I will pray, but in my case it will be for the truth to come out, for the good guys to be exonerated, for the bad guys to be shown up for what they are and for the healing of the nation based on righteous precepts.

Update 20/12/19: We now know – the President will be impeached, for he now faces trial in the Senate on two articles of impeachment. According to the New York Times: “The first article charges him with abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to assist him in his re-election campaign by damaging Democratic rivals. The second article charges him with obstruction of Congress for blocking testimony and refusing to provide documents in response to House subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry“. Given the highly political partisan nature of the process whether or not the President will be found guilty will be decided on party lines. Given the Senate is controlled by the Republicans, more likely to back Trump and the Congress by Democrats who wish to impeach him, it is little wonder that Nancy Pelosi is delaying handing over these articles until a more politically opportune time – and now Congress has broken for Christmas and “Impeachment trial plans in disarray as Congress heads home“. I followed the hearings following my original post and heard testimony and commentary by the not so good and not so great and remain unconvinced that Trump has done anything impeachable and truly believe it is maybe the Swamp’s maybe last attempt to fight back before it is drained. With other happenings that have a bearing, like further evidence of high crimes and misdemeanours by Trump’s detractors, I await developments with interest and expect this will be exposed for the witch hunt it is.