11 > the antlerette // fall 2019
T RU MP AN D TH E G IAN T IMP EAC H JORDAN RITCHIE // EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
O
n July 25, 2019, President Donald Trump held a phone call with the Ukranian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and some are calling the conversation treason. Because of what went down during this call and the emergence of the controversial whistleblower complaint, Trump is facing the possibility of impeachment. If this inquiry is in his favor, he will continue to serve as our president for the remainder of his term and maybe even longer. However, if Trump is impeached and convicted, he will go down in history as the first American president to be forced out of office. This impeachment is of utmost severity for Trump, as he is facing the possibility of being stripped of his presidency. But what does this impeachment mean for our country?
I’ve learned that in politics, everything is vague; words are so empty they’re meaningless, or if not, are so full of garbage that their true meaning is buried. So before we get into allegations and collusion, let’s get some facts straight. Impeachment is a charge of misconduct made against a public officer. A whistleblower is someone who exposes secretive information or activity that is deemed illegal or unethical within an organization. On August 12, 2019, the famed whistleblower complaint was filed, accusing Trump of collusion–in Layman’s terms, a secret agreement or conspiracy for illegal or deceitful purposes. So what went down during this phone call that has people throwing around words like “treason” and “impeachment”?
According to multiple White House officials present during the phone call, President Trump sought to “advance his personal interests”. He attempted to coerce President Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and in order to confirm the allegations of Ukraine being the source of interference in the 2016 presidential election in support of the Democrats–not Russia. At first glance, this may just seem like presidential peer pressure, but it’s much more complex than that. Also, allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden claimed that they engaged in illegal activity in the Ukraine, while the latter was working for an energy company, Burisma, that was the object of suspicion for corruption. Whether or not Joe Biden
