FOCUS: Robert Reich | Donald Trump: Xenophobe in Public, International Mobster in Private

13 October 19

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13 October 19

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FOCUS: Robert Reich | Donald Trump: Xenophobe in Public, International Mobster in Private

Robert Reich, Guardian UK
Reich writes: "The most xenophobic and isolationist American president in modern history has been selling America to foreign powers for his own personal benefit."

EXCERPT:

When they gathered in Philadelphia 232 years ago to write a constitution, a major goal was to protect the new nation from what Alexander Hamilton called the “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils”.

To ensure no president would “betray his trust to foreign powers”, as James Madison put it, they included an emoluments clause – barring a president from accepting foreign payments.

They also gave Congress the right to impeach a president for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”. During the Virginia ratifying convention, Edmund Randolph confirmed that a president “may be impeached” if discovered “receiving [help] from foreign powers”.

You don’t have to be an originalist to see the dangers to democracy when a president seeks or receives personal favors from foreign governments. There is no limit to how far a foreign power might go to help a president enlarge his political power and wealth, in exchange for selling out America.

Donald Trump is a xenophobe in public and international mobster in private. He has brazenly sought private gain from foreign governments at the expense of the American people.

This is shameful and criminal. At the very least, it is impeachable.

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What the Constitution really says about impeachment

The charges in the Cipollone letter represent one of the most dangerous attacks on Congress’s prerogatives in recent memory. The Bottom Line on the Impeachment Process On Tuesday, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone issued a now-infamous eight-page letter to House Democratic leadership announcing that President Donald Trump would not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. While the letter set out a host of perceived grievances, perhaps none is as concerning—and misleading—as the complaint that the impeachment inquiry is “constitutionally invalid and a violation of due process.” We are not naive enough to think that this letter was actually meant as a serious attempt to persuade the House to pull back the impeachment inquiry. But its contents have been cited and circulated widely enough that we think it’s important to take a closer look. TELL ME MORE

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