President Donald Trump once again did the unthinkable: he hit back against the media and their political party, also known as the Democrats, over their contrived efforts to impeach him for the unforgivable sin of beating their chosen 2016 presidential candidate.

Impeachment is being pushed without authorization from the full House, as in, "The House of Representatives ... shall have the sole Power of Impeachment." The Constitution gives this power not to the speaker or the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, but to "The House," meaning the entire House.

Sure, the House can change the rules. They could vote to make Joy Behar the speaker of the House, since the speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, but that would be a radical departure from precedent, just as the current impeachment process is.

How is the House pushing impeachment? Through a "secret" process rather than through a "due" process. Hearings are conveniently being held clandestinely, since, if the oxymoronic "House Intelligence" Committee holds hearings, everything can be covered under a blanket of "national security." The accusers call witnesses while the defense can only watch, unable to take notes or call their own witnesses, subpoena documents, receive transcripts of the proceedings, or anything else normally afforded the defense under the due process of American jurisprudence.

How would one describe such a circus? How about using the word "lynch"? Cambridge Dictionary describes lynching: "If a crowd of people lynch someone who they believe is guilty of a crime, they kill them without a legal trial, usually by hanging." By the way, lynching is a diverse process, applicable to anyone, regardless of skin color, sex, or any other characteristic. Supreme Court nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, while of different skin colors, were both treated to Democrat lynchings.

The hanging bit might be a bit over the top, as Democrats don't really want to hang President Trump. Or do they? Bette Midler, a good stand in for Joy Behar for the speaker job, wants to hang not only Trump, but also his family, "good and high." So does some tolerant California State University professor who believes that "Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better."

The Legal Dictionary defines lynching as "[v]iolent punishment or execution, without due process, for real or alleged crimes." That certainly describes the House approach — no due process and only alleged crimes.

The president understands this better than anyone, as he is the one being led to the gallows. As he is prone to do, he took to Twitter with this response: "All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching. But we will WIN!"



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As predictable as sunrise and sunset, the media's collective heads exploded in unison over Trump's use of the word "lynching." The Left has hijacked the term to serve its pandering civil rights agenda, and for Trump to use it is an unacceptable affront to Democrats.

The Guardian ran this headline: "Fury as Trump compares impeachment inquiry to lynching." In lockstep, the New York Times replied, "The term lynching invokes the decades-long racist history of white mob murders of black people beginning in the late 1800s and through the late 1960s."

Wow — the N.Y. Times is throwing Democrats under the bus by saying black lynching was done mostly at the hands of the KKK, the militant arm of the Democratic Party. Remember that Bull Connor, George Wallace, and KKK grand kleagle and former U.S. senator Robert Byrd were all Democrats.

Where did the term "lynching" come from? The Online Etymology Dictionary provides an answer. Lynching "[w]as likely named after William Lynch (1742–1820) of Pittsylvania, Virginia, who c. 1780 led a vigilance committee to keep order there during the Revolution." Alternatively, "[o]ther sources trace the name to Charles Lynch (1736–1796) a Virginia magistrate who fined and imprisoned Tories in his district."

It seems that original lynchings, long before the KKK existed, were reserved for political opponents, just as President Trump described in his tweet.

Regardless of origin, the goal of lynching is to "[i]nflict severe (but not deliberately fatal) bodily punishment (on someone) without legal sanction." Removing a duly elected president is certainly "severe," and the Schiff/Pelosi secret tribunal falls under "without legal sanction."

There is no mention of race, blacks, slavery, or the KKK in the definition of lynching. This reminds me of another word co-opted by the left, "gay," which in 1934 described a dancing divorcée, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers singing and dancing in a very heterosexual manner. But now the word has only one meaning, as does "lynching." Don we now our gay apparel as we go a-lynching, fa-la-la-la-la.

The "largest lynching in U.S. history" was in New Orleans in 1891 and was directed at Italians, not blacks. Then there was the Chinese massacre of 1871, "one of the largest lynchings in U.S. history." These were racially motivated, but not in the way Democrats have defined lynching.

Democrats, before they became woke in the Age of Trump, frequently used the term "lynching" to describe unfair judicial proceedings, including the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Twitchy compiled a collection, taking a walk down lynching lane, which inconveniently supports Trump's use of the term today.

Democrat Rep. Jim McDermott in 1998 said, "We're taking a step down the road to becoming a political Lynch Mob[.] ... We are going to find a rope, find a tree, and ask a bunch of questions later."

At the same time, Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler said, "I wish we could get this over with quickly. ... In pushing the process, in pushing the arguments of fairness and due process the Republicans so far have been running a lynch mob."

Democrat Sen. Harry Reid on the Senate floor told his audience, "The lynch mob, though, Mr. President, now has a new leader."

Don't leave out Democrat Sen. John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, exclaiming, "It's a verbal political lynching on the floor of the Senate."

Even Democrat primary frontrunner Sen. Joe Biden told Wolf Blitzer in 1998, "Even if the president should be impeached, history is going to question whether or not this was just a partisan lynching."



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Aside from the blatant hypocrisy pushed by the media, President Trump is exactly right in describing not only the current impeachment push, but also three years of resistance to his entire presidency, as a lynching — severe punishment without due process for alleged misdeeds.

Senator Lindsey Graham, in an accidental moment of pro-Trump conservatism, weighed in on the current impeach-trump charade, saying, "This is a lynching, in every sense."

It's too bad so many other Republicans have lost their voices, leaving the president as the sole defender within his party against the latest witch hunt. But a lynching is exactly what it is. Republicans should be brave enough to say so, and loudly.

Brian C Joondeph, M.D. is a Denver-based physician, freelance writer, and occasional radio talk show host whose pieces have appeared in the American Thinker, the Daily Caller, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and QuodVerum.