Treason?

Mr. Trump has apparently stepped across the line into treason.  Many observers have noted serious wrongdoing,  a few so far have even used the word “treason”. 

Mr. Trump has weakened the western alliance for Mr. Putin by denigrating the allies at every turn (the G-7 meeting in Canada,  the NATO summit in Brussels,  his visit to the UK,  etc),  and imposing unnecessary tariffs,  trying to start trade wars with them. 

Soviet Russia and now Putin’s Russia has been trying to weaken our alliance unsuccessfully for over 7 decades.  Mr. Trump has done it for them in only a year and a half. 

At the Helsinki summit news conference,  Mr. Trump then gut-punched his own intelligence community to stick up for Putin.  He defended Putin against reporters’ questions.  The smirk on Putin's face was evident.

At the same news conference,  Mr. Trump then tried to blame poor relations with Russia on Mueller's investigation.  He so obviously still believes the fiction that Mueller's investigation is solely just a witch hunt against him.  It is not. 

Mueller’s investigation began before Mr. Trump became President,  and its charter was to find out what exactly happened regarding election meddling,  how they did it,  who exactly did it,  and did they have any help on the US side?   Exactly as it should be. 

The “collusion” thing is but a small piece of that investigation,  dealing with the “did they have any help on the US side?” question.    That’s no witch hunt,  that’s quite a proper question to investigate. 

Billions have seen this play out on live television the last couple of weeks.  Weakening the western alliance for Putin’s Russia is at the very least “providing aid and comfort to the enemy”,  as one of the two Constitutional definitions of treason has it.  Only two witnesses are required.

The House of Representatives brings the charges as Articles of Impeachment.  The Senate then tries the case,  with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presiding,  not the Vice President.  It takes a 2/3 majority to convict.  That is what the Constitution says.

It is now urgent for the House and Senate to deal with this apparent treason.  If they do not deal with this fairly quickly,  they are complicit in it,  by any possible reasonable standard.  And you,  the American people,  must hold them accountable at election time.  This is way more important than any conceivable party politics. 

Update 7-19-18:  Notwithstanding the various quite pathetic walk-backs of what Trump said in Helsinki and afterwards,  it is quite clear what he said and meant in Helsinki,  and to the allies in the month preceding.  If that combination is not treason of the “aid and comfort” type,  it is perilously close,  and merits severe corrective action. 

There is no question that the House and Senate need to deal with this,  and quickly,  and it appears that the majority of Americans are aware of this.  The fate of the western alliance that has kept the world more-or-less at peace for 70 years is at stake.  But what I see are politicians mostly scrambling to give misbehaving Trump another “pass” for their own political advantage,  instead of doing their sworn duty for the American people.  They are thus complicit in Trump’s treason,  in my opinion.

At this point,  all I can recommend is voting for “the other guy”,  no matter who it is,  in every election from 2018 onward.  I don’t see how we could do any worse.  We might do a lot better.  This is way beyond any party politics in its seriousness,  which is exactly why who the “other guy” is,  does not matter.  Just replace the whole misbehaving lot!

Update 8-24-18:  I did contact my representative and senators about this issue,  among 3 total issues,  asking how they might decide,  if the impeachment issue comes to a head.  All I received was stock form-letters that never addressed any of the issues I raised.  So my recommendation to "replace the whole misbehaving lot" stands. 

I cannot abide public servants who value political party advantage above the good of the people they swore to serve.  As far as I am concerned,  they,  and all like them,  are therefore complicit in Trump's treason,  by doing nothing about it.

Following this debacle on the news,  I see the treason issue has retreated into obscurity relative to other charges of corruption and election-law violations.  I am very disappointed to see that. 

In particular,  the most prominent public figure to use any form of the word "treason" was John Brennan.  Trump revoked his security clearance for voicing that observation,  and the news organizations reported this,  but have since let Trump get away unscathed for this pathetic abuse of power.  For shame!

Yet my observations above still stand,  even if ignored now by the news media and the public.  Mr. Trump has damaged our alliances by publicly insulting our allies and starting trade wars with them. 

The only beneficiaries of this are our adversaries,  primarily Putin's Russia.  This is something that Putin's Russia,  and before it Soviet Russia,  tried and failed to do for 7 decades.  Mr. Trump did this for them in less than 2 years. 

If that is not treason of the "aid and comfort to the enemy" type,  then what is? 

Even if it is not,  it is most definitely perilously close to that type of treason,  and that certainly qualifies as a "high crime and misdemeanor",  more than worthy of impeachment. 

So,  why is this not being considered by the public and the news media as possible grounds for impeachment?  It is right under everybody's nose!

Wake up,  America,  before it is too late!