Trump's Impeachment Inquiry Might Not Succeed, But That Doesn't Mean It's Not Necessary
Constitutionality applies even when it's not a political convenience.
Last Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives was going to begin a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. A recent whistleblower complaint raised concerns about the president's phone call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump urged Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son for their involvement with a Ukrainian natural gas company.
The impeachment process is long and winding, and many are raising questions as to whether it's even worth initiating when the majority-Republican Senate is so unlikely to convict Trump. For Republicans, an impeachment obviously spells bad news for their 2020 forerunner because it brings to light his wrongdoings in office. For Democrats, impeachment proceedings are likely to draw attention away from urgent legislation like gun control and environmental welfare laws. It seems that an impeachment inquiry may do more harm than good for both parties as we approach the 2020 elections.
The great thing about the Constitution, though, is that it applies even if it doesn't directly benefit a political party.
America, with all of its rabid bipartisanship, seems to have lost sight of the purpose of the Constitution. Too often has it been used as a pawn in the cutthroat competition that is modern politics, a way to justify wrongdoing or set precedent for this week's hot-button legislation.
But, politics aside, the Constitution clearly mandates an inquiry into Trump's recent actions. It calls for the impeachment of all civil officers on the grounds of "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The third part of this statement is a little more open to interpretation than the first two parts, and it is certainly an appropriate category for a president who attempts to pit foreign leaders against his political opponents.
The situation gets especially sticky when you take into account the fact that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine prior to the phone call. Federal election law, specifically 18 US Code Section 1, states that it is a felony to "[seek]... to receive or accept anything of value personally or for any other person or entity, in return for… an official act."
It's not hard to see the connection between these two things — Trump will bring back military aid if, in exchange, Zelensky helps him dig up condemning information on Biden.
Even if Trump's removal of military aid was a complete coincidence, and if the information on Biden is not formally determined to be something "of value," there is still more than enough evidence to warrant an inquiry of Trump's actions. If Trump was indeed withholding military aid in order to get Zelensky to attack a political opponent, then impeachment is the only Constitutional route the House can take.
Party loyalty in the Senate may very well prevent Trump from being removed if the impeachment proceeds. The Democrats may very well suffer political backlash for instigating the process, and Republicans likely will as well — that's the nature of U.S. politics. But it's critical that we remember that America was not founded to bend to the whims of political interest, she was founded to adhere to the Constitution, the living document that protects her people's freedoms and outlines procedures that allow America to avoid the tyrannical corruption that the Founding Fathers feared.
And should an impeachment inquiry reveal that Trump's interests do indeed lie more closely to his own power than to the political health of the country he represents, then the Constitution will dictate, as it has in the past, that he no longer deserves claim of the title of President.
The 1975 Uses Political Language And Societal Commentary To Draw Inspiration For Their Songs
Some of the lines are: "Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men/Start with misdemeanors and we'll make a business out of them."
When you first hear the words, "The 1975," you probably don't think of band, a year, definitely, but not a band. Well, prepare yourself, because you are about to be introduced to the best band of all time. I am a huge fan of the band, The 1975, and I am here to tell you why you should listen to them too.
The British-band consists of Matthew (Matty) Healy (vocals, guitar), George Daniel (drums), Adam Hann (guitar) and Ross MacDonald (Bass). So far, they've released two albums, the first one was self-titled, "The 1975." But the second one was a bit more lengthy with "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it." But now, they have a third album coming out on November 30 called, "A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships," and I've never been more excited. To make things even better, they're planning on releasing a fourth album in May called "Notes on a Conditional Form."
Trying to describe the sound of The 1975 is a little hard because they're a little bit of everything. They're techno, pop, indie rock, rock, alternative, indie pop, electropop, and the list goes on (but that's the whole point.) They're the type of band that you can't really categorize because they don't want to be categorized and they shouldn't be. While some of their songs are similar, they're also dramatically different. One song has a gospel choir in the background and another song mostly consists of relaxing sounds and minimal vocals. A few songs have insane guitar riffs, another is a ballad and one only has an acoustic guitar.
4 out of the 15 songs on their upcoming album have been released as singles in the following order: "Give Yourself a Try," Love It If We Made It," "TooTimeTooTimeTooTime," and "Sincerity Is Scary." Of these songs, "Love It If We Made It" and "Sincerity Is Scary" are my favorites. I love the political commentary in "Love It If We Made It," which I will get into later, and "Sincerity Is Scary" is one of those songs that you can sit down and listen to relax.
Two of the best things about The 1975 is their lyrics and the topics that they address. There are a lot of amazing songwriters out there, but I have to say, The 1975 is pretty hard to beat. Take their single "Love It If We Made it" for example. It's an extremely political and topical song and its lyrics are pretty in-your-face. Some of the lines are: "Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men/Start with misdemeanors and we'll make a business out of them."
Just these two lines are already full of political commentary.
Selling melanin could be a reference to the slave trade as African Americans have a lot of melanin in their skin, which gives them their skin tone, and suffocate the black men is a direct reference to Eric Garner, a black man who was suffocated while he was in a choke hold sustained by a police officer. The part about misdemeanors relates to the prison system in the United States and how a large percentage of inmates are African American who are in prison just for misdemeanors.
The band loves to comment on society, more specifically American society, and there's a handful of songs that are about drugs and/or addiction, something that the lead singer Matty lives with.
Something to note about each album they have is that there's always a song titled "The 1975." The songs have the same lyrics, but different styles. It's meant to give a little taste of what the album will sound like and highlight the differences between this album and the one before/after it. For example, the "the 1975" song in "i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it" includes some gospel singers in the background, more sounds that you can imagine might be found on an alien spaceship and crescendos to the end of the song, while in the first album, the song is more subdued and ends with a decrescendo.
The 1975 also has an interesting way of mixing sound. They'll overlay robotic sounds with a guitar riff or a prominent drum beat. In the song "Sincerity is Scary," they bring back the saxophone sound that was heard in the song "If I believe you" and instead of meshing it with a light doo-wop beat, they combine it with a piano and a soft drum. They'll always find a way to make two very different instruments work together in harmony.
A lot of people may not be into the sound that The 1975 has, specifically older generations as they might think it's annoying, but my mom really likes their music, so how bad can they be? If you're into a mix of songs and if you're always down for a groovy beat, I'd definitely recommend giving them a try.