Extortion gets OK, if it fails

Timid Republicans have all joined the non-impeachment choir singing the same tune about Trump’s attempted shakedown of Ukraine. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: “It’s important to remember the aid did get released.” Nikki Haley: “… what everybody’s up in arms about didn’t happen.”

Ukraine got its desperately needed military aid, so what’s the big deal? In short, attempted extortion is OK so long as the extortion effort fails. Because of this happy ending, we don’t have treason, bribery, or a high crime and misdemeanor — and impeachment should be off the table.

By this logic, only consummated bribery is impeachable, while attempted bribery is not. By extension, we should only impeach when treason is successful because attempted treason is harmless if it fails.

No harm, no foul. How does anyone make this argument with a straight face?

Imagine an instructive but completely fictional hypothetical: Obama wants to neutralize Nikki Haley’s potential presidential ambitions. So he seeks Ukraine’s supposed cyber expertise as a “favor” to stir up a smear campaign of baseless stories about Haley’s extramarital affairs with lobbyists who attempted to corruptly influence her. He withholds military aid to force Ukrainian cooperation, but releases the aid after a whistleblower exposes him.

It’s absurd to think that Republican Trump defenders would forgive such corrupt behavior by a Democratic president — even though, by their logic, such corruption would be forever acceptable. Instead they would be exploding with outrage and pursuing impeachment. And they should be. Just as they should be with our present Republican president.

Steve McNutt

Spokane