It's Time for Trump to Go

Some people have said people should accept Trump as President of the United States, to give him a chance.

He is the President; nobody is disputing that any longer.   As many of us who opposed him said repeatedly, some of whom who now work in his administration, he is unfit to hold the office.   He needs to be removed from this position, ASAP.

This is not about (for me) demeaning or shaming people who voted for Trump.  That is done and over, the question is what can and should be done now? 1^st, we all must recognize the mistake that has been made and rectify it.  Then, the political establishment needs to address the concerns of the voters that selected Trump, along with those that opposed him, and still do.  What follows has nothing to do with public policy; it has everything to do with Constitutional legality and mental fitness to hold office.  

There are three Constitutional paths that offer a way to remove him from office.

1-     Impeachment: He is in violation of the Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 , the Emoluments clause.  He has not rectified his global business conflicts of interest and continues to ignore this.  The Congress needs to at least hold hearings, and/or give him 2 weeks to fix this, or they need to draft articles of impeachment.

a.    He is in violation of existing US law with his Trump Hotel in Washington D.C. Trump's lease with the federal government to develop and operate a hotel inside the historic Old Post Office building expressly prohibits any elected official from benefiting from the property, yet Trump has not divested from his company or this particular project. Trump still profits and owns the hotel, he is in violation of this law, not to mention that people that work for him (General Services Administration) must enforce this law, creating a double bind jeopardy and another conflict of interest.

b.    His other, domestic business holdings continue to present a Conflict-of-Interest and place him in violation of ethics laws. His senior White House counselor , Kellyanne Conway, has stated the IRS audit is just an excuse for not releasing his tax returns, he never intends to release them.  So,  the American people will never know who he is in debt to, whose payroll he is on, or how he is personally benefitting from the policy decisions he makes as President of the United States.What is hidden that can not transparently be released?  The public and Congress needs to know.   

c.     Ongoing investigation into the Russian connection.  The FBI and other intelligence agencies are investigating any potential interactions that the Trump campaign may have had with Russia (past and/or current), who they already have concluded interfered via cyber warfare attack on the US, with the intention of influencing the US election benefiting Trump. This has in fact been presented to Obama, Trump and members of Congress.  This could have been anywhere from unethical behavior, to violations of campaign laws, to espionage.  Any of these would pass the test of a “high crime and/or misdemeanor” and he would have to be impeached, a.s.a.p. If it was espionage, and if he were charged and convicted, that is punishable by death.  

2-     25^th Amendment – It deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. Section 4 – “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.” Erratic behavior and language done consistently, if deemed to be inherent in the chemical/emotional/psychological makeup of the POTUS, followed by decisions that are a harm to the nation or its welfare, could be grounds for Pence to invoke the 25^th.  I liken this to an “intervention” that family members make for a mentally ill loved one (my family has had to do this, I have direct experience and know what I am talking about here) that is either a harm to themselves or others because of their delusional thinking and stated intentions.  In this case, the harm is to millions of Americans and others around the world. It would be unprecedented, but the amendment is in the Constitution for a reason – a check (just like one of the stated purposes of the Electoral College, but they already failed in their duty to act).

3-     Election – finally, if none of the-above occurs, the only remaining Constitutional remedy is the 2020 election. 

Citizens do not have to wait until 2020,  however.  They have Congressional representatives.  Citizens must notify their Congressional representatives of these concerns and remind them that they have an election in 2018 (House representatives) and within six years for Senators, and that if they do not act, they will be voted out of office.

It is our duty as Citizens to exercise our constitutionally protected rights and to speak truth to power.  The power is with the people.   We need to exercise it now.