As a liberal who vehemently opposed Donald Trump’s campaign, there is nothing I wanted more than for Hillary Clinton to be president instead of Donald Trump. He is awful for America. He embarrasses America at every turn, with every tweet and Sean Spicer press briefing. As bad as it sounds, Mike Pence would make a significantly better president. Despite all of this, I do not want Donald Trump to be impeached and I do not want it to be proven true that he colluded with Russia.
He may be bad for America, but that does not even compare to the ramifications of the revelation that the presidency has been compromised by Russia. It would be one of the darkest days in American history. It would signify the complete failure of our democratic system and that our country was successfully attacked by a foreign enemy.
All of this seems obvious, but if you listen to liberal America, there is a hysteric and near-optimistic hopefulness that Trump colluded with Russia. I am not downplaying the necessity of investigating possible collusion. If there was collusion, we need to know and respond appropriately. But absolutely no one should be rooting for that result. We should hope that our democratic institutions held strong, as they always have, and delivered a fair election.
President Trump may be horrendous, but America can and will survive. On the other hand, proving Trump colluded with Russia would trigger a constitutional crisis unlike any our nation has ever seen. Simply impeaching him would not suffice. Essentially, his whole administration would be illegitimate because the election would be illegitimate. Pence could not become president because he never should have been vice president in the first place. No matter what the result, there will undoubtedly be people left feeling upset. Chaos and divisiveness would inevitably ensue.
This is certainly not a pretty picture that any liberal, no matter how much they abhor Trump, should desire. In fact, doing so is entirely anti-American. Rooting for Trump collusion with Russia is rooting for the downfall of our democracy. So let’s hope it is not true.
Ryan Steinberg is a freshman majoring in political science.