By John E. Warren, Publisher
San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
In the midst of the discussion of the second indictment of former President Donald Trump, there is an issue greater than, if not equal to, the former president’s alleged crimes.
That issue is the embarrassing spectacle of those elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate who have taken an oath to “uphold and defend” the Constitution of the United States, which includes its laws, institutions and process of governance.
That oath respects the separation of powers as established in Articles I, II and III of the Constitution. It requires that the business of the nation be done in the prescribed manner of its laws, which gives legislative powers to the Congress, Judicial powers to the Courts and Executive powers to the President as prescribed under Article II.
This means that when Republican members of Congress take aim and condemn the Department of Justice, the same DOJ operating under its delegated authority within the prescribed conduct of the Judicial system, their conduct denies the validity of the very Constitution such members swore to “protect and defend”. It is one thing for die hard Trump supporters to speak as if they are operating in support of the Constitution, and another to, at the same time, say they will not read the indictment and refuse to acknowledge the same legal process that states “No one is above the law” (including Presidents).
These same Trump supporters are joined by elected Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate who join the Trump supporters as deniers of the validity of the current Presidency and our electoral process – except when it works in their favor.
Democracy has been crippled with the failure of our two party system collapsing under such refusals by Republican members of Congress to support the very political and judicial process upon which they were elected.
It is an embarrassment to have the Speaker of the House of Representatives and members of the U.S. Senate openly attack the process and indictments brought against Donald Trump. They refuse to even read the document in which Trump indicted himself through his words, and actions while he simultaneously refuses to acknowledge the threats to national security detailed in his illegal holding and refusal to release Secret and Classified documents.
If Donald Trump were to be treated like anyone else in a similar situation, the Court would probably order a psychiatric evaluation to consider his fitness to stand trial. His actions and statements are against his personal interest. What does that say for the elected officials and the candidates for the Office of the Presidency on the extreme right who seek to use the Republican Party to support Trump, in spite of the laws he has violated and for which he will be tried, and should be jailed?
The solution to this crisis is for the rest of us to not lose faith in our system of government. To use our votes and even the Recall Process to remove from office those extremists who would violate and throw out our laws and system of democratic governance to support what they want: the replacement of democracy with an authoritarian form of government under Donald Trump. Their end goal is a physical war of violence against our democratic governmental institutions and those of us who support those institutions.
We must not join the embarrassment of those elected officials who are drinking the Trump Kool-Aid. Thomas Jefferson once said, “Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Freedom.” Let’s watch and Vote!