The Perils Of Impeaching Trump

Target fixation could cost the Democrats in their quest to impeach Trump.

I would love to see President Trump and his sidekick, Vice President Mike Pence, impeached. It’ll be a great kabuki drama with everyone involved at the top trying to explain themselves. We can count on the drama, the suspense, the multiple floods of phone calls to the House and the Senate. In the end, legislators will make big speeches about how they could or could not vote for impeachment. But the looming election will remain ahead of us.

On the other hand, I just can’t help but have the sense that this debacle is one giant distraction from something else. It’s a shell game as far as the moneyed interests are concerned. While we’re looking for the ball under 3 empty cups, the elites will be passing legislation, starting a quiet war here or there, and shuffling players and actors around while passing power between themselves. Who has the ball?

Long ago, I learned about the “newshole” in newspapers. In those days, I could “buy” a newspaper for 25 cents and read it over dinner. That 25 cents didn’t pay for the news. The ads paid for the news. What was left between the ads was the “newshole”. And when newspapers like The New York Times talks about “independent” journalism, I have to ask them, “Who pays for the newshole?”

Big business pays for it. And all that money has an influence on the news we read.

And as I consider the influence of big business on the news, I am aware that they would rather not have stories published that could possibly gore their cash cows, their fiefdoms. They’re farming Americans for money and they really don’t want any disruptions to their businesses. So I think Leonard Goodman nails it pretty well on Truthdig when he expresses some confidence that this impeachment inquiry won’t be harmful to business interests:

Big business believes this impeachment inquiry will not threaten corporate profits or its ability to continue exerting control over government policy.

Or, they wouldn’t let it happen. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself, just how did Trump get $1 billion in free coverage…