Impeachment: A brutal exercise in psychological exposure. By JOHN F. HARRIS
An impeachment inquiry
is a constitutional exercise, a vindication of checks and balances, a living
expression of rule of law. Yes, yes, sure - all of that. But the start of public
hearings Wednesday was a reminder of what impeachment really is in the modern
presidency: A brutal exercise in psychological exposure.
There was breaking
news from the hearings, but it was mostly a matter of detail. There was a new
anecdote from diplomat William Taylor about Trump allegedly haranguing a
subordinate to keep up the pressure on Ukraine to investigate the Biden family.
This was a validation of the existing narrative rather than a fundamental twist
of plot.
In a more profound
way, the day was a portrait - a vivid one, in an especially grave setting - of
Trump being Trump: obsessive, hectoring, contemptuous of process and propriety,
as bluntly transactional about military aid to a besieged ally as he would be
about a midtown real estate deal. In that sense, this
latest impeachment exercise fits neatly with the modern history of White House
scandal. Presidents tend to be prosecuted for being themselves—men of
compulsive and agitated ambition and need... read more: