Paul Craig Roberts
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Authored by Paul Craig Roberts:
President Trump calls it a witch hunt, but it really is a coup against American democracy. The Democrats who want Trump impeached don’t realize this. They just want Trump impeached because they don’t like him. The impeach Trump people don’t understand that if the coup against the elected president succeeds, every future president will know that if he attempts to “drain the swamp” or bring any changes not acceptable to the ruling elite, he, too, will be destroyed. Voters who want real change will also get the message and give up trying to elect a president or members of the House and Senate who will be responsive to voters. It will mean the end of democracy and accountable government. Unhindered rule by the Deep State and associated elites will take democracy’s place.
It is unfortunate that progressives do not understand this. Progressives want real change and Trump impeached, but these desires are at variance with one another.
Few, if any, of the impeach Trump crowd are paying any attention to the fabricated case against Trump that has taken the place of the Russiagate fabrication that failed. They could not care less what the case is or whether it is a fabrication. Dislike of Trump suffices.
Nevertheless, let’s look at the fabricated case.
First of all, the alleged whistleblower is not a legitimate whistleblower. He is Eric Ciaramella, a CIA officer with a second-hand complaint who met with House Intelligence (sic) chairman Adam Schiff a month ahead to orchestrate the event. Ciaramella served on Obama’s staff when VP Joe Biden was point man for Ukraine. Ciaramella also worked with CIA Director John Brennan, the architect of “Russiagate,” and with a Democratic National Committee operative who encouraged Ukraine officials to come up with dirt on President Trump.
All of this and more has caused the “whistleblower” to withdraw from testifying.
Desperate for a substitute, Democrats have come up with tainted career bureaucrats who favor military aid to Ukraine and a hard line toward Russia. Bill Taylor a US diplomat in Ukraine claims that Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, said that US military aid to Ukraine was conditional on Ukraine reopening the government’s investigation into the Ukrainian company, Burisma, an investigation that VP Joe Biden had closed down. Burisma is the company that paid as much as $1.75 million to Biden and his son.
Taylor claims that another bureaucrat, Tim Morrison, told him that Sondland communicated the “quid pro quo” to an aide to Zelensky.
Sondland rejects the claims by Taylor and Morrison.
A Ukrainian born rabid anti-Russian US Army officer serving on the National Security Council, Alexander Vindman, also offers two cents of unverified quid pro quo claims. Vindman’s motive seems to be that President Trump is inclined to follow a different policy toward Ukraine than Vindman prefers.
This is the extent of the case against Trump. Amazingly weak considering that Ukrainian president Zelensky has stated publicly that there was no quid pro quo and that the released transcript of the Trump-Zelensky conversation shows no quid pro quo.
Now for the issue of the alleged quid pro quo. It seems that everyone on both sides of the argument takes for granted without a second of thought that if there was a quid pro quo, there was an offense, possibly one sufficiently offensive to warrant impeachment. This is utter ignorant nonsense.
Quid pro quos are endemic in US foreign policy and always have been. The US government offered Ecuador president Lenin Moreno a $4.2 billion IMF loan in exchange for revoking Julian Assange’s asylum. Moreno took the deal. https://www.globalresearch.ca/assange-bought-4-2-billion-former-ecuadorian-president-confirms-imf-loan-exchange-assange/5674374
Washington offered the Venezuelan military money to overthrow President Maduro. The military refused the offer.
Dozens of examples come readily to mind. Research would produce enough to fill a book.
What do you think the sanctions are that the US president places on countries? They are punishments that Washington imposes for not accepting Washington’s deal.
As for a quid pro quo deal between the US executive branch and president of Ukraine, we have VP Joe Biden’s boast that he got the Ukrainian prosecutor fired who was investigating corruption in the firm that had purchased US protection by putting Biden’s son, Hunter, on Burisma’s board. Joe Biden brags in front of the Council on Foreign Relations that he gave the Ukrainian president 6 hours to fire the prosecutor or forfeit $1 billion in US aid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCF9My1vBP4
As Biden was US Vice President at the time and is currently the leading Democratic candidate for the US presidential nomination, he is clearly guilty of what Trump is accused. Why is only Trump subject to investigation? If an offense that is merely suspected or alleged suffices for impeaching a president, why isn’t a known and admitted and bragged about offense reason to disqualify Biden from being president?
One would think that a question this obvious would be the topic of debate. But not a word from the presstitutes, Democrats, or Republicans.
Finally, there is the question of the whistleblower law. If this interpretation sent to me by a reliable source is correct, there is no basis in law for the alleged whistleblower complaint.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/09/30/the-whistleblower-complaint-is-an-orchestration-not-in-compliance-with-whistleblower-law/
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
As Trump has factual proof that Obama and Biden used a fascist coup to cause regime in Ukraine, would not Trump be guilty of an impeachable offense if he failed to investigate and expose such a crime?
Whether that is true or not he certainly has a responsibility to investigate the origins of the Russian collusion hoax which was proven to be groundless by an investigation that was anything but friendly towards him.
To pursue impeachment in these circumstances is clearly politically motivated and a smoke screen to cover up more serious crimes by those who are stirring up the controversy. As indeed was the Russian collusion investigation itself. Once the smoke clears the contours of the real conspiracy will be revealed. It is only a matter of time.
As the U.S. Constitution was written by slave owners and guarantees that the more educated and mostly white upper-half of society shall always hoard all of the land, wealth and political power, how can this article warn that our democracy is in danger? For democracy, is it not slavery by and for the 51% most wealthy?
Indeed, and it always has been since time began. Of course there was a time when the darker hued fraternity ruled human society, for many centuries, even millennia, but that eventually changed. The pretence was a later introduction. At least in the past there was more honesty about the ruling hierarchy but once the bankers began to infiltrate European and English society and take control, the deception started. They preferred to work in the darkness for their deeds were evil. It was their influence and money that drove and financed the growth of the European Empires and the British Empire.… Read more »
Spot on, IMHO, David Robertson.
Book: Pawns In The Game, 1955, by WWII Canadian naval intelligence officer, William Guy Carr.
Can be read free online:
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/pawns_inthegame/pawns_contents.htm
An eyeopener, a must read.
Excellent article – as usual – from PCR. I’m no fan of Trump’s, but I’m yet to find his “crime”. And as Roberts writes, it opens up a frightful president, where say, dying your hair a shade this group find “unpresidential”, can be cause for impeachment. I lived in Brazil during the campaign, election, and impeachment of Collar; actually well deserved! A rich, crooked playboy, it didn’t seem to bother him much: he’s back to having fun, it’s his supporters that suffered much embarrassment. So the even richer elites got away with it, installing their thief Cardoso. Point I’m trying… Read more »
It’s already dead.
Total trash. This ‘journalism’ only convinced those who already like being lied to. Nothing of substance that can’t be easily refuted by anyone with a high school education is published here. I’m ashamed I even considered looking and you should be most ashamed. Who is paying you to publish this garbage?