The student news site of Terra Linda High School.

The Voice

The Voice

The student news site of Terra Linda High School.

The Voice

The student news site of Terra Linda High School.

I’m Peach(able)?

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President Donald Trump is under close investigation by the Democratic Party yet again. Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic Party initiated impeachment procedures on President Donald Trump after a whistleblower filed a complaint, among many other speculatory events. So far, the United States has seen only two presidents facing a similar situation: Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1998 have both been formally impeached by Congress. Richard Nixon resigned in 1961 before his impending fate. Fast forward to 2019, with elections coming around the corner, the Trump impeachment inquiry rapidly escalated to one of the most controversial and influential political events in the modern era:  “…We are witnessing what could literally change the political climate of our country and quite possibly, the world, for a very long time,” says sophomore Dominick Bright-Perez.

 

Actor and politician Volodymyr Zelensky became the 6th president of Ukraine in a victory over the standing president Petro Poroshenko on April 21, 2019. On April 25, 2019, President Trump (allegedly) asked for a favor to “find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine…”, in reference to Hunter Biden and his work in a Ukranian Oil company, Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden, son of presidential hopeful Joe Biden, joined the Burisma Holdings board with no prior experience in the energy business in 2014. Previously, Trump adviser Rudy Guliani and the Trump administration suggested that Joe Biden improperly pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor (Viktor Shokin) who had been investigating Burisma Holdings. This whole situation had people questioning Trump’s involvement in the situation, trying to recruit foreign aide into investigating a more personal issue. Though this has been one of many investigated events by Democrats, they would need to prove if this did help Trump gain a competitive advantage over his political opponents, and according to Mr Robins if his investigation of Burisma violates campaign laws it could be considered a high crime and an impeachable offense which could potentially leave him out of office.

 

On August 12, 2019, the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Committee received a whistleblower complaint in which he/she claims “[Trump] solicit[ed] interference from a foreign country… pressuring a foreign official to investigate a political rival.” The whistleblower referenced to how Marie Yovanovitch, former Ambassador to Ukraine, had been recalled back to Washington and that Rudy Guliani was trying to contact Ukranian advisers soon after. The whistleblower states that although he/she was not a direct witness of the events, the whistleblower believes that the words of their CIA colleagues are “credible” as all of the facts stated were consistent with one another. The whistleblower complaint was the spark to Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry and the first of many hearings were conducted on November 14, with many other important political figures scheduled to testify down the stretch.

 

Here at TL, we welcome all ideas, opinions, and beliefs. We are understanding of each other’s opinions and respect one another, as we are all human beings at the end of the day. In the midst of proggressive, yet violent times, TL stands united against hate. 

 

Several vocal and civically minded TL students weighed in their thoughts on the impeachment inquiry, and the President in general. Sophomore Dominick Bright Perez, a mild conservative, does not believe that Trump should be impeached, mostly due to the fact that elections are coming up next year. Although Perez has balanced opinions on the political spectrum, he believes Trump may not be the perfect candidate, but has done his duty as he should’ve. He considered, “When comparing him to people like George Bush, I think he’s done much better… I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone thinks he is… especially since a lot of the things Trump’s done, Obama did as well.” As for the impeachment inquiry, Perez agrees Trump shouldn’t have given the phone call with Ukraine, but believes the whole situation is more of an overreaction and a push to get rid of a President that Democrats don’t particularly like. As for final messages, he states, “I think people should focus much more on their Democratic candidate and investing more resources and time into that, rather than impeaching someone who, who knows, might not even be president next year.”

 

Benjamin Kan, a neutral minded junior from Terra Linda, believes that Trump shouldn’t be impeached for his actions regarding the Ukrainian president and Hunter Biden as all the evidence against trump in circumstantial and impeaching someone at the end of their term is kind of pointless. “Since Trump was first elected in 2016 people have been giving him flak and haven’t given him a chance to prove himself to be a good president as all he can do is respond to the negative criticism with remarks back which the mainstream media portrays, as him being harsh on women or attacking people that didn’t do anything to him.” Kan also adds that if he isn’t impeached he would have a low chance of reelection and thinks that Bernie Sanders would have a good chance at winning in the next election due to his good ideas and good platform, as throughout his leadership he has created a lot of divide and is very brash towards other people however justified it may be. He remarks that Trump has good intentions for the country but goes about it the wrong way as he makes promises he doesn’t keep and is viewed as brash and impulsive, and tries to run the country like a business as he isn’t used to going through people to make decisions like a career politician would be used to.

 

Alex Robins, an AP US History teacher from Terra Linda, thinks that President Trump overstepped his boundaries in the investigation of Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings. He believes that an inquiry into his actions is fair to make against the president, however, Mr. Robins says that the case is not going to go through and no conviction will pass through the republican held senate unless 17 of the Republican congressmen choose to side with the Democrats throughout the inquiry and give the Democrats the two-thirds majority they need to pass a conviction. He says that just the impeachment inquiry and conviction would severely damage Trump’s chances for a re-election in the 2020 elections even if he should he be found innocent of all charges, as to this day no president has ever gone for a chance at reelection off of an impeachment charge or conviction with presidents like Nixon and Bill Clinton either resigning or abdicating the office instead of being impeached and past presidents have just not tried for another term due to the bad press and reputation.

 

In conclusion, Donald Trump’s office and career has been a very controversial topic ever since his election, whose future is heavily dependant on the ongoing impeachment hearings. As of now, all of  America patiently waits for what could be the most influential political event in the modern era since . What do you think of the impeachment inquiry? Let us know in the comments section and on our poll on the Terra Linda Voice website.

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I’m Peach(able)?