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Last week›s opinion page had two contrasting letters about President Trump›s recent impeachment. Both letters inspired a reaction from me, so I decided to pipe up. 

Many have said that President Trump was responsible for what happened at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. His speech from that day and his challenge to the 2020 election are being blamed for the mayhem that ensued when the mob entered the Capitol. First of all, the challenges to the election were Constitutional and not without precedent. In 2004 Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Stephanie Tubbs, both Democrats, objected to Ohio›s 20 electoral votes, citing voting irregularities in the state. Of course, we all remember the constant cries of “Russia collusion” and the challenges to the 2016 election. Millions of taxpayer dollars were spent, along with the Mueller investigation, which resulted in nothing. The DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign spent a lot of money on the Steele dossier which was proven to be false. My point with this is that challenging an election is not something that is new. The challenges to the 2020 election are legitimate. Many have gone on record and sworn under oath about witnessing election fraud. I know that some of you are shaking your heads and saying there was no election fraud. That is simply untrue. A woman was arrested in San Antonio, TX this month for election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that hours of footage led to her arrest. If you are still saying that there was no fraud, you are simply lying to yourself. Obviously, we need to do a better job of ensuring our elections are honest and true. This falls into the laps of our state legislatures. After 4 years of nonstop challenges to the 2016 election, how dare any of you criticize our Constitutional right to challenge the 2020 election. The minute that the election was questioned, we were being told to shut up and accept it. The hypocrisy has never been this deep. 

This whole thing has exposed the left wing›s hypocrisy along with that of the mainstream news. I am sure many remember CNN showing footage of a burning building during the riots this summer, while calling it «mostly peaceful». It was CNN reporter Chris Cuomo that said, «Who says protests have to be peaceful?». Some members of Congress also added their thoughts to the riots that happened in several cities last year. Representative Ayanna Pressley, Democrat from Massachusetts, said «There needs to be unrest in the streets». Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, « I don›t know why there aren›t uprisings all over the country. Maybe there will be.» Our current Vice President (then Senator Kamala Harris) even commented on the riots that plagued our country last year, «This is a movement, I›m telling you, they›re not going to let up, and they should not, and we should not». This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Democrat and left-wing support of mob rule. I didn’t hear much from them when protesters entered, blocked elevators and doors, and confronted Senators in the Hart Senate Office Building during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation. At the same time protesters tried to enter the Capitol Building and the Supreme Court but security was able to stop them. Those on the left side of the aisle were rather quiet about condemning any of this. A writer named Brian Ericson said it best in a recent article when he described these reactions, or lack of reactions as selective outrage. To see this locally all we have to do is look to the large city on the coast just west of us. How can the Mayor of Seattle and Governor Inslee still be in office when they allowed a mob to take over a 2-block area of the city? You want to impeach somebody? I say start with the inept mayors and governors that failed to protect the citizens they serve. Then again, our governor was reelected, so most of you think he is doing a good job. 

The rush to impeach after the riot at the Capitol is an embarrassment. Our representatives voted to impeach the President without hearings, without witnesses, and without due process. The fact that they did in such a short period of time should make everybody pause and question the validity of it. First of all, nothing in the President's speech on January 6, 2021 told people to storm the Capitol like they did. The FBI is now finding evidence that shows that the U.S. Capitol riot may have been preplanned. This is according to an article on CNN.com on January 14, 2021. If this is true and the riot was planned in advance, they cannot say that the President’s speech caused it. Therefore, how can you impeach him for causing the riot? This was nothing more than our Representatives acting like children. The have successfully cheapened Article 1, section 2, of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the House the sole power of impeachment. Their votes to impeach were based on emotions and not facts. The purpose of impeachment is to remove someone from an elected office. The Representatives knew that there was not enough time left to remove President Trump from office when they voted to impeach. Now they want to go for a conviction in the Senate with the hope of preventing Mr. Trump from running for an elected office once more. Again, impeachment is process to get somebody out of office. Donald Trump is already out of office and is now a private citizen. How can there be a trial in the Senate when there is no provision for a former President in Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution? Going forward with this will set a very dangerous precedent. Our representatives that rushed to impeach without any due process should be ashamed of themselves. They trampled on the Constitution. They engaged in mob like behavior.

Chip Cathcart

Coulee Dam