As I write this, the US House of Representatives is conducting an inquiry, or may have concluded it - we'll know next week, that may or may not culminate in articles of impeachment for President #45. The immediate cause for this inquiry is a telephone conversation between Trump and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which it seems pretty clear Trump attempted to extort Zelensky for political favors.
So partisans on both sides are arguing whether or not a little friendly extortion is really a crime, or, if the attempted crime fails, is it really a crime. Lots of fun, I'm sure. But I fear there is a greater question that is lost in the, legitimately for sure, detailed legal process: is Trump an agent of Russia and/or of Vladimir Putin? Let me explain.
Consider the last four years (at least) going back to the presidential campaign, and ask yourself this: how does Trump's behavior differ from what would be expected of an agent of the Russian government? What would he do that he hasn't, and what would he not do that he has if he were working to further Russia's and Putin's interests? I submit that, since he would want to secure and maintain the significant advantage of the US presidency and would need to be at least somewhat circumspect, the answer is "nothing". There was the kerfuffle with the intelligence community about whether Russia interfered in the election. There was and is the facilitation of Russian expansion in Turkey and Syria. Basically everything Trump has done has benefited Russia.
So, regardless of whether or not extorting a foreign official for personal benefit that actually does harm to US security interests is "bad enough" to warrant impeachment, Trump needs to go. If he is, in fact, a foreign agent, he should be removed from office because of that. If he is not a foreign agent, but clearly behaves as if he is one, then he's dangerously incompetent and should be removed from office because of that.
