The impeachment fight is everything—and nothing. On the one hand, it shows that there really is a Deep State, that it’s working with the Main Stream Media, and that it maniacally wants President Donald Trump out of office—"a de facto intelligence community veto over elections,” as the occasionally deviationist Leftist journalist Matt Taibbi put it [We're in a permanent coup, Untitledgate, October 11, 2017). On the other hand, it reveals that America is not a serious nation, as ridiculous charges of “treason” are made back and forth while our territory remains occupied by tens of millions of foreigners and the rule of law is a sick joke. The specifics of the “impeachment inquiry” don’t matter. What matters is that our political institutions are collapsing as the Historic American Nation itself is displaced.

The Democrats’ move to impeach Trump is not surprising; they were planning to do it even before he was even nominated. Sure, President Trump’s phone call to the Ukrainian president gave them an opening [Anatomy of the phone call now imperiling Trump’s presidency, by Deb Riechmann, AP, October 12, 2019], but if not that it would have been something else. Remember Russian collusion?

We can imagine Trump’s frustration; why is it suddenly impeachable to investigate Joe Biden’s corruption?

Why are Democrats supposedly outraged that President Trump may have indirectly done what Joe Biden openly bragged about–on camera?

And why is the Main Stream Media cheerleading and covering for national security officials who are openly working with the Democrats to remove their putative Commander-in-Chief [Adam Schiff has 2 aides who worked with whistleblower at White House, by Kerry Picket, Washington Examiner, October 11, 2019]?

Oliver Stone’s film JFK looked conspiratorial once; now, it looks positively prescient in its portrayal of “the intelligence community.”

Yet the truth is more banal. President Trump has great political instincts but is an amateur when it comes to political staffing. He’s clumsy, not some master of intrigue. If he were an aspiring tyrant, he wouldn’t somehow have lost Michael Cohen to the other side when he has the absolute power to pardon.

President Trump campaigns and speaks like a radical but has governed like a conventional Republican moderate. He tries to form a working partnership with GOP congressional leaders, who limit their criticism for fear of the pro-Trump base but are eager to betray him. Donald Trump is no Lyndon Johnson; this president was rolled by Paul Ryan in his first term—a man who tried to destroy Trump’s candidacy before the election and is now reportedly trying to destroy his presidency [Fox News in a State of ‘Bedlam’ As Trump Faces Impeachment: Report by Matt Stieb, Vanity Fair, September 26, 2019]. Trump surrounded himself with political foes and acts surprised they remain foes.

Back in August 2017, VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow predicted that the Democrats would inevitably impeach President Trump if they took control of the House of Representatives. Their demographic base was now just that emotional. The rationale would be immaterial—and this particular rationale, about Ukraine, is indeed so trivial as to be laughable. If President Trump offered an explicit quid pro quo, that’s far less offensive than the Democrats’ treasonous partnerships with foreign governments to replace the American people, an issue no one even discusses.

What the whole controversy really shows: the U.S. Constitution can’t hold up under the pressure of cultural fragmentation.

First, though the federal judiciary has arguably usurped power since Marbury v. Madison, judges had to at least pretend to ground their decisions in the Constitution. Now, in their fury to stop Trump, random federal judges are claiming the right to make binding decisions on the whole country. Worse, they cite authorities like Toni Morrison or Emma Lazarus as justifications. Because America’s core ethnic group has been dispossessed, there’s no core culture of legal norms or traditions that judges feel they should even rhetorically respect. Congress could impeach these judges, but contra to the Founders’ expectations, representatives have little stomach for defending the legislature’s sole authority to make law.

Second, though the president has the theoretical authority to enforce laws and exercise the inherent duties of his office, the government employees in the sprawling Executive Branch are now a power unto themselves. They feel no need to obey the president and indeed think they have a duty to obstruct him. The chain of command has been severed. And with a hostile MSM cheering the bureaucrats on, there’s no visible bipartisan outrage.

