Summary
The most dismaying thing about the impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Donald Trump is that they are falling so short of the constitutional gravamen of the issue.
The inquiry is thus focused on the fact that Trump withheld $391 million in congressionally mandated military aid to Ukraine and held out the prospect of a White House meeting greatly desired by that country's new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while he and his accomplices pressed for political favors to help in the 2020 U.S. election.
When Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry in September, for example, she handed over leadership on the issue to the steady, tough-minded Schiff, removing it from the more openly partisan House Judiciary Committee, which has a weaker chairman (Jerrold Nadler of New York).
I covered Nixon's impeachment, and although Trump is theoretically guilty of more serious offenses, there's one striking similarity: Both men got in the deepest trouble for failing to recognize limits on seeking revenge against political opponents.
Trump is becoming more confident in his own instincts, and now has almost no aides who will challenge his ideas.
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