Letter: The Trumpian rationalizing response

By Gene Fitzgerald | The Public Forum

In an interview from 1998 in discussing the charges against President Bill Clinton, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz asserts that it "certainly doesn't have to be a crime" to be impeachable.

He continues, “If someone completely corrupts the office of the president, abuses trust, poses great danger to our liberty it doesn’t have to be a crime.” And on those grounds, Dershowitz argues that Clinton should be impeached.

How things change in the course of 20 years. In a recent interview, Dershowitz completely contradicts his earlier opinion, stating that President Trump should not be impeached, even if House managers prove their case for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Dershowitz now argues that the meaning of “other high crimes and misdemeanors” indicates that they "must be akin to treason and bribery.” With that contradictory assertion, he maintains even further that even if all the evidence and arguments laid out by the House are accepted as fact, they do not rise to an impeachable offense.

And there you have it, the perfect contradictory Trumpian rationalizing response.

Given that he consistently touts his credentials as a Harvard law professor and expert on the Constitution, he should at least attempt to be consistent here and show a modicum of integrity.

Gene Fitzgerald, Salt Lake City

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2020/01/26/letter-trumpian/