My Point of View by Aaron Farris

 

The House has set the official impeachment rules for its investigation into President Trump. For some reading this column, they will be happy to hear that. For others, not so much. However, something we should be able to agree on is that it’s disgraceful how the impeachment process is being approached by House Democrats.

Freeborn County Democrats clearly support impeachment — at least, the ones moving the party further and further to the left. The independents that they’re trying to win over? Not really. The independents that I have talked to — and you will find quite a few of them in Freeborn County — have made very clear that even though they don’t support everything the president says or does, they love what he’s gotten done, and how he’s shaken up Washington. Sure, the president isn’t perfect. Neither was Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton definitely wasn’t! However, disliking a president’s policies does not constitute impeachment.

The reason I say that the Democrats’ way of approaching impeachment is disgraceful is because they have taken the bipartisanship out of it. They have taken due process out of impeachment as they have for many other things over the past couple of years since Donald Trump was inaugurated. Speaker Albert gave President Nixon’s lawyers a seat at the table and allowed House Republicans to be involved in the impeachment process. Speaker Gingrich gave President Clinton’s lawyers a seat at the table, allowed House Democrats to be involved in the process, and even held a joint press conference with Minority Leader Gephardt. Speaker Pelosi has not allowed Republicans to be a part of the process, she has not given President Trump’s counsel a voice at the table, and she has not given members of the House a chance to vote on the inquiry whatsoever. This is ridiculous, and the Freeborn County community sees this unethical spectacle for what it is.

Speaker Pelosi allows Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler and Intelligence Committee Chairman Schiff to run their committees like authoritarian circuses. Nadler consistently breaks basic committee rules that were always followed while Bob Goodlatte was chair, and Adam Schiff has lied to Freeborn Countians since President Trump was elected. Schiff has repeatedly said on national television that House Democrats had “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion during the Mueller investigation. However, Schiff (even after the Mueller report was released) never gave a single piece of evidence to Americans. That makes myself and a lot of independents (and even Democrats) in Freeborn County believe that Schiff never had a single thing. Schiff also made up a fake transcript of the call between President Trump and Ukraine and relayed that fake transcript to the entire country in a committee hearing.

In reality, what we are living through with the House Democrats is nothing more than a political game. If they really cared about “doing what’s right” and impeaching President Trump, they would not be doing it behind closed doors and excluding Republicans from the process, and leaking out information that benefits themselves. Democrats would be letting all Americans know what they are doing and why, not only when it benefits themselves. Instead, this is a joke. If Democrats really cared about impeachment and doing it right, they would not have jumped the gun on announcing their inquiry before the Ukraine call transcript came out. I think Texas Democratic Congressman Al Green summarizes the House Democrats’ impeachment reasoning perfectly; “I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected.”

It’s clear that Democrats don’t have the best interests of the American people in mind, let alone the interests of Freeborn Countians. Lisa Page and Peter Stzrok (who at the time were both FBI agents and having an affair) sent many text messages to each other while working on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server, saying that Hillary would win “a million to one” and that if she didn’t, “we have an insurance policy.” We are living through that insurance policy. The insurance policy they are referring to is impeachment. What House Democrats are doing now is executing an impeachment investigation that does not follow the precedent put forth by the Nixon impeachment (Democratic House) and the Clinton impeachment (Republican House), and do not allow normal, hardworking, everyday citizens like those in Freeborn County to have a say in what their elected officials do.

In short, less than a year from Election Day, the Democrats know that they cannot defeat a thriving economy, the lowest unemployment rates in history and the many other great things that President Trump and his administration have accomplished. Instead of letting Freeborn Countians voice their preference of whether President Trump deserves a second term, House Democrats believe (wrongly) that they know better. We know that’s not true.

Aaron Farris is the secretary of the Freeborn County Republican Party. He is the party’s youngest executive committee member.