I’m not feeling the historic thrill of this impeachment. I know Dan Rather called it ‘unprecedented.’ The Guardian says this is just the fourth time it’s happened. But three of those- Nixon, Clinton, Trump- are in the last 45 years, within the living memories of many people It starts sounding less historic than obsessive-compulsive. A historian called it ‘maybe one of the most important moments in American history.’ That’s not scholarship, it’s marketing. Maybe it’s just that people like feeling special by being told they’re present at big historical moments. I used to wonder about people who lived in eras where nothing seemed to happen, like the 1740s or 1300s. All that really means is you haven’t taken courses about them or seen movies set in them.
I don’t think the issues, like Trump demanding political quid pro quos in foreign policy, are momentous either. It’s common. Obama was caught on a mic asking Russia’s president to give him some space till after his re-election and then he could do more for him. That’s a political quid pro quo.
US military aid is always ‘tied’ to spending it back in the US, leading to donations from arms makers to US politicians. That’s a quid pro quo pro quid.
Wake me when it’s over and they get back to some real drama, like who wins control of the Democratic party.
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