While America Sleeps
I am watching events at home unfold from Vietnam.
I’m writing this morning in Hanoi just a few miles from the former home and headquarters of Ho Chi Minh and also within walking distance of the former prison, known to American prisoners during the Vietnam War as; the Hanoi Hilton. I’ve now been to both.
It struck me last evening how strange it is to be sitting in this capital city, seen as enemy territory for years by American administrations, as I watched young Vietnamese men and women sharing conversation and late night coffee at a stall across the street from my hotel.
No one here cares much about President Trump or his potential impeachment. Here, as I suspect in much of the rest of the world, those who usually follow the lead of America are happy to see the United States pre-occupied with self-destruction. Our friends are worried we won’t back them up in a crisis. Those who are normally restrained by American leadership feel free to push the edges.
As we are seeing in Syria, people are dying because we do not have a president capable or even interested in exerting American leadership in the world.
Soon after President Trump was elected I began writing a series of weekly columns on his administration. I kept going for about a year and a half until I realized I had said everything I could possibly say and the only facts that changed from week to week were the outrage of the moment. I felt my point had been made.
The fact is we have not had an American president on the job since January of 2017. Donald Trump won the election, but he has never even attempted to do the job. I am still astounded by the number of people in official Washington, political observers and experts across the country — and others — who attempt to explain and analyze the Trump administration in conventional terms. As if there is some over-reaching policy or belief system that under pins the madness. There is not. It is only madness. Government by whim.
I was speaking to a long time New Hampshire friend and Republican operative back in April who has been against Trump since he first began marching successfully toward the Republican Party nomination in 2016. My friend is a never Trump person and not for the first time in his political career he put his own standing in state politics at risk — and continues to do so — by opposing Trump with everything he has. The morning I spoke to him he had come to listen to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan give a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire. That’s how desperate he is to stop Trump from winning a second term.
He told me he cannot understand how any Republican voter could ever support Trump for public office of any kind, but he added there is a special ring of torment that should be reserved for anyone who tries to explain away Trump’s behavior. The president is not besieged by Democrats or the deep state. He is besieged by his own personality and so are we.
Democrats have shown remarkable restraint not moving toward impeachment until now, because at every turn the president has failed to do his job, embarrassed America before the world, turned fellow Americans against one another for his own benefit and made us weaker as a nation. He has certainly behaved in a manner that deserves removal from office. If he were a manager in a private company he would have been fired by the end of his first month in office for cause.
We can argue all day long about what an impeachable offense is, but the fact is; it is as open to interpretation as firing for cause is in the private sector.
And now the president’s whim has led him to the decision that he simply will not cooperate with the House impeachment investigation. We know this decision comes straight from the top because no lawyer, or political adviser, who knows the first thing about impeachment would allow such a strategy to proceed. Lack of cooperation with Congress is now the first count in Articles of Impeachment. Only Donald Trump doesn’t understand this and only Donald Trump would have the power to say I don’t care.
Which leads me to all the sycophants, paid and unpaid, who still surround and protect this president. Why do they do it except out of a thirst for power or the belief their loyalty to any Republican president — no matter how vile — will be rewarded by fellow Republicans at some point in the future? These are the worst offenders. Perhaps worse than Trump himself, because they know better and continue to defend the indefensible.
This is why the prospect of a President Pence is only marginally better than what we have now. Vice President Pence is the worst form of precocious puppet who can deliver any line as if he means it regardless of the facts. I would like to think he too knows better, but his rise in politics is predicated mainly on his ability to perform before an audience not make informed decisions. If Trump is removed from office the most thoughtful thing Pence could do is immediately announce he will not seek a term in his own right. He would go down in history as a great leader if he made such a decision, but I fear he would more than likely begin an immediate campaign set up as a symbol of revenge for Trump supporters.
Back to where I started. Hanoi.
Over the last two weeks I have interacted with people traveling from around the world. When I introduce myself as an American, they are not envious. They are the opposite of impressed. They feel sorry for me. They shrug as if being American used to be worth something, but it’s not anymore. They wish me well. They are not up on the latest impeachment drama they just know America has withdrawn from the world. They don’t know why.
Last week, as I was walking the streets, there was great commotion as police cleared the way for a motorcade for some visiting dignitary to move through town. Whoever it was — was on the way to a meeting with Vietnamese leadership. Vietnam is not waiting for America. Turkey is not waiting for America. China. Russia. Europe and Canada are not waiting for America. The list goes on. The world goes on as America sleeps. As Americans, we are left to wait until November of next year to correct our mistake and rid ourselves of the whole crew. Will we?
