Now that Robert Mueller’s [redacted] report has become available for all [redacted] eyes to see, we can look for ward to weeks or months of speculation about what the report has revealed, and what the redactions continue to conceal.
The president’s detractors will be searching for direct evidence to prove the specific causes for impeachment required by Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution: “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Most are looking for “high crimes,” but it’s this president’s “misdemeanors” that are in clearest view.
To the framers of the Constitution, misdemeanors were not barely criminal actions like shoplifting or jaywalking. In fact, misdemeanors did not represent actions at all. “Misdemeanor” in 1789 meant “failure to fulfill one’s duties.” It meant not showing up for work, not taking seriously one’s obligations.
The definition follows an ideal expressed in traditional confessional prayers, asking forgiveness for “what we have done, and … what we have left undone.” Good deeds purposely left undone were misdemeanors, and they were as invidious as high crimes, when judging a president’s fitness for office.
President Trump makes no effort to conceal his misdemeanors. Mr. Trump has visited one of his golf courses, or played golf elsewhere, 182 times since becoming President. That’s roughly every fourth day since he moved into the Oval Office. His daily appointment calendar was recently leaked, showing plenty of “executive time” when he was in the residence watching television — and very few meetings — on most days.
We’ve had presidents who napped during the day and it didn’t stop the government from running, because the executive branch of our government is staffed with thousands of presidential appointees. Hundreds of those positions have been left vacant by this president, with no apparent intention to fill them.
Half a dozen senior staff and cabinet posts are being filled right now by those who have the word “Acting” in front of their title. Mike Mulvaney was already a cabinet secretary as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, but he is also now moonlighting as Trump’s Acting Chief of Staff. The president is purposely bypassing the scrutiny of the Senate’s advise and consent, which the Constitution requires.
Trump has allowed the government’s longest shutdown in history. He has threatened to close entire federal agencies, and the nation’s southern border — without the support of Congress. He has instructed his Justice Department to not defend laws that were passed by Congress. His Treasury Department refuses to hand over his tax returns, flouting an unambiguous law that has been on the books for nearly a century.
He hasn’t divested his business interests, tempting foreign powers to stay at his hotels to curry favor. He has overruled professionals and his own top advisors to give security clearances to his children and two dozen others who were not deemed qualified. He ignores laws, professional advice, legal counsel, administrative rules, and accepted practices whenever he chooses.
Long story short, he’s less culpable for what he has done than for what he has left undone. No one needs to look behind the [redacted] redactions to see that.
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Don Kahle (fridays@dksez.com) writes a column each Friday for The Register-Guard and blogs at www.dksez.com.
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