Trump acts like he’s above the law because Mitch McConnell lets him

[superadmin]

For all the wrongdoing the Mueller report discovered, it didn’t find clear evidence of the animating charge: that Donald Trump knowingly colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. But with Ukraine, Trump appears to have done exactly what he was accused of before: asked a foreign government to help him win a presidential election, perhaps dangling military aid as an incentive.

That Trump would attempt such brazen collusion after the Mueller investigation shows the lesson he took from that experience is that he is unchecked and unaccountable. And perhaps he is right. After all, he has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to protect him.

The political conversation about impeachment has, understandably, focused on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The House acts first on impeachment, and she has been a bulwark against moving forward. But on Tuesday, she’d had enough. “Today I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry and directing our six committees to proceed with their investigation under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry,” she said. “No one is above the law.”

If Trump often acts like he is above the law, it is only because McConnell lets him. If McConnell decided to lead Senate Republicans in investigating and curbing Trump’s corruption, abuses of power, and obstruction of justice, Trump’s options would be to reform his behavior or be ejected from office. 

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