Third, Congress itself lacks any appreciation for the Separation of Powers. In the past, there were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans—meaning that representatives and Senators had shared institutional interests, regardless of who controlled the White House. The Constitution anticipated each branch of the government checking the others. Instead, political polarization driven by increased racial polarization means that a Democrat will act like a Democrat whether in Congress, the Executive Branch or as a judge.

In some ways, this means that America is moving towards a parliamentary system. Thus, contrary to conventional discourse, impeachment is not a response to a crime, but a political act, the equivalent of a vote of no confidence. When Peter Brimelow predicted Trump’s impeachment, he suggested Donald Trump might be like King Kong, bound by the limitations of his office and simply roaring (or tweeting) in frustration.

ELECTION INTERFERENCE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2019

Of course, there was a point when President Trump could have acted. Early in his term, he had the political world at his feet and a GOP majority in both chambers, a “majority government” in parliamentary parlance. He blew this opportunity to decisively remake the GOP into the “workers’ party” that he promised during the campaign. As Boris Johnson is showing, the first step to ruling the country under a parliamentary system is ruling your own party [What next in Boris Johnson’s ‘do-or-die’ bid for Brexit?, AOL, October 3, 2019]. But Donald Trump didn’t break Speaker Paul Ryan; he handed over his agenda to him.

President Trump also refuses to use the powers that he still has. Attorney General Barr does seem to be one of the few people he can trust. Yet Trump apparently will not instruct his Justice Department to go after the Leftist criminal gangs that are beating and spitting on his supporters in the street, as after his recent rally in Minneapolis.

Bottom line: It’s immoral to ask Americans (and their children) to come to Trump’s rallies when the DOJ won’t do anything to protect them.

But even worse, the DOJ will arrest Trump voters if they protect themselves.

A man leaving tonight's Trump rally in Minnesota was spotted by a group of protesters who yelled: “There’s a Nazi over here!” They then attacked the man, slapping and pushing him until he ran away. pic.twitter.com/HfL2kKE9jn — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 11, 2019

President Trump faces unparalleled obstacles. But there can be no excuses for these failures.

Is there a path forward for the president? Given the institutional limitations of his office, he has two choices.

He can hunker down and count on the GOP to close ranks around him, essentially running a defensive campaign in 2020.

He can hope voters react against Democratic extremism. The GOP, for all its cowardice, will not want to openly defy its base in an impeachment vote. Additionally, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell is still supporting the president, at least for now [McConnell tees off on Democrats over impeachment, by Jordain Carney, October 15, 2019].

Barring a drastic change, this is probably what President Trump will do. But alternatively,

President Trump can renew the Spirit of ’16 and take the offensive.

His most powerful speech that year came just after his lowest moment, when the infamous Access Hollywood tapes were released and GOP politicians were fleeing what was seen to be a sinking ship. Candidate Trump said: “there is nothing the political establishment will not do… to hold their prestige and power at your expense” and he blasted the “Washington establishment and the financial and media corporations that fund it” [Transcript: Donald Trump’s speech responding to assault accusations, NPR, October 13, 2016].

If the impeachment crisis intensifies, his poll numbers decline, and GOP support wobbles, Trump may have no other choice but to repeat the tactic.

Instead of the lame message of “Keep America Great,” it would be a crusade against a corrupt political system and its minions in both parties.

For that reason, immigration patriots can be forgiven for hoping the impeachment fight does intensify.

The plain fact is that American constitutional order is not working anymore. It’s not President Trump’s fault; he’s one of the few playing by the rules. It’s just that nobody else is—especially the judges supposed to interpret those rules. The fundamental reason: Fewer and fewer people identify with the Historic American Nation that produced the Constitution.

American patriots need to recognize this, rather than taking solace in comforting nostalgia. We aren’t “already great,” but on the brink of constitutional chaos and national dissolution.

Donald Trump didn’t cause this crisis. In fact, it’s going to get worse when, one way or the other, he leaves.

James Kirkpatrick [Email him |Tweet him @VDAREJamesK] is a Beltway veteran and a refugee from Conservatism Inc.