December 5, 2019 --

Wonder of wonders. The New York Times published an op-ed November 21 from Daniel McCarthy, editor of Modern Age. It was titled: "Trump Is Doing  What He Was Elected to Do."   

The editorial pointed out that Ukraine prosecutors "took an interest" in Burisma years before the election of President Trump. The "norms" of Washington, from foreign policy to the  legal  enrichment of insiders, "are seen by Mr. Trump and his voters as the source of the country's ills.   McCarthy wrote  that "[t]hese norms are personified "in politicians like Mr. Biden and Hillary Clinton,...as well as in much of the permanent bureaucracy -- the 'deep state."  "Democrats," McCarthy noted, "are in the habit of assuming [the president's] guilt."  He continued, So, unsurprisingly, when President Trump's foes look at his behavior toward Ukraine, they see only an obvious case for impeachment."

While the president's adversaries "treat norms as if they were laws," he "openly campaigned in 2016 as someone who would rescind the nonlegal norms of American politics."   

As McCarthy observed, "The questions here are political one, involving noty crimes but deep disagreements about America's role in the world and the role of the world's interested parties in influencing American policies and the politicians who make them. The price of being a world power is that 'the swamp' extends beyond our borders, Mr. Trump wants to change that." In short, the Democrats seek to protect Mr. Biden from being investigated about  his son's involvement with Burisma.  If this has nothing to do with the power of "the swamp," Democrats, arguably, would not accuse Mr. Trump of playing politics; they would welcome an investigation of the involvement of Americans with the possible corruption of a Ukraine company.

(The Times made up for publishing  this incisive op-ed by writing a long editorial, the same day, insinuating that President Trump was indeed guilty of "impeachable offenses" and "federal crimes." And on November 23, Bret Stephens, opened his column with this lead: "Donald Trump ought to be impeached and removed from office.")