SPECIAL COUNSEL: What has (and hasn’t) changed

What hasn’t changed.

I still believe Donald Trump is unfit to occupy the Oval Office and must be removed via impeachment, the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution, or resignation as swiftly as possible (which no doubt means months or years).

First and foremost, this administration has attacked and undermined both governmental institutions such as the professional civil service and the judicial system as well as non-governmental civic institutions such as a free and independent press. Going beyond even these affronts to civil, democratic society, this administration has attacked peer-reviewed science and appears to threaten the very idea that there are such things as objective facts.

In the second place, aside from our complete ignorance of the worldwide scope of his financial investments and indebtedness, there is - to my layman’s eyes - a blatant disregard of the Emoluments Clause.

Lastly, as with Nixon and as with Bill Clinton, a case can be made regarding Obstruction of Justice whether or not he is indicted and convicted under law. (Neither Nixon nor Clinton were indicted under law at the time Articles of Impeachment were drafted, though Clinton was held in civil contempt after impeachment proceedings.)

What has changed

A frightening number of constitutional safeguards had failed and civic institutions supporting that constitution were severely stressed.

The Electoral College failed: not by overturning a popular vote (that’s what it was designed to do to prevent a tyranny of the majority) but in the electors not acting to prevent a person obviously unqualified in terms of knowledge, experience, and - most importantly - temperament to the Oval Office.

The executive branch was in the process of being defeated through White House involvement in an FBI investigation in which the administration itself was a possible target.

The Republican-led congress was subject to gaslighting, intoxicated by the prospect of forcing its long-cherished, minority policies on America to the point of accepting the most outrageous assaults on the constitution and American civic institutions (including the destruction of the credibility of the House’s Intelligence Committee’s investigation) as the new normal.

With the appointment of a Special Counsel I feel increasingly confident that there is sufficient political will and resources to thoroughly investigate the Russian attack on the 2016 election as well as whether any Americans colluded to support that attack independent of the powers that be in the White House. [Yes, Trump could take action to fire Robert Mueller, but his administration’s life would no longer be worth a plug nickel.]

And if Mueller’s investigation should find - as it might well find - that while there was a lot of bad judgment and shady dealing going on between the Russian government and its government-controlled oligarchs and the Trump campaign, there was nothing that could be successfully prosecuted beyond a reasonable doubt, then so be it.

At least Americans such as myself would have confidence that due diligence was done.

And nothing substantial will have changed for the case that Trump must be removed from office as quickly as possible whether through impeachment, the 25th Amendment, or resignation.