Obstruction

by

Gadfly

            In today's version of Planet of the Apes, Congressmen Adam Schiff (House Intelligence Committee), Elijah Cummings (House Oversight Committee), and Eliot Engel (House Foreign Affairs Committee) represent the three Orangutan judges, while President Trump portrays American astronaut George Taylor (played by Charlton Heston in the 1968 movie).  As one may recall in this dystopian production, apes dominate humans that have been silenced by frontal lobotomies and/or severed vocal cords.  Taylor, who had not been surgically silenced, defies the judges.

            On numerous occasions this week, Congressman Schiff claimed that President Trump’s persistent refusal to cooperate with their “impeachment inquiry” (more accurately an ideologically-inspired inquisition) by not allowing witnesses or documents be provided is evidence of obstruction of justice.  There is no doubt that Trump is obstructing their efforts.  However, his obstruction is based on an abuse of power, which is unjust and unconstitutional.

            As I have asserted in previous essays, there can be no justice without truth.  Truth does not need to hide or conceal itself in secrecy.  Yet, an inquisition of a duly elected president proceeds based on anonymous hearsay from an apparent political adversary via secret hearings hosted and controlled by political opponents.  The inquisition-cabal is not limited to Congress.  Now federal judges are collaborating by directing the President’s tax returns be turned over to a politically-driven district attorney in New York and the House Ways and Means committee.  Arguably, these actions violate President Trump’s Fourth Amendment protection to privacy and due process.  It is of no consequence to this power-hungry cabal that Donald Trump has experienced intense scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service and has found no illegal activity.

            In our Constitution, two specific offenses justifying impeachment are treason and bribery.  Ironically, Trump asked the Ukrainian President for assistance in a previous investigation into possible bribery involving former Vice President Biden ($1 billion in loan guarantees in exchange for the firing of an investigator who was looking into corruption of an energy company that paid his son as a director).  The cabal’s framing this request as “asking for dirt on a political opponent” places Biden above the law.

            The more serious offense is treason because it is “the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.”  Those involved in this anti-Trump cabal have arguably committed treason, ostensibly based on displaced loyalty.  How does loyalty factor into this argument?  All the individuals involved, whether Congress, the unelected bureaucrats, or a few federal judges, swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.  Loyalty in this case is not to an individual but to the Constitution and its principles.  While journalists do not swear a similar oath, professional competence demands loyalty to the First Amendment, which is supposed to guarantee a free press.

Trump was Constitutionally elected.  Loyalty to our Constitution requires acceptance of his legitimacy and Constitutional authority.  Unfortunately, the anti-Trump cabal is displaying its loyalty to either an individual—Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama doppelgänger—or to an ideology that seeks to counter or destroy Trump’s political agenda that aligns with an Electoral College-mandated public will.

This public nightmare may change when Attorney General Barr and Prosecutor Durham complete their investigation.  Hopefully, the results will shed important light on the actual truth.  Then justice may be pursued, and our Constitutional Republic may be refreshed.