November, 2019
Washington – In the matter of the impeachment of the president, too many House options under consideration lead to increasing divisiveness and partisanship.
To some of us, the whole matter of impeachment is not one of partisanship but of national security. National security is not going to be enhanced by House impeachment, Senate trial, and failure to convict, as now seems likely. That is the hope and goal of Russia, which is undermining democracy worldwide and is being remarkably successful at it. Such a scenario plays directly into Russia's hands.
I fully appreciate the House majority's decision to move toward impeachment. The evidence warrants it and it would be irresponsible, arguably even a violation of members' oaths, not to respond to the president's unthinkable transgressions that put America's national security at such risk.
But there is a better way forward: the House majority should censure the president, now. It offers an appropriately strong response. It is more likely to pass with bipartisan support, however modest. Even if a few Republicans support censure as a way to lessen support for impeachment, that is not necessarily a bad outcome, given the likely alternative of total partisan impasse over impeachment, which Russia wants.
Last week's testimony, before the Intelligence Committee, by national security realist Fiona Hill and diplomats William Taylor and George Kent, makes it clear that national security must be put ahead of partisanship, and the issue must be America versus Russia, not Democrats versus Republicans.
What too many fail to realize is that this is not a question of censure versus impeachment, as if the two are mutually exclusive. Impeachment articles can continue to move after censure, but without the burden of being the sole vehicle of presidential reproof. If the effort to impeach and convict fails at some point later, as looks likely, it will be easier, with censure accomplished, for all to turn to other issues of urgent concern. Voters do not want the impeachment process to dominate all else. Polls show a clear majority knows the president did wrong and must be chastened. Censure accomplishes that.
It's football season. Censure should be seen as America putting points on the board with a makable field goal, come what may later, which is quite likely to be a stalemate with no scoring. Censure would constitute a victory over Russia, for America's national security and for defense of the U.S. Constitution.
