I feel this must have been said many times before, and yet, why does it appear that we, our generation, always seemingly live in the most interesting of times? Why? I’m not sure if I’m right or not, but I can tell you that in the trial of the Impeachment of Donald Trump, the arguments presented by his defense are the most interesting, strangest, and least anchored in reality I have ever heard.
Of particular note is Alan Dershowitz’s, who yesterday argued that a quid pro quo cannot be illegal, so long as it was done in the public interest. He rightly reasoned, that leaders and politicians do it all of the time. That these type of exchanges are part of the everyday dealings of our political landscape. As an example, Dershowitz supposed that when Lincoln asked General Sherman to let the troops go and vote in the Indiana election for the Republican party, he was doing it for what Lincoln, at the time, believed was for the benefit of the public, and thus unimpeachable; even if in the process of the troops voting, Lincoln was placing the lives of other soldiers at risk. He went further and said, “let’s suppose Lincoln was running…” (President Lincoln was not), even then, it would not be an impeachable offense. And why would it not be an impeachable offense at that time (if Lincoln had been running)? Because according to Dershowitz, all politicians believe their election, or re-election, is in the public interest, and therefore, anything they do or say to reach this mismatch of equivalent (public interest = re-election) goals, is unimpeachable.
Therefore, a President, or any elected politician, can, according to Dershowitz, do anything, so long as they believe it was in the public interest. Not very often am I left with few to no words. What do you say to someone that believes this?
