Trump has chalked up two more reasons to impeach him (or some kind of reckoning): abusing his office by ordering an investigation of the FBI’s investigation into whether his 2016 campaign conspired with Russia, and attempting to punish a specific individual by damaging that person’s business.
The actual likelihood of impeachment isn’t the important point. What matters is whether Trump—or any president—is held to account for alleged transgressions in gaining office, and then, once in it, abuse of its powers. If Trump gets away with these things unscathed, dangerous precedents will have been set.
First, there was his order this week to the Justice Department that it investigate whether the FBI had “infiltrated or surveilled” his campaign; second, the president was found to have been pressuring the postmaster general to punish Jeff Bezos—owner of The Washington Post, whose coverage of Trump galls him, and who also heads the giant commerce and services company Amazon—by significantly raising postal rates on Amazon’s packages. This would damage other companies that ship goods as well, thus affecting a major and growing part of the economy to the tune of billions of dollars, but Trump’s tweets and statements make it clear that his target is one person, Bezos.
As for the other impeachable offense that Trump has invited, The Washington Post reported on Saturday that he had been personally pressing U.S. Postmaster General Morgan Brennan “to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages.”
That Bezos is now the richest man in the world may stick in Trump’s craw, but for a president to use his powers to punish a single person or company is clearly an abuse of his office and an impeachable offense. And the fact that Trump is trying to punish a newspaper by financially hurting its owner is a scandalous abuse of power.
Perhaps the Amazon-postmaster general story will encourage other pressured government officials, if they exist, to come forward. The government isn’t a president’s play toy and whoever uses that office to carry out personal vendettas should pay a high price for that. If a president can attack an individual for a reason of his own, no one is safe.
newrepublic.com
