Impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have been ongoing in the past few weeks, and this upcoming Friday may prove to see the most decisive action of the trial occur. The Senate is set to vote on Friday if there are to be witnesses called as part of the trial, with special interest being paid to former national security advisor John Bolton, as reported by The New York Times. A recently discovered manuscript of a book by Bolton attests to a definitive quid pro quo from the Trump White House to Ukraine, promising to hold back their allocated military aid without the Ukrainians investigating Hunter Biden on a personal request from the president.
The idea of not calling witnesses in this case is another part of a pattern that has long since emerged in the current state of American politics, with these events being incredibly disappointing while not being incredibly surprising. The Republican majority in the Senate are as blindly loyal to the president as his most devout voters, and their place of power allows for them to obscure any attempt at discovering the truth.
In the face of this unwillingness to see another side of things, I still cannot help but wonder why Senate Republicans do not wish to call witnesses when it could simply backfire on the very Democrats calling for them. I myself am in favor of such witnesses, and know that they could be a great detriment to the case we have argued so far. There’s also the age-old saying that “there’s nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide,” so even if Republicans don’t agree with the basis of why this case was brought forward in the first place, would open testimony from witnesses directly from the White House not unequivocally prove their innocence once and for all? In the name of simply clearing the president’s name, Republican’s hesitation to call witnesses seems to be a very clear indication of guilt, or at the very least, of wishing to hide certain salient facts.
This all doesn’t even mention the general disregard Republicans seem to have for how due process is meant to function in this country, with the fair hearing of witnesses and display of evidence before a vote is taken and a decision is made. These senators all took oaths to their Constitution and their country, and contrary to what some conservative sources say, Democrats care about this country and the history and traditions it is based on. I care that all sides are heard equally, and if this was a Democratic president, I would still want the evidence heard and a fair case to be made.
At the end of the day, no matter what party we belong to, I’d like to think that all Americans want an honest president in the White House. They want a president who acts with their welfare in mind, not his own, and not one who has the Senate so deep in his pocket that they lie on his behalf with little to no provocation. I need some proof that our country still functions the way it is supposed to, and a good indicator of that would be if our president is given the fair trial he as an American citizen is owed.
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