Danny Westneat’s recent column makes a case for Americans “impeaching” President Donald Trump at the 2020 polls. Westneat neglects to address the importance of a real impeachment: an acknowledgment that Trump has dangerously diminished our country on the world stage.
In the long-run that may be the most treacherous impact he has, and why we need to impeach him rather than simply vote him out of office. We must show the world that Trump is a one-time, Russian assisted national mistake.
He has destroyed our reputation as a freedom supporting world power, specifically as a country that leads the fight against climate change, encourages upward mobility through education for all and consistently works to create a peaceful, prosperous world.
Without impeachment, it could take decades before the global community will trust us not to elect someone like Trump again.
Without that trust, we lose our alliances, trade agreements, investments and international respect.
Impeachment says to the world, “We realize we made a mistake. We corrected it because our democratic system is designed to let us correct such mistakes.”
Patricia J. Schwab, Seattle
