Donald Trump needs to be impeached and removed from office - an Illinois echo

An echo opinion letter published in the Illinois newspaper The News-Gazette 

Donald Trump must be removed

During the infamous “telephone call,” (traitor) Donald Trump asked the Ukraine President  Volodymyr Zelensky to “look into horrible” things done by the Vice-President Joe Biden and apparently dangled military aid as a carrot to do so (i.e. quid pro quo). If that wasn’t bad enough, Trump also brought up the conspiracy theory about “CrowdStrike.”

CrowdStrike is the cyber-security firm that said Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) computer server, stole documents and gave them to WikiLeaks. These emails were then released to the public, all of which was confirmed by U.S. intelligence.

In spite of this confirmation, it appears Trump was pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate and disavow CrowdStrike’s Russian findings.

The Mueller Report, eight U.S. intelligence agencies and both parties on Capitol Hill are all in consensus that, as Dan Coats, Trump’s former director of national intelligence, said, “Russia conducted an unprecedented influence campaign to interfere in the U.S. electoral and political process.”

And, the first sentence of the Mueller Report says “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.”
Most recently, the acting DNI (Director of National Intelligence), during congressional testimony, said our “greatest challenge is to maintain the integrity of our election system.”

Donald Trump must be impeached!

Still, Trump has repeatedly denied Russian interference in the 2016, election, tried to obstruct the Mueller investigation a dozen times and actually defended Vladimir Putin on the national stage in Helsinki.

As he actively seeks foreign help with his (corrupt!) election campaign, Trump is obviously not defending the sovereignty of our elections nor our Constitution. 

Trump needs to be impeached and removed from office.

Dave Schwenk Urbana Illinois

Republicans who want to escape Trump - seeking political asylum at DNC by Borowitz

Any Borowitz always writes cutting edge political satire, but his August 4th blog in The New Yorker.com, could be a harbinger of GOP reality. Republicans who can't abide what candidate Donald Trump is doing to destroy their political party, might want to test out what it means to be an asylum seeker. Maybe, then, they can learn what desperation feels like.  But, will their hypothetical request for refuge at the Democratic National Committee headquarters be granted?

D.N.C. HEADQUARTERS MOBBED BY REPUBLICAN REFUGEES SEEKING ASYLUM
By Andy Borowitz , AUGUST 4, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Borowitz Report)—

A humanitarian crisis has been unfolding over the past week as Republican refugees seeking asylum have overrun the Democratic National Committee headquarters, in Washington, D.C.

D.N.C. staffers have confirmed that they were woefully unprepared for the masses of desperate Republicans who have shown up at the D.N.C.’s door, looking for safe harbor.

“These people have been brutalized for months and have decided to risk everything to save themselves and their families,” D.N.C. staffer Tracy Klugian said. “When they tell you their stories, they are absolutely heartbreaking.”

Meg Whitman, who is sixty, said she left her entire life as a Republican behind after witnessing unspeakable horrors under the new G.O.P. regime.

Taking comfort from a blanket and a cup of coffee provided by D.N.C. staffers, Whitman appeared to be in a state of shock about where life under a failed state had brought her.

“I never thought I’d find myself in a place like this,” she said as she took in the unfamiliar surroundings of the D.N.C. headquarters. “Still, anything has to be better than where I came from.”

When asked if she had any regrets about her decision to flee, Whitman choked back tears before responding. “I had no choice,” she said. “There is no respect for human life there.”

Andy Borowitz is a New York Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes the Borowitz Report for newyorker.com.

Unfortunately, there may be more truth than satire in this tongue in cheek Borowitz story. Is there a special room at the DNC where Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain can hide until the Canadians of Argo fame can smuggle them out?