Daily Times

Presided by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts in the Senate, the world watched the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Democratslaid down their case against the president first, who was charged by the House of Representatives on two accounts: abuse of power and obstruction of the Congress. They were rebutted by the defence team of the president. The Senate would vote in the end either to acquit or convict him.

A number of people speculated that one day Trump would be impeached even before he was sworn in the office. Why? It was because his unwonted conduct, belittling speeches, poor choice of words, and his unruly way of presenting himself had irked the mainstream media so much that it would not settle for anything less than an impeachment.

What would be the catalyst in the end, no one knew. Right from day one though, media kept on showing something more catastrophic and dramatic every day as if the sky was falling. A few months into his presidency, they eventually got an opening. Robert Mueller was appointed as the special counsel to investigate the Russian involvement in the 2016 US elections, and/or to uneartha collusion between Russia and the election campaign of Trump. After more than a year, a lot of television hype, hundreds of interviews and a few high-profile convictions, what did the special counsel determine? Nothing to incriminate the president. In the words of Trump, “There was no collusion.”

Yet, the speculation never stopped. And even before the dust of that prolonged inquiry had settled, out of almost nowhere the whistle blower complaint regarding a conversation between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump emerged as a genie and granted the media its long-awaited wish. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on television and opened an impeachment investigation. Was it just because the media and the opposition had made up their minds or had the president really done something impeachable? Pakistanis and people who do not live in stable democraciesfail to understand.

We have seen in the last two years how it can slow down the economy without reducing corruption, and how even a ‘messiah’ would fail if all he cared for was alleged corruption

Trump did not demand a commission to fill his own pocket, putting his persona financial interests before the country. Had he done that, then sure, the impeachment could be understood. But what is so wrong in asking the Ukrainian president to open an investigation against a suspected case of corruption? If it involves the president’s rival Joe Biden, so what? The point is that Hunter Biden, the son of the former vice president, was hired by Burisma Holdings, a gas company, which paid him upto fifty thousand dollars a month as aboard member. And what did he exactly do as a board member? What was his experience in the energy sector? Isit not true that Joe Biden was in power, the man in charge of supporting the democratic process in Ukraine when his son was hired in 2014?

This case sounds much straight forward to them than any abuse of power on behalf of the president. He had to pursuit it. Clearly, they find the actions of the president acceptable if not downright commendable, and also, the actions of the Congress unfathomable if not downright condemnable.

Through an organised propaganda to malign the politicians who hold the democratic values dear, they, in the last ten years, are led to believe that firstly, major corruption is limited to certain families rather than a nationwide predicament, and secondly, a war on corruption-meaninga war waged on those families-would make the country stronger, its economy prospering in a matter of days if not months. For every problem presented on television, the answer stood the same: the country needed a Mr Clean, a person with no previous allegations of financial embezzlement. Once he assumed power, he would throw everyone on top in jail. As a trickle-down effect, the mid-level bureaucracy and the lower level staff would stop accepting or demanding bribes. That would stop the economy from bleeding immediately, and Pakistan would be rich again. Yes, I am not making it up, just like a genie fulfilling the wish.

What they do not understand is that politicalvendetta endangers the country much more than corruption. People who live in mature democracies and who understand state vulnerabilities realise that if anything can put them behind, it would not be an outside threat. Rather, it would be their national approval of political vendetta in the form of a campaign against corruption. That, I think, is the main reason for the impeachment of President Trump. He was asking a foreign government to dig up dirt on his rival, an unforgivable sin. Of course, the role of Hunter Biden will be exposed one day, but that does not constitute an emergency. Nipping this evil in the bud does.

Our current affairs tell us the same story: if the system has to be strengthened, it has to be strengthened by empowering political institutions not by weakening them. We have seen in the last two years how it can slow down the economy without reducing corruption, and how even a ‘messiah’would fail if all he cared for was alleged corruption.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist