For the record, I’ve always been a liberal voter who disagreed with moving forward on impeachment. I thought it wasn’t politically astute, giving President Trump the chance to complain and moan about an ongoing investigation would inadvertently turn into his most auspicious talking point.  

The president doesn’t want to talk about policy. When the conversation is about nothing, Trump is at his best. So, I always thought an impeachment inquiry would give him permission to talk about it rather acquiescently. 

My opinion changed after the release of recent transcripts of a conversation between the president of Ukraine and Trump. There are plenty of underlying crimes in this bombshell of a transcript. 

In the transcript, Trump butters up Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and undermines our allies before asking for a favor, a favor that called for a foreign government conducting opposition research about one of the president’s most vocal rivals. Did I mention he predicted a Ukrainian economy boost? It sure sounded like a bribe to me.  

But aside from all those alarming aspects of this crucial piece of correspondence, none of them are the winning message. Let’s take a look at it. 

The Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi said, “Aside from all the other crimes, the President of the United States is using his own personal lawyer, who doesn’t represent the United States in any capacity,  to handle important matters of foreign policy. The president’s crooked lawyer has more of a say in what goes on than the officials you good citizens have elected and the officials you trusted them to appoint. That is literally – and I mean literally – the highest form of corruption.” Democratic presidential candidates echoed the sentiment.

This is the winning message: The president’s mob lawyer has more power than the secretary of state. This clearly undermines democracy. It’s unconstitutional, but it’s also in black and white, easy to understand. It’s being dangled in front of us like it’s no big deal. The public must recognize this as extremely disturbing. This is the winning message.  

Getting caught up in the logistics of Hunter Biden’s business practices will only give Fox and Trump time to spin this into something it’s not. I’m not advising Democratic politicians to barely acknowledge anything about the transcript related to Biden – but neither Biden nor his son is president.  

I hope they focus on something the public can really grasp on an apolitical level. For the last time, the president of the United States is using his personal lawyer to conduct vital matters of foreign affairs. That, my friends, is an impeachable offense.