Watching History Rhyme.

        I've seen Donald Trump compared to Richard Nixon. Don't. Just don't. His crimes were bush league compared to what we've seen with Trump.
        Nixon won a close election in 1968 without the aid of a hostile foreign power working on his behalf. I know enough about Dick to know that if you couldn't swing a cat without hitting someone who had ties to a foreign power he would have cleaned house.That's if they made it into the West Wing to start with.
        Dick Nixon had a plethora of faults but he didn't act like he was in the pocket of an adversary.
        Where was I going with this?
        Right, Trump. It's always Trump anymore.
        Everyday there's a new outrage, revelation, more disregard of the rule of law, global embarrassment or simply deranged behavior. Outrage fatigue is real. You simply can't maintain the level needed without melting down into a pile of bubbling protoplasm eventually.
        The list of actions are long and sordid. Did I mention long? How about sordid? Every new action compounds the desecration of the office of American President.Which is why you see the word impeachment used more and more often.
        At first it was a band out on the fringe who wanted him impeached a day or so after he took office. Let's forget about them as they're batshit crazy. As Trump did more and more outrageous things a pattern emerged which has forced discussion of impeachment into the mainstream.
        He nominated completely unqualified people, tied to the industries they were to regulate. Obviously that's an open invitation to corruption. Trump ignored concerns from the intelligence community and appointed a compromised NSA. He regularly ignored red flags as he filled posts. His son-in-law after being appointed a Counselor to the president, had to amend his paperwork for a clearance nearly a hundred times. Seriously, you can't do that. At least in a normal world. While that clearance was pending Jared had access to the highest levels of intel there is. The Daily Brief and any other Read Only documents he wanted. Eventually Kushner's clearance was kicked down to Secret. Better late than never I guess. I'm not even sure what clearance Ivanka, daughter and Counselor, even has.
      The Trump finances are so convoluted it would give a self respecting forensic accountant nightmares. Rather than put things in a blind trust as everyone else does he put the boys in charge.
Hell, Jimmy Carter had to put his peanut farm and warehouse in a blind trust.
        There's too much. To list everything we'd be getting into"War And Peace" length territory.
        A brief list off the top of my head would be,
        Detention of asylum seekers in conditions that at best, could be considered barbarous.
        A ready, fire, aim foreign policy which in the space of two and a half years has severely weakened the alliances that have fended off WWIII for 75 years.
        None of the people in this Administration are even trying to hide criminality and corruption anymore.
        There is a total disregard about how government works.
        With insane legal arguments being made,you have to wonder if the legal staff was recruited from bus bench ads.
        Adulation of despots as he tries to muzzle a free press like they have.
        We have his profiteering of his office. How deep is he in the financial shenanigans of his inner circle. How compromised is he because of the financial circus?
        Unless you've been in a coma you know the surface has been only barely scratched.
        I understand the calls for impeachment this year.
       Yes bills of impeachment would likely pass the House. They would be defeated in the Senate without question.
        Without conviction in the Senate Trump would bleat constantly about his vindication in a witch hunt louder than he ever did over the Mueller Report. It would only bolster his reelection bid.
        Impeachment is, and always has been, a political action. High Crimes and Misdemeanors mean whatever the Congress in power wants it to.
        I've been vocal that in the current crisis impeachment isn't much more than political theater. The calls for doing it as a moral statement is a toothless action. Accomplishing nothing but creating blowback.
        I've advocated for the Watergate template.
        Hearings. Bury them in subpoenas. Patiently build a paper trail of attempts to settle the question of appearances before the Committees. Then charge with contempt of Congress. Do to them what was done before enforcement was ceded to DOJ. Have US Marshalls haul them to a Federal lock up till they cooperate.
       On claims of Executive Privilege create the same paper trail of negotiation then go to court. Press for expedited hearings. Keep court proceedings open to the public.
        All the evidence would need laid out, building a case against the President. The fight then would be in the court of public opinion. The dial has to be turned in favor for impeachment hearings to start. To do that constituents need to light up their Representatives. During Watergate Nixon's numbers were great then tumbled causing his support in Congress to evaporate.
        The next step is open impeachment hearings. The Senate Select Committee sat in session for a year before impeachment hearings opened against Nixon began.
        The problem is it's not 1973. The issue is cutting through the cacophony of today's 24 hour media. There will need to be a media blitz with concentration on local news sources. Swing the editorial boards. Local station news managers seeing the need to open every newscast with the hearings.
        We need to do this now so we can proceed to actually opening impeachment hearings.
        I'm finally in favor of impeachment.
        With the White House claiming Executive Immunity, which is unheard of, ordering their people to ignore subpoenas is pushing authoritarian over reach as a norm. Claiming where Hope Hicks sat is privileged is ludicrous. Claiming privilege over things that are public knowledge is absurd. This is all beyond the bounds of what Nixon thought he could get away with in his battles with Congress and the Special Counsel.
       Then add the hijacking of the July 4th celebration as a pulpit for Trump to glorify himself as his remarks descend into a campaign rally. There has never been a roped off VIP area for party faithful, donors, lackeys and hangers on. Invoking the holiday as cover, he'll continue his attacks on any and everything that stands in the way of adoration. He'll call for arrest of those who have angered or thwarted him. The presence of military hardware on the mall and extensive flyovers isn't to impress the world. It's to show us who's in charge. Pure Banana Republic hubris.
        Add to this his deciding to ignore the SCOTUS decision on the Census. With extremely few cases where a President has ignored SCOTUS, the established precedent is the Executive Branch will enforce laws in a manner consistent with the findings. It will also comply on matters concerning it's actions. Trump has decided to declare the law doesn't apply if it is contrary to his wishes.
        As an accumulation of egregious actions and behavior the President seems bent on remaking our republic to his whim. We have no choice any more. We need impeachment hearings but using the Watergate template.
        To repeat, impeachment is a political action. Being such it must be treated that way.  Political skill and power needs used to present a bullet proof case.
       This president must be removed. The only way to do that is with impeachment and conviction by the Senate. Political theater in the cause of moral outrage is admirable but wasted political capital.
        We need open, public hearings in every relevant Committee. On all grounds. It's our only off ramp on the road to perdition.