America Burns While Congress Fiddles

There are parts of this planet that are in the throes of upheaval; some might say that we too are burdened with dissension, civil strife, and major division along mostly social and ideological lines. But unlike other nations, we have not as yet seen death and destruction on such a large scale as, say, the Middle East and Africa. Yes, aside from the corrupt Antifa criminals and their attempts to undermine conventional standards and public stability, we have still managed to maintain a modicum of civility and order.

In the midst of all the chaos, hardship, and uncertainty, America’s vision for the future, for the present anyway, is not attending to the people’s business, and “Making America Great Again” and “Keeping America Great,” but in a partisan effort to destroy a duly-elected president by a mob of self-righteous, indignant, sycophant politicians and bureaucrats. 

The Democratic Party’s motivation for impeachment is built on a foundation of deceit, vengeance, and hate. It should come as no surprise to any informed American that this president’s fate, in the eyes of his enemies, was sealed the day he was elected. A day has not gone by when some drummed up conspiracy has not been trumpeted by Democrats and their media cohorts.

We are now in the chapter titled “The Ukraine Affair” of this ongoing novel that appears having had its ending already written at the beginning of the story. Democrats have been holding their behind-the-scene clandestine meetings with whistleblowers, ambassadors, and an assortment of bureaucrats. They also held a focus group to determine what would be a more appropriate term to use instead of "quid pro quo" that would have maximum impact, they selected bribery. Republicans have been crying foul, asserting that the rules as laid down by the Grand Inquisitor Adam Schiff are unfair, partisan, and unprecedented.

On Wednesday, November 13 the public phase of the impeachment hearings began, to determine if President Trump did, in fact, hold up $400M dollars in military aid with the stipulation that Ukraine’s newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky do him a favor. That favor: investigate corruption of Ukraine's anti-Trump involvement in the 2016 election, and then Vice President Biden and his son, who was on the board of a Ukraine energy company, Burisma. It is now common knowledge that the monies were in fact transferred to Ukraine, and that no investigation had been initiated. Democrats insisted the funds were released after the whistleblower came forward.

Two seasoned diplomats appeared before the House Intelligence Committee. Bill Taylor is the highest-ranking official in Ukraine and George Kent is a senior State Department official. Their testimony rested on what seemed to be second- and third-hand information. Neither of the pair had any direct contact with President Trump and could not to their knowledge confirm if there was any quid pro quo in the phone call. When asked if the president’s actions reached the level of an impeachable offense, there was silence - neither of the two could answer.

On Friday, November 15, former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich appeared before the committee and testified how the president and members of his staff subjected her to a “smear campaign” that resulted in her removal from the post of ambassador. Ms. Yovanovich at times appeared flustered and upset, saying she was “shocked, appalled, and devastated,” and that she was scared for her safety. Chairman Schiff interrupted the proceedings by reading, before the assembled and viewers, a just-issued tweet by the president that criticized Ms. Yovanovich. Schiff asked her how she felt about it; she responded intimidated. This interaction was the highpoint of the day; the media played it up to the hilt.

Marie Yovanovich has over thirty years of public service experience; she has served in Somalia and Ukraine. Are we to believe that this woman, who I would imagine has a built-up reserve of tenacity and strength, was intimidated by the president’s tweet?

What I have taken away from this imbroglio, for want of a better term, is that with all due respect to their years of service, each of these three bureaucrats were upset because their methods of doing things were disrupted and set aside by a president who does things his own way, as we have all learned. Mr. Trump came to Washington to drain the swamp, and now its inhabitants are surfacing to fight for their lives.