For the first time in American history, an American president will see himself not as the boss who fires erring applicants but as the one at the very center of a political maelstrom.
Impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump are underway, beginning Wednesday. Trump has been quoted as saying that he wants the proceedings to be televised, a delicious request to the ears of the American media industry which has been a target of Trump attacks since his very first day in office.
Media analysts see the impeachment broadcasts as highly damaging not just to Trump, who seeks a second term, but to the Republican Party which, in recent days, had tried to block every attempt by Democrats to call for a probe on allegations against the embattled president.
Stephen Collison, writing for CNN, says that:
“The gravity and drama of the first televised impeachment hearings into Donald Trump’s presidency on Wednesday will imprint themselves on history and reverberate far from Washington.
The most crucial stage of the Ukraine investigation so far has profound implications beyond the political and personal reputation of Trump and the question of whether he abused his power by seeking political favors from a foreign power.
His fate will have sweeping consequences for the future understanding of powers vested within the presidency itself. The hearings will test whether the ancient machinery of US governance can effectively investigate a President who ignores the charges against him and fogs fact in defining a new post-truth political era. And notwithstanding Trump’s current Republican firewall, the hearings will begin to decide whether a presidency that has rocked America and the world will reach its full natural term.”
Many expect the Republicans no-vote on Trump’s impeachment, and that is a surety. However, such moves might influence voter behavior and lead to Trump’s defeat at the polls.
Trump is running against former Vice President Joe Biden whom he accused of using his position to help his son, Hunter, a more favorable job at a Ukrainian company. Biden has since denied Trump’s charge and Hunter, his son, has resigned and went as far away from the controversy as possible.
What has turned this Trump offensive into a very offensive one back at him is the account of a White House insider which portrayed the US President as ingratiating himself before an Ukrainian president just to get juicy information to smash his political opponent to smithereens. For Americans, this is clearly an abuse of power because it exposes the possibility of a president such as Trump using his vast connections for his political survival. An abuse of power, for Americans, happens when someone in power uses his position to gain advantage over another. Americans has always valued a good level playing field, not just in business, but in all aspects of life, particularly politics.
Trump has time and again, blocked, parlayed and slithered his way out of intrigues and scandals, even those about his liaisons with prostitutes and his totally inane and insane statements that causes shame and humiliate a lot of the American publics.
While these scenes would definitely imprint itself into the historical consciousness of the people, is it enough to defeat the highly controversial Trump? Trump is a celebrity, a believer of the dictum that “bad publicity is still publicity.”
