Above photo: By Erik McGregor, Flickr
NOTE: While arresting Trump is fun and ridicule is an important traditional form of protest, we have doubts about the campaign to impeach Donald Trump. All US presidents commit violations of law, in particular international law and commission of war crimes, but few are impeached. Impeachment is very unlikely, unless new crimes are exposed, and likely to be politically counterproductive. And, even if impeachment were successful, it would mean Vice President Mike Pence would become president — this would not be an improvement as an Evangelical, big business Republican may do even more damage to the country than Trump.
If the Democrats retake the House, they would be able to impeach the president. This is akin to an indictment and would result in a trial in the Senate. Impeachment requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate. This is not going to happen unless new crimes are uncovered. Thus, Trump is likely to be acquitted and the charges shown to be false.
The list of “crimes” in the article below are mostly not impeachable offenses. The Emoluments Clause is an impeachable offense but has never been used against a president. The fact that a president has businesses in different parts of the world is not enough to impeach him.
If you are a Democrat, we ask if impeachment will help to replace Trump-Pence? The only way impeachment helps is if there is evidence of truly impeachable offenses resulting in many Republicans voting for impeachments. There are many things that Trump does that we find offensive, mistaken and seriously harmful, but that is not sufficient. Relying on issues that are not impeachable is likely to strengthen Trump as they will lead to a backlash against Democrats for prosecuting him on false grounds, thereby strengthening him to do greater damage.
Our view is that it is better to build a movement around the issues raised by Trump policies, which are also extensions of Democratic Party policies, and demonstrate the system-wide problems in US government. The issue is not Trump-Pence, the issue is a duopoly that serves the wealthiest and big business interests and not the necessities of the people or protection of the planet. Trump, because of his inexperience and inability to control himself, is an extreme example of the system-wide problems faced in the United States. KZ an MF
National Tour Will Ridicule Trump With Arrests & Other Actions
Saturday afternoon, dozens of activists gathered in midtown Manhattan to demand the United States impeach and remove President Donald Trump and set a national standard for leadership and accountability. They are acting on account of twelve points of Trump’s impeachable offenses:
- Violations of Foreign and Domestic Emoluments
- Incitement of Hate Speech and violence within the U.S.
- Voter intimidation and lying about election fraud
- Disregard for truth and pathological lying
- Violating Freedom of Religion with Muslim Bans
- Environmental destruction and dismantling protections for air and water
- Criminally negligent climate denial and violation of Paris Climate Treaty
- Illegal and reckless threats of war and nuclear weaponry
- Sexual assault and normalizing rape culture
- Popularizing xenophobia and pardoning Joe Arpaio
- Politically incompetent and unable to discharge the power and duties of the office
- Lawless imprisonment, violation of Posse Comitatus and Warrantless Spying
Seattle-based organization, Backbone Campaign, teamed up with several New York City based advocacy groups for the action. The event marks a kickoff to a larger nationwide tour of the centerpiece of this action: A giant Donald Trump hand-sculpted puppet head that taunts the crowd and eventually ends up in a large-scale “Citizen’s Arrest of Donald Trump”.
A group of people gathered at Central Park SE to take pictures with the Trump head along with their messages to be tweeted “@” the President since this seems to be how he prefers to communicate with the country. The crowd pursued him chanting “Lock him up!” fended off by his “police escorts”. At Trump Tower one of the children participating enacted the arrest by slapping cuffs on Trump. The NYPD promptly escorted “arrested Trump” away from Trump Tower.
“This is to build momentum around the impeachment movement around the country. The positive feedback from everyone that was involved today, let us know this is something that the people support and are hungry for. We are looking forward to continuing this action in multiple cities across the USA”, states Phil Ateto, the Solidarity Brigade Coordinator for Backbone Campaign.
Local IT Program Manager and Radical Videographer, Owen Crowley, expresses his reasons for showing up today, “I came to demonstrate that sovereignty derives from the people. Mueller will not save us. We need to save Mueller, because he can only be effective when the people govern and the institutions of government are strong.”
Bill Moyer, the Backbone Campaign’s Executive Director and co-founder said of the overall action, “Humor and ridicule of tyrants is a timeless tradition we are proud to be part of. Our grave concerns mount as the stage is being set for the Predator-in-Chief Donald Trump to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Trump’s profane buffoonery and criminal incompetence are an insult to rights and protections people have fought and died for abroad and at home in the social movements that have improved our society. Backbone Campaign is resolved to stand with our allies across the country in staunch defense of the shared aspiration for a real and just democracy – and – in principled, courageous resistance to the nightmare of dictatorship that Trump’s demagoguery is leading our country toward.”
Citizen’s Arrest Actions are scheduled for Los Angeles, Boston, DC, San Diego, and many other cities, joining in with the effort to Impeach! Indict! and Imprison! Donald Trump. More information about the Citizens with Backbone project can be found at http://BackboneCampaign.org/trump