I’ve got an idea that will save the GOP. Now hear
me out, because this will benefit the country in the long run. The Republicans
would be best served voting for impeachment. Now, I get that there are members
of the GOP who aren’t taking the impeachment trial seriously. I get that
conservative media would like us to ignore the history behind the ability to
impeach an elected official after they’ve left office. I understand that. And I
fully understand that their first instinct is to put party over the best interest
of the country. However, now is the time to abandon that dangerous mindset.
To fully understand what I’m talking about, we’re
going to have to travel back in time. We’re going to travel back to 1974. It
was the year the Cleveland Indians staged Ten Cent Beer night, one of the most disastrous
promotions of all-time. It was the year the fighter jet, the F-16 was born.
Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a group she later
joins with. Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and author
Stephen King publishes the novel Carrie. And in August of 1974, a first
happened in American politics. A president resigned the office.
Richard Nixon, exposed in plotting the Watergate
break-in, was facing impeachment. Well, to be honest, the impeachment was set
in motion when Nixon decided to fire several staff members and others resigned
in what was to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Not wishing to become
the first president since Andrew Johnson to be impeached, and knowing a
conviction would end his prized political career, Nixon quit. He resigned, he
left office. This occurred on August 9th, 1974. With his Vice
President Spiro Agnew having already resigned in disgrace, Gerald Ford, who
became Vice President after serving as House Minority Leader, would become
president, thus becoming the first president to serve despite never have been
elected directly by the people.
It could be argued that Nixon, a shrewd political
mind, might have opted to resign as part of his grand scheme to save his
political career. After all, he was defeated in his efforts to become president
by John Kennedy, and wouldn’t so easily surrender an office he’d always had his
sights set on. However, on that August night, that’s where the country was, history
made with the first president to resign from office. One month leader, Gerald
Ford made a critical error. It was ill-conceived from the start to be frank. What
was known as Proclamation 4311, on September 8th, 1974, President
Gerald Ford issued a full pardon to Richard Nixon. Needless to say, the press
had a field day, calling the pardon Ford’s crooked deal. Many felt the
friendship between Ford and Nixon played a role in the pardon. Many felt that
Ford had cheated the American people out of the trial they so richly and
rightfully deserved to see play out. Richard Nixon escaped being impeach simply
by quitting. Gerald Ford, in his prime-time address to the nation, said the
pardon was issued in part, to help America move on from Watergate and to put it
in the past. That mindset might sound familiar, because it’s the same argument
that is being used in the Trump impeachment. Ford often cited the Supreme Court
case, Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915) which essentially
stated that should a person accept a pardon, it meant they were acknowledging
guilt. So, per the logic applied by Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon accepted guilt
for the Watergate scandal by accepting the pardon. I find multiple flaws in the
logic used by the court to reach that decision, but that’s neither here nor
there.
The fallout from the pardon was easy to predict. It angered the nation,
it failed to heal any wounds. Any notion that it would heal anything was
quickly disproven. And it would end up paving the way from Jimmy Carter to
become president. The nation as a whole was so angered by the pardon, the GOP
ended up being rejected by them.
And that brings us to 2021. Donald Trump has taken over the role made
famous by Nixon. And the evidence shown in the first two days of the trial have
been damning. Trump supporters using the American flag as a weapon. Trump
supporters yelling “Fuck you pigs!” to the police and making chants about not
only killing the cops, but chants about hanging then Vice President Mike Pence
and shooting Nancy Pelosi. And the video evidence has been chilling, however
not as chilling as another factor. Setting aside that the people that stormed
the Capitol in the attempt to overturn a fair election process, those very
people have made public statements, both then and now, that they fully believe
they were acting on an edict set forth by President Donald J. Trump. Please
take time to re-read that sentence because it’s important. The very people who
took part in a criminal act said themselves they were under the notion that
they were carrying out the desires of Trump himself. And they are saying this
in their court pleadings. And that could very well be more damning than any
video shown.
The only difference is that there was no cult like admiration of Nixon
like there is of Trump. I’ve often joked that Donald Trump is the modern era
Golden Calf. Many modern Republicans call him the true leader of their party. They
view him as a new messiah. It’s quickly going from being a political party to
becoming a cult.
As I harken back to Nixon and Watergate, now is the time for the GOP to
not allow history to repeat. They must cast aside their loyalty to Trump and
any fears of what his followers will do. They must put country over
party and vote to impeach Trump. History demands that they do. And just as
President Biden should steer clear of the errors of Gerald Ford, the GOP should
heed the call of history, and vote to impeach Trump. Because if they don’t,
they very well could fall by the wayside, just as the Whigs did in the 1800’s. To
help heal the country, to save their party, the GOP must vote to impeach Trump.
If not, we’re going to relive the post-Watergate era all over again. And the
GOP could very well find themselves replaced by the Green Party in the
political landscape of America.
