Opinion: Confused by emoluments? The Founding Fathers would have impeached Trump in a New York minute
Published: Aug 10, 2018 8:47 a.m.
The Founding Fathers had someone just like Donald Trump in mind when they banned any and all emoluments to the president from any foreign or state governments
Conservatives, we are constantly told, believe in strict adherence to the Constitution based primarily on the text and secondarily on the views of the Founding Fathers. If conservatives really were “originalists,” they would be the first to say that Donald Trump is exactly the kind of president who ought to be impeached.
The Founding Fathers, savvy students of history and human nature, were highly attuned to the risks of public corruption — actual or perceived — and inserted language into the Articles of Confederation and later into the Constitution to guard against such human frailties. They wanted to make sure that anyone who held a public office would serve only one master: the American people.
Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, delegate to the Philadelphia convention and first attorney general of the United States, said during the ratification debate that the president “is restrained from receiving any present or emolument whatever. It is impossible to guard better against corruption.”
And if the president does so, “he may be impeached,” Randolph declared with no reservations.
The Founding Fathers, in other words, would have impeached Trump in a New York minute.
Read entire article HERE.
Fabulous!
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