On June 4, 2014, Donald Trump as usual was apoplectic. His fury that day was ignited by word that President Obama had authorized the exchange of five Taliban prisoners for Bowe Bergdahl, the Army Sgt. held captive in Afghanistan since 2009. So, Trump took to Twitter to ask, “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?”
Ignoring the long history of prisoner exchanges which had been part of every American war since the Revolution and the difficult constitutional issues involved, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham certainly thought so. He warned that “there will be people on our side calling for his impeachment” if more Guantanamo detainees were released. Former Bush Attorney General and torture enthusiast Michael Mukasey agreed, proclaiming “The president can stay within his lawful powers and still commit an impeachable offense.”
But by that standard—or pretty much any other—Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump would be removed from office as soon as possible. With his conduct unbecoming a private, a general or any rank in between, Trump would be dishonorably discharged for his erratic and dangerous performance.
Consider the revelations of just the past few weeks. Trump deployed U.S. forces as political props along the Mexican border, defended the Saudi regime responsible for butchering a U.S. resident on the soil of a NATO ally, and slandered the decorated commander of the 2011 raid which killed Osama Bin Laden. The President has now publicly rebuked U.S. intelligence agencies for their conclusion in the Khashoggi assassination in addition to his rejections of their assessments of Russian election interference, Iranian compliance with the 2015 P5+1 nuclear accord and the North Korean ballistic missile program. Having unilaterally withdrawn from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with Russia and repeatedly threatening to refuse to honor American mutual defense obligations to NATO, Trump mocked French President Emmanuel Macron for declaring Europe would have no choice but to create its own army. Meanwhile, our AWOL Commander-in-Chief—the same one who has never visited U.S. troops in Iraq or Afghanistan--skipped both an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I and a Veteran’s Day remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery, only to deploy Kellyanne Conway to insult the intelligence of 330 million Americans:
↓ Story continues below ↓“No president has shown greater respect for the military and the veterans.”
Certainly not for the American servicemen and women Trump sent to the U.S. southern border to supposedly halt the “invasion” from the Central American refugee caravan now encamped in and around Tijuana, Mexico.
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