@maxdancona,
maxdancona wrote:Do you agree with this principle?
The same ethical standards should apply to a president whether he is a Democrat or a Republican.
I agree with it, but I find it a bit narrow.
I think the same ethical standards should apply to all politicians, and not just to presidents.
maxdancona wrote:The charge against Trump is that he withheld money allocated by Congress for foreign aid to pressure a foreign government to interfere with an electoral campaign by investigating the son of one of his rivals. The issue is that he abused his power as president while exercising his duties as head of state (which should have been non-partisan).
- Would this be a impeachable offense if it were done by a Democratic president?
- Is this an impeachable offense if it was done by Trump?
If it is an impeachable offense, then the entire Democratic Party is guilty of the same offense for relentlessly trying to have Trump investigated.
So if we first remove every single Democrat from office, then I'll be OK with also holding Trump accountable.
But if we aren't going to remove all of the Democrats from office for trying to have Trump investigated, then it shouldn't be an impeachable offense in Trump's case either.
maxdancona wrote:We are only talking about this particular charge.
I'm not. I'm also talking of leftist misdeeds.
maxdancona wrote:In my view, this rises far above the normal partisan back and forth...
In my view Trump hasn't done anything that the Democrats haven't done a hundred times worse.
maxdancona wrote:and yes, I would support impeachment if a Democratic president did this.
How about the rest of the Democratic Party? Can we remove all of the Democrats from office for trying to have Trump investigated?