Will Closing The Border Lead To Trump's Impeachment?

Saluda al Jefe!

Republican Will Hurd's recent reelection wasn't exactly overwhelming. In the end, he beat a very weak Democratic opponent 103,285 (49.2%) to 102,359 (48.7%) in an R+1 district where Hillary beat Trump 49.8% to 46.4%. The district has-- by far-- the longest border with Mexico (over 800 miles) of any district in America. It stretches from the outskirts of San Antonio to the outskirts of El Paso and is over 70% Hispanic. Trade with Mexico is at the heart of the district's economic activity, so you can imagine that Hurd, a very conservative Republican, is a passionate opponent of Trump's wall and his posture towards Latinos. Hurd, a former CIA undercover agent, serves on the Homeland Security Committee where he is the vice-chair of the Border and Maritime Subcommittee. A couple of weeks ago he went on CNN to explain why he voted against Trump's wall. "Building a 30-foot high concrete structure from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security," Hurd said. "I represent 820 miles of border, more border than any other member of Congress. I spent almost a decade as an undercover officer in the CIA chasing bad guys all over the world. In places along the border, Border Patrol's response time is measured in hours to days. So a wall is actually not a physical barrier. We-- if we want to address root causes of illegal immigration we should be doing and working on those root causes in the northern triangle like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. We should be talking about, how do we plus-up the State Department budget and USAID budget? How do we work with Mexico, who just announced $30 billion on doing-- on working on economic opportunities in Central America? There are the things that are going to address root causes of mass migration."

Yesterday it was as if Trump read his statement-- or had it read to him-- and decided to do the exact opposite. Like a petulant brat in a crib, the illegitimate fake "president" threatened to seal the border and end all economic aid to Central America if he doesn't get the money for his wall (or beaded curtain). And to continue the government shutdown until he's carted out of the oval office and dump in a landfill. The asshole: "We build the wall or... close the southern border." (Shutting the southern border will cost the country billions of dollars and ruin the economy way beyond TX-23, shuttering businesses in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and beyond.)

Other than a few neo-fascist crackpots like Louie Gohmert (R-TX), no one thinks Señor Trumpanzee is stupid enough-- or even has the cajones to-- close down the southern border. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told CNN it was "highly unlikely" the imbecile would follow through on his threat. "It’s not likely to happen. It would stifle commerce, significant commerce, between our two countries that benefits both of us. So I don’t think he will follow through, I hope not." Even Trumpanzee's Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, said the silly bluff was "the only way we can get the Democrats' attention." Congressman Ryan Costello (R-PA) blasted Trump’s threat as an "angry eighth-grader’s tweet"-- infuriating eighth graders in West Chester and the Upper Main Line. "I don’t really know how to make sense of it because I don’t think he can do this even if he wanted to. It probably violates NAFTA. I don’t think he’ll have much if any support in Congress. Nor do I think logistically he’d be able to implement it... And when you start throwing out vacuous threats like this, people stop taking you seriously in terms of how you go about negotiating."

Yesterday, Elizabeth Drew penned an OpEd for the NY Times, The Inevitability of Impeachment. "Even Republicans..." she begins. I'm not so sure how many Republicans have come to the conclusion yet but Drew is correct that an impeachment process against the deranged and dangerous buffoon "now seems inescapable"-- unless it resigns. Pelosi doesn't want to do it but "the pressure by the public on the Democratic leaders to begin an impeachment process next year will only increase." Is there enough evidence to impeach (and imprison) the stinking load of crap Putin dumped in the Oval Office? Drew, who thinks there is, wrote that "we will learn what the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has found, even if his investigation is cut short. A significant number of Republican candidates didn’t want to run with Mr. Trump in the midterms, and the results of those elections didn’t exactly strengthen his standing within his party. His political status, weak for some time, is now hurtling downhill.

It always seemed to me that Mr. Trump’s turbulent presidency was unsustainable and that key Republicans would eventually decide that he had become too great a burden to the party or too great a danger to the country. That time may have arrived.

In the end the Republicans will opt for their own political survival. Almost from the outset some Senate Republicans have speculated on how long his presidency would last. Some surely noticed that his base didn’t prevail in the midterms.

It’s to be recalled that Mr. Nixon resigned without having been impeached or convicted. The House was clearly going to approve articles of impeachment against him, and he’d been warned by senior Republicans that his support in the Senate had collapsed. Mr. Trump could well exhibit a similar instinct for self-preservation. But like Mr. Nixon, Mr. Trump will want future legal protection.

...Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford, and despite suspicions, no evidence has ever surfaced that the fix was in. While Mr. Trump’s case is more complex than Mr. Nixon’s, the evident dangers of keeping an out-of-control president in office might well impel politicians in both parties, not without controversy, to want to make a deal to get him out of there.

Up for reelection in 2020, aside from every single member of the House, are 11 Republicans who would be harmed-- perhaps fatally-- with Trump at the top of the ticket: Miss McConnell (R-KY), John Cornyn (R-TX), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Ben Sasse (R-NE), who would likely try to run a confused anti-Trump reelection campaign, David Perdue (R-GA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), who is already making noises about retiring, Steve Daines (R-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has already announced he's bowing out rather than run with Trump. And Martha McSally, who was just appointed to McCain's old seat surely doesn't want to face Arizona voters who have already rendered a judgment against Trump last month by defeating her in her Senate race against Kyrsten Sinema.