Here is my response to Franklin Graham's latest Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/2888977351158427?comment_id=541666359715224
Mr. Graham,
The impeachment proceedings are not unbelievable. The witnesses who appeared before the intelligence committee testified to what they observed in their professional capacities with regard to Ukraine. Other witnesses have not been allowed to testify by the President. Today, four experts in constitutional law testified about the legal and historic reasons to impeach a president.
You are the first I have heard calling any of this "lying—and spinning the lies." I do not hear other supporters of President Trump characterizing what is going on that way.
It is indeed appropriate to ask questions about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and Ukraine. It is also appropriate to investigate them. But President Trump did not just "ask questions" about them publicly or through official appropriate channels such as the State Department or Department of Defense or Senate Intelligence Committee but rather demanded through his personal lawