One worthwhile thought experiment would be to imagine what would have happened had the whistleblower never come forward. Assuming Trump either is re-elected in 2020 or loses the election, it is a fact that within the next 5 years he will be replaced.
Imagine that a future president were to learn of what Trump had done. His blackmailing of the president of Ukraine for the purposes of attacking Joe Biden. Imagine the situation in which such future president would find themselves in and assume that that future president would not be favorably inclined in favor of Trump.
What would that future president be able to do in terms of punishing Trump? Would they be able to charge Trump with obstruction while he was in office? He certainly tried to hide his tracks which is evidence that he did obstruct justice. Trump has shown time and time again that he has nothing but contempt for the rule of law, the authority of the House of Representatives, and the Constitution that reserves the right to impeach to the latter. Obstruction of justice is a crime, and assuming that the clock would start when Trump leaves office, there would be no issues in terms of statute of limitations as his obstruction would have been ongoing.
On his abuse of his office, are there any laws that would be applicable to punish Trump after he was out of office for his having abused the public trust by dangling taxpayer money before Ukraine? While we’re not constitutional experts, it seems that bribing the president of Ukraine is the kind of situation that would define a high crime and misdemeanor and there are federal statutes against bribery.
Therefore, with the clarity of the present, and with knowledge of what would (will) be possible after Trump leaves office, there is no reasonable argument against the two articles of impeachment that will be voted on tomorrow. What Trump did was criminal and had his crimes gone unreported, a future president and Congress would certainly have the right to charge Trump. Therefore, it stands to reason, there is no reason not to impeach Trump. Republicans arguing that the actions did not rise to an impeachable offense are deluding themselves. Imagine if Obama had tried the same thing? Would Republicans not have tried to impeach Obama for doing what Trump has admitted to doing?
In his infantile letter to Nancy Pelosi, Trump claims that the actions are illegal and tantamount to an attempted coup against the office of the President. The French word coup means a strike or a hit. The full word is coup d’é·tat, which means strike against the state. As Trump says, the purpose of his letter is to memorialize for the benefit of future readers what he considers to be a disgraceful act.
Let it be clear that the only coup being perpetrated is by Trump and his enablers against the American state. It is Trump who has perverted the meanings of words to make it appear that his “perfect call” was anything other than a government employee dangling something of value to a foreign power in order to benefit personally. Trump is that government employee and it is time he was fired.