Founding Fathers clear in Declaration and Constitution: Trump should be impeached

By Tom Coleman
Special to the Star, The Kansas City Star

Americans are familiar with the flowery language Thomas Jefferson used in writing the Declaration of Independence. In addition to setting forth what Jefferson referred to as self-evident truths, this foundational document, approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, also contains a long list of grievances the colonists suffered at the hands of King George III of Great Britain.

In fact, Jefferson listed so many “injuries and usurpations” that they make up the majority of the Declaration. They serve as specific examples of why the colonies decided to throw off British rule.

I believe Jefferson’s list of royal wrongdoings now give guidance to members of Congress as to why they should pursue the impeachment and removal from office of President Donald J. Trump. They include:

• Refusal to assent to laws passed by the Continental Congress.
• Exposing the colonies to the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.
• Working with others to subject us to a foreign power and giving his assent to their acts.
• Obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, discouraging their migration to the colonies.
• Obstructing the administration of justice by refusing to accept the establishment of judiciary powers.
• Maintaining standing armies in times of peace without the consent of the legislature.
• Cutting off our trade with parts of the world.
• Imposing taxes on us without our consent.
• Depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury.
• Fundamentally altering our form of government.
• Declaring he had the power to legislate.
• Exciting domestic insurrections among us.

While Jefferson was lodging a specific bill of particulars against the king, he was for all practical purposes writing for the ages. Every one of the royal wrongs listed above has been committed in an eerily similar fashion by the current occupant of the White House.

They include: cooperating with Russians during the 2016 campaign; requesting Ukrainian involvement in the 2020 election; asserting the president is above the law; unilaterally deciding not to expend funds appropriated by Congress; violating U.S. laws of asylum and legal immigration; being influenced by and subservient to Russian President Vladimir Putin; and obstructing justice by prohibiting members of his administration to testify before Congress and provide subpoenaed documents.

Additionally, the president has ridiculed and used ethnic slurs against members of the judiciary; sent military units to the southern border for several weeks before the 2018 election for no reason other than political posturing; enmeshed the nation in multiple trade wars while raising tariffs that are actually taxes on American consumers; given approval and led calls to lock up his political opponents; issued multiple executive orders that erroneously purport to be equal to congressionally-passed legislation; and given support to white nationalists’ activity in Charlottesville, Virginia, and at his rallies. During his three years in office, he has fundamentally altered our politics and form of government by his continuous violation of our laws and Constitution.

Jefferson, at the end of his long indictment, concluded that a leader “whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

The 13 colonies on whose behalf Jefferson was writing became the United States of America after our Constitution was adopted 12 years later. The Founding Fathers had not forgotten Jefferson’s admonitions regarding tyrannical rule. As a result, the drafters of the Constitution provided an escape from tyranny by creating a specific impeachment clause. It was intended to serve as a method by which those who followed would be able to remove a tyrannical and unfit president from office.

It’s clear the Founders, above all else, wanted to assure that future Americans would be free from bad rulers.

Our test today will be whether the current members of Congress are wise enough to act on their gift.

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Tom Coleman is a former Republican U.S. Representative from Missouri. He has served as an adjunct professor at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and at American University.

Source: Founding Fathers clear in Declaration and Constitution: Trump should be impeached
The Kansas City Star, 12.18.19

Photo credit: National Archives