Are There Any Adults Left in Washington, D.C.?

As America approaches her 250th birthday, her instruction manual, the U.S. Constitution, is under assault as never before. The First Amendment is under attack by campus speech police and social media, censoring and deciding which political statements are welcomed and which are verboten. The Second Amendment is threatened by leftist elitists happy to ban guns for the law-abiding as long as they can have armed guards protecting themselves and their families from the criminals who don't give a whit about whatever gun laws the left proposes. It's not only the Bill of Rights under assault, but also Article Two of the Constitution – specifically, the first section, detailing how a president is elected to a four-year term.

President Donald Trump was lawfully and constitutionally elected to serve as America's 45th president for a term of four years, commencing in January 2017. Unless he is impeached and removed from office, as dictated by the Constitution, for high crimes and misdemeanors, he is entitled to serve through January 2021. If he chooses to seek a second term and the voters re-elect him, he may serve eight years. This is how our government works: the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next. At least, this is how it is supposed to work and has for the first 44 American presidents. Instead, we had an outgoing administration, using its vast intelligence and judicial powers to influence a presidential election. Perhaps "influence" is too kind a word, as even an endorsement from the outgoing president is meant to influence. Far better would be a word like "rig" or "fix," deliberately dictating the outcome despite the constitutional process and the will of the people. That's exactly what the Obama administration did. A lie, dressed up as intelligence, was used to fraudulently justify spying on a presidential campaign before the election. Congressman Devin Nunes, on this weekend's Sunday talk shows, explained that the information used to justify spying on Trump was not intelligence material at all. Instead, it was opposition research, smears commissioned and paid for by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. This in turn was treated by the Obama Justice Department and FISA courts as a legitimate intelligence product, justifying "wiretaps." The collected information was then leaked to a complicit and willing media, to be spread far and wide in an effort to determine the election outcome. Having failed, the Obama administration set the wheels in motion via its "insurance policy" to destroy the duly elected president through a special prosecutor and a relentless media attack, seeking to cripple and undermine President Trump. Having been unsuccessful at creating impeachable or criminal charges against Trump, the secondary goal was to turn public opinion against him until his supporters came out with pitchforks demanding his removal from office. What's the result? Pushing the make-believe Russian collusion narrative, of which there is and never was any evidence, undermines American trust in the electoral process. It also casts a taint on the ability of the president to effectively govern and fulfill his constitutional duties. Lastly, it ascribes undeserved powers to the Russian government. If they can hack an American election, what can't they do? When does this end? When do the relentless attacks and undermining of the Trump administration stop, with an acceptance of the now almost year and a half-ago election outcome? When will those guilty of this nefarious scheme be identified and held to account? Rudy Giuliani is joining the Trump legal team, ostensibly to negotiate an end to the Mueller jihad. That's great, but will this deal be a grand compromise? Will the deal let the kingpins off scot-free, those with the last name Clinton and Obama, while throwing a few foot soldiers, such as Andrew McCabe or James Comey, under the bus with convictions or even a short stint behind bars? That's nothing but a wrist slap – those undermining the Constitution and rule of law getting caught but not punished. Better luck next time, and there will certainly be a next time. The next Democrat in the White House will try the same thing, learning from the mistakes of the Obama administration, ensuring that the scheme works and that its people don't get caught. The irony is that Trump could weaponize the agencies now under his control, to re-elect himself and then Mike Pence in 2024. Democrats should be keenly interested in transparency and accountability so this scheme isn't used against them. Politicized bureaucrats and investigations resulting in delegitimizing elections can just as easily be used against the Democrats in the future. The only way to end this is through a whopping dose of disinfectant, shining a bright light on the scheming and wrongdoing – and punishing those guilty to the full extent of the law so no one dares try this again. This is not simply lying to the FBI or mishandling classified information. It is far worse – treason and sedition. The U.S. Code defines treason quite simply: "[w]hoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them." Sedition is straightforward, too: conspiracy "to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them." Those participating in a conspiracy worthy of a Robert Ludlum novel or the current season of Homeland, using any and all means necessary to rig an election, then overturning a properly elected administration, deserve to pay a price. It is of utmost importance to send a message so loud and clear that this is never attempted again. The media deserve a slap-down, too, for their participation in this charade. They are unindicted co-conspirators at the least, hiding behind a free speech fig leaf, while they work hand in hand with the last administration to undermine a presidential election and the eventual winner. Some might call it sedition, but I'll leave it to the legal experts to decide. Are there any adults in Washington, D.C. who realize how this process is dividing and destroying the country? It's whipping up the anti-Trump forces into a frenzy bordering on civil war, balkanizing America to a point that she may not recover. Congressional Republicans, with a few exceptions like Nunes, Grassley, DeSantis, and Gaetz, are going along with the conspiracy via their silence, their hatred of Trump outweighing their love of country and Constitution. Where are the voices of sanity and reason, calling the Russian collusion story what it really is: a manufactured hoax designed to undermine and overturn an elected government? Trump is a junkyard dog from New York City. He will fight back and likely prevail, but at what cost to his administration, his agenda, the Constitution, and the country? Is this Trump coup, attempting to force him out of office or pressure him to resign, worth the damage to the Constitution and the country? Fortunately, the president's agenda successfully marches on, but imagine how much more he could be accomplishing if he didn't have everyone in Washington, D.C., including his own party, constantly throwing stones and placing roadblocks in his way. Are there any grown-ups in D.C. who see what is happening and realize the danger to America? Where are the statesmen (and stateswomen, to be politically correct) willing to step up and tell everyone to shut up and accept the results of the last election? From either side of the aisle. If there are no adults left in Washington, D.C., then Trump needs to send a message so loud and so clear that no one dares to attempt such a coup again. Otherwise, America will eventually become Russia, the country accused of orchestrating this – a scandal causing such damage that any enemy of America would be proud to claim it as his own. Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.