An Open Letter To #NancyPelosi: Please Impeach

Dear Madame Speaker,

I write this letter in hopes that you receive it and would like to respectfully request this:

PLEASE begin the impeachment process on the president.

In speaking with the Washington Post, of course you remember that you stated this:

“Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

As a retired Army soldier, Democrat and tremendous supporter of you and all you have done and will continue to do for our country, I respectfully disagree and plead with you to re-consider. Here are a few reasons why.

Our country is already more divided than I have ever seen it in my nearly 40 years. I understand that you have been around longer, but I would like to explain it this way.

Until the president announced that he was running for president, I thought that there would always be a line that no matter how divided the parties are, would never be crossed.

I thought open pride of White Supremacy would never happen.

It is.

I thought that there would never be people who would applaud or make excuses for police shooting unarmed black men.

There are.

I never thought there would be so many cases of white people are calling the police on innocent black people, to include children.

I was wrong there too.

I never thought people would be so dismissive to the mass murders of innocent citizens as they are simply out and going on with their lives.

I never thought children would be insulted after losing their friends to mass school shootings. These insults are not coming from other children, but adults, television political commentators and lawmakers. This is the response to our citizens exercising Freedom of Speech.

I never thought we would have a president who would hold political rallies in which he would do nothing but rant hatefully about the opposite party, who of course you know in this case, are Democrats. This even happened during a visit with the troops, which should never occur. That is NOT a conversation or a rally that needs to happen with service members, as we are supposed to publicly remain neutral.

I never thought we would have a president who would ever encourage the firing of individuals exercising their First Amendment Rights as he did with the National Football League players who decided to take a knee during the National Anthem. On top of that, he refers to these players as “sons of bitches.”

And the list goes on.

Madame Speaker, as you know, New Zealand just lost 49 of its citizens in a mass shooting at a Christchurch mosque. The Australian suspect had a manifesto in which he names Donald Trump as an “inspiration.”

This is obviously not the first time this has happened. MANY times, similar horrible acts have happened and folks are not even shy about implying that the president “inspired” them in some way.

I also never thought there would be so many folks caught on video harassing people of color and again, with no problem crediting the president. There was one video I remember in which the perpetrator said, to the effect, “Trump is gonna make sure you all are deported!” when speaking obviously to Latinos.

Two months ago, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri should “Go back to Puerto Rico!” to Rep. Tony Cárdenas of California. This happened in the same week that Rep. Steve King of Iowa was stripped of committee assignments over racist comments.

Seriously, a lawmaker shouting out for someone to “go back to Puerto Rico”? That’s more expected of someone on the street; not a person who occupies a position in Congress. There is absolutely no excuse for that whatsoever. Again, the president says nothing about this.

Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith made that “joke” about “attending a public hanging.” Of all the places her mind can go, and this is considered by her as appropriate, especially considering the history of her state. That is embarrassing.

Again…the list goes on. The president has said very little to condemn these words being said. While we cannot necessarily say he directly made anyone do or say these things, respectfully, let’s use our heads here as a country.

As a mother and grandmother, if any of your children or grandchildren committed some horrible act publicly or at school and then said, “My mother/grandmother is my inspiration!” I don’t know you personally, but I would like to think you would speak up and strongly discourage them, along with letting them know under no uncertain terms that you do not condone the behavior. Any decent parent would. That really isn’t that hard.

It is NOT a coincidence that the president has not. I may be a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this, I am a retired Army soldier. I retired in August after serving for 21 years. I still exercise at the gym and do a lot of running outside. I never thought I would see the day when I would have to watch my back more than I otherwise would. Sure, I could have been attacked before, but now there is even more encouragement to do so, while those who support the president and others would find some way to ignore it or blame me for the attack, whether it is a police officer or citizen. I’ve even learned that police have decided to randomly shout “Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” when they know they are on video, whether the person is actually resisting or not. This is sort a way to cover themselves and to make it look and sound as though there is resistance going on when there may not be. All of these things have me looking around a whole lot more than I used to, and I am simply outside, minding my business, trying to stay in shape. This is unacceptable for anyone. But after fighting for my country all these years, it is a shame that this is what I have to be reduced to.

No person of color should have to deal with this or even be concerned about it in 2019. We are supposed to be way past that.

Madame Speaker, when saying that impeachment would “divide the country,” I am confused as to how much further things could go before you would consider the country as divided. It looks pretty bad as it is.

When you say “unless there is something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan,” what more needs to happen? The president is making a point to not speak to denounce horrible events taking place, especially with his name attached as “inspiration” of some kind. He does this either because he agrees with what is happening, or he realizes that in speaking up against these events, he would lose leverage with his base and those in the Republican Party who still support him.

Is there also this need to wait until enough Republicans have an issue with what he is doing? Because there will always be those (Senator Lindsey Graham, for example) who will always support him no matter what he says or does. For many, this is more about “beating Democrats” than anything else. Trump would have to literally go out and “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” to lose support. Sadly, even then, I don’t believe this would change much.

And then there is his Fake Emergency at the border. Enough said.

Lastly, when you said that “he’s just not worth it,” I am confused as to what this even means in this context. He is not worth the trouble of the impeachment process? To me, this is almost the same as saying a child is not worth the trouble of disciplining them. That a criminal is not worth the trouble of processing them to go to prison. We know all of what he is doing wrong, so I really don’t understand how starting this process is “not worth it.” This is just allowing him to continue or get worse.

It is also believed that the votes would not be there to complete the process. How do we know this? Why is this a good reason to not even start anything? I understand that it is much more complex than many of us realize, but to just not do anything doesn’t get us there, either. I’ve never understood how not moving forward is a good idea.

The president said Mexico was going to pay for the wall. They’re not. Now he is taking money from other areas where this money is needed. 

Let’s not forget the longest shutdown in our history. And why? Because he didn’t get his way. Even you and Speaker Schumer said this was basically a temper tantrum, which most of the country wholeheartedly agrees with. People were suffering and not receiving paychecks they’ve earned, unable to pay their bills, and for what reason?

Because he wants to build a wall? That’s it? Not only did he say on television that he would not blame the Democrats, but then he turns around and does it repeatedly.

How is this not worthy of the effort to begin the impeachment process?

In conclusion, President Trump is behaving almost every single day like a defiant child. And unlike a child who sort of knows the end is near where he or she cannot continue behaving as they are, the president is basically mocking you to your faces, while continuing his open defiance, knowing that nothing will be done as of yet. He does not realize that his words have power and carry a ton of weight. The President of the United States should be far more careful, or it could have catastrophic results, as has been clear up to this point.

He sides with our adversaries in Russia and North Korea. We lost an American journalist in Saudi Arabia. This is all grossly unacceptable. I’m really not sure how much more needs to happen. I’m absolutely not sure how all this can happen in the first place.

Madame Speaker, PLEASE begin the impeachment process. I have a tremendous deal of respect for you and what you have accomplished, and I want to thank you for all you have done. But there does not seem to be a line here. The president has done or supported terrible things and is continuing to get worse. I could understand if these were acts from a long time ago. But every day it seems, there is something else.

We’re not talking about impeaching him because of some silly stuff we don’t agree with. People’s LIVES are at stake. Murder in his name is being excused. He encourages violence  ON VIDEO against those who are against him. This absolutely CANNOT continue. Not for ONE MORE DAY.

You said that “he’s just not worth it.” Here is my question, Madame Speaker…

Are the American people worth it?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Robert People