The Lady in Black

It was only fitting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose a black dress for the occasion, for what else does one wear to a funeral? And yesterday was a funeral. The deceased was justice. It had been on life support for a number of years, but Pelosi, its current custodian, made the difficult decision to pull the plug.

During the vote, Fox News juxtaposed the scene unfolding on the House floor with video of President Trump surrounded by supporters at a Michigan rally which served to highlight the farce. The fact that a political party would try to oust a president based on their irrational hatred of him, rather than for an actual crime, was of course infuriating, but it was also very sad.

It was heartening that, in a rare show of unity (which we need to see more of), not a single Republican voted for impeachment. As expected, Rep. Van Drew (NJ) who plans to formally switch his party affiliation this week and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), voted against impeachment.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who had introduced a last minute resolution to censure, rather than impeach, the President, voted “present” on both articles. Is she expecting people to say she’s a hero who stood strong for liberty? If she’d truly hoped to make a statement, she would have pivoted another 90 degrees and voted against impeachment. To me, a vote of present means you don’t stand for anything. Gabbard, who is currently running for the Democratic presidential nomination, does not plan to run for reelection in 2020.

Then there was Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) who voted for the first article, abuse of power, but against the second, obstruction of Congress. Trump defeated Clinton in this district by an 11 point margin in 2016. Does Golden plan to position his split-vote as a noble act in his campaign for reelection?

None of this is complicated. Author and historian Victor Davis Hansen identifies the driving force behind the Democrats’ three-year long impeachment obsession in a recent article entitled, “When Hate Becomes an Agenda.”

When a party, an ideological movement, and an entire political agenda are based on hatred, people and policies become warped. The left-wing loathing of Trump has now tainted almost every Democrat’s agenda and unhinged most of the party’s major players. Impeachment has turned into a cruel caricature of a rare constitutional remedy for presidential criminality…

The common denominator…is an existential hatred of Donald Trump—his person, his family, his successes, his agenda, and his supporters. The two writs for impeachment are simply: 1) We loathe Trump 2) He will sabotage our agenda if we don’t impeach and remove him.

Yes, it really is that simple.

This is truly a low point for our shining city upon the hill. The lights went out last night and it was Nancy Pelosi who threw the switch.