Donald Trump's impeachment defenders set a dangerous precedent

Watching Republican lawmakers defiantly defend President Donald Trump, you would have to conclude that they are a confident lot. Most of the world believes that Americans will someday elect a Democratic president, but apparently not today’s Republicans.

If they did, they’d be terrified by the precedents they are setting that will make it all but impossible to restrain a future president they don’t like — perhaps even one who is as lawless and constitutionally derelict as Trump.

In Wednesday evening's votes in favor of two articles of impeachment, not a single House Republican found Trump's Ukraine shakedown and stonewall sufficiently outrageous to rise to an impeachable level.

This "craven rationalization," as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called it, extends beyond impeachment. The Republicans’ refusal to stop Trump from unilaterally shifting money to his border wall will empower a future Democrat to follow suit, perhaps moving funds into some social program. But before and during Trump's impeachment, only the third time this has happened to a U.S. president, the Republicans have engaged in a whole pattern of behavior that will undermine Congress’ ability to serve as a check on presidential overreach.

Trump obstructed Congress

They did so with the House impeachment inquiry by countenancing Trump’s flat rejection of requests for documents and witnesses. This will make it far more difficult for them to mount the kind of charged investigations that have been their hallmark.

In the Obama administration, Republicans investigated the tragic attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya; Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of State; the IRS scrutiny of conservative nonprofits; and a controversial and failed program that involved straw purchases of firearms in an effort to infiltrate Mexican gangs.

Now it’s hard to imagine inquiries like these getting much cooperation from a Democratic administration.

REP. JODY HICE:Impeachment Democrats will regret political witch hunt 

Republicans have also stood by while this administration politicized the office of the attorney general, using it to undermine the work of career prosecutors and law enforcement officers who reach conclusions that are embarrassing or damaging to Trump.

They have, furthermore, amplified his conspiracy theories, most notably that Ukraine, rather than being a victim of Trump’s misuses of office, is actually a sinister nation and that it — rather than Russia — interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

'Pretend to be a fair juror'

With both articles having passed — Abuse of Power by a vote of 230-197 and Obstruction of Congress by a vote of 229-198 — the process now heads to the Senate, where all signs are that the Republicans there will follow suit. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already signaled that he will work with the White House to limit witnesses and frame the debate in ways designed to help Trump.

“I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham.

Stop to think about that for a moment: the Senate jurors, who will be sworn to impartiality, are colluding with the defense lawyers to help ensure a favorable outcome at trial.

Future Democratic presidents will look at this behavior and expect it of their own party, giving them a sense of invincibility. The actions of Trump’s Republican enablers aren’t good for the rule of law or constitutional government. Nor will they be good for the GOP of the future, when the tables inevitably turn.

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