The White House and President Trump claim that his election shows that the sexual accusations against him were “litigated” by the people and that they found him not guilty or innocent (they are not the same thing). I even heard a host on MSNBC (Gigi Stone Woods) use the White House argument in a question. I question whether news hosts should be using the White House argument, but, aside from that, the thing the White House and Trump seem to forget (or ignore or deny) is that he didn’t win the election with the popular vote – he lost the popular vote by millions. I heard a statistic in the days after the election that only half of eligible voters had voted in the 2016 election. Given that Trump got about 40% of the vote that means that less than one quarter of the electorate voted for him. How can that be extrapolated into an exoneration?
A Quinnipiac Poll (Nov. 29 – Dec. 4, +/-2.8 pts.) shows that 70% of people think that Congress should investigate the sexual accusations against Trump. A letter was sent to Representative Trey Gowdy, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, requesting an investigation into the accusations. Gowdy has refused the request, referring the matter instead to Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Trump’s Justice Department. Gowdy stated that, because no Congressional Committee prosecutes crimes, they shouldn’t have an investigation (https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/13/trump-sex-assault-allegations-house-response-294295). Yet, how many members of Congress have been investigated for sexual harassment and/or assault by the Ethics Committees? If such allegations should be referred to the Department of Justice, why haven’t they been both in the past and now? Not to mention the public funded settlements, a topic for another day, and the fact that the allegations against Trump are mostly, if not entirely, too old to be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.
Trump has tweeted that, because no collusion with Russia has been found (not true, and investigations are ongoing), his enemies are now trying to bring up accusations by women he has never met (there is photographic evidence of his meeting several of his accusers, and one was a contestant on his reality show The Apprentice – talk about “fake news”). Every poll result I have seen lately shows that a majority of Americans believe the President did something illegal or unethical when it comes to Russia and the election.
If the President being elected by less than a majority of the voters (and less than one quarter of eligible voters) means that he is innocent of all sexual harassment and assault allegations, then I guess it makes sense (to Trump and his followers, at least) that the majority of the public should be ignored about Russia, investigating the allegations against Trump, the tax bill, etc.
Why this matters to me and should to you to:
The American form of government is supposed to be government “of, by, and for the people.” We shouldn’t legislate by popular vote on everything – some things are just right and wrong. And Civil Rights laws, among others, would never have been enacted without that recognition. However, an honest investigation of alleged wrong doing shouldn’t be sidelined because of an election outcome or because the statute of limitations has passed (as I’m sure will be cited by the Justice Department about the allegations against Trump).
I’m not asking for a predetermined conclusion and action based on that, but when the majority of Americans believe there has been wrongdoing, there should be an investigation. This is true of the accusations against Trump on all matters (the perceived attempts to end the Russia investigations in both Houses of Congress is equally worrying). Shouldn’t the American people be entitled to know that their President isn’t – or is — guilty of sexual harassment and assault, conspiring with the Russian government to use stolen goods (emails) or other Russian influence to win the election, and that he isn’t currently violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution? Trump won the Presidency courtesy of the Electoral College. The majority of Americans seem to feel differently about him than his supporters and he is not the President of just his supporters. I think we all deserve honest answers about who the Electoral College put in the Presidency.
Why Politics Matters 