Trump and Biden should go

President Trump and Joe Biden should go. Both have shown misjudgment, but there is more danger when the Commander-In-Chief asks foreign powers Ukraine and China to investigate a possible rival in an upcoming election.

Why President Trump has to leave

Let us say that the president is totally right. He cannot trust the CIA or the FBI because, after all, look at how James Comey failed to “lock Hillary up” but possibly gave Trump a victory. Besides, if he asked the FBI to investigate the Bidens’, the investigation could take so long that he may not even be in office once it’s finished. Instead of going to Ukraine or China and asking them to investigate the Bidens’, why not ask William Barr to hire an independent investigator to look into the Biden-Ukraine connection? Even if one does not trust their own intelligence agencies, wouldn’t such a decision be safer than asking a rival like China to investigate a former vice president of the United States?

Should Biden be investigated? Yes. It does not take very long to see a troubling pattern develop with big names and elite families. Even if they don’t violate the law, such appointments tend to run right up against violating the law. A recent article in Bloomberg noted that there is nothing wrong with what the Bidens’ did. Such was not illegal. The problem is that we really don’t know that without an investigation, so it is presumptuous for any journalist to make such a statement.

In addition, just because something is not illegal does not mean one should do so. The authors simply brush off Biden’s son’s gig as a lawyer in Ukraine that pays him $50,000 per month. Are his legal skills that good? I think not.

What we know is that Ukraine had a lot of government corruption. What we know is that Biden’s son gets a very lucrative job, and he just so happens to be the vice president’s son. What a coincidence. And maybe it is a coincidence. However, there are enough red flags to warrant an investigation. President Trump is right to ask for an investigation but not in a way that jeopardizes national security and pits our law enforcement and intelligence agencies in contrast to the president.

As the days go on, every call, every tweet, every speech, and every action the president does may jeopardize national security. Consider Trump’s phone call to Turkey’s president. Secretary of State Pompeo denies that Trump gave Turkey a “green light” to destroy a U.S. ally and possibly send thousands of ISIS leaders free. Yet our president gave Turkey something?  They would have not made a move in Syria. Such may well cause the Kurds to ask for Assad’s and Putin’s help. Such may create a justification for terrorists to further target the U.S. This is what arguably happened when the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan shortly after the Russians left. Nearly 7 million Afghans died. Osama Bin Laden’s new message was born. The towers fell less than two decades later.

Why Biden Must Go

For liberal voters, at a time when it feels that the checks and balances our forefathers created to keep democracy is in question, the last thing they need is a new president that sees nothing wrong with his son taking huge paychecks from foreign-affiliated businesses. Such may not be illegal, but appears unethical or, at the least, poor judgment. No, it is not okay that one’s big-name or their large bank account gets a family member a cushy job or an ivy league admission. No, it’s not okay for a company to hire someone more for influence than for skill. For most Americans, they never get such breaks. They have to earn them.

Joe Biden was seen as different. He was seen as the poor man politician that could relate and understand a right-leaning farmer in Delaware and a more liberal businesswoman in Newark. Now, such seems more like a betrayal to Biden’s political persona. It may send many Americans down the same old path toward disappointment. Such creates anger, the same anger that may have put president Trump in the White House. We need a careful president.

Think Intelligently, Not Loyalty

Not an elephant or a donkey will save us. There will always be conservatives and liberals. We expect good, careful judgment from our leaders. Should Biden be investigated? Yes. Who should investigate him? Our federal agencies, men and women that risk and dedicate their lives for the United States.

Should the President cooperate with the impeachment inquiry? Yes. Is the President right that the House is overstepping its authority? No, because the constitution makes it very clear that the house has the “sole” power to impeach. Here it is: “The Constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to impeach an official, and it makes the Senate the sole court for impeachment trials.”

We should also expect that our president read and understand the constitution. Such should be required of future presidents.

Earl Yarington

Earl Yarington (LMSW) is a social worker and school bus driver. He taught literature and writing for nearly 20 years and spent 3 years working in forensic social work internships with offending populations, including work at Delaware Correctional facilities and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He has a PhD in literature and criticism (feminism/women writers) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Master of Social Work from Louisiana State University, and an interdisciplinary Master of Liberal Arts from Arizona State University, where he studied the impact of visual image and girlhood in media/social media. He also has an MA and BS in English from SUNY College at Brockport. The opinions and analyses that Earl writes are his own and are not necessarily the positions or views of his employers, the agencies he supports, or  that of his colleagues. Reach out with comments or questions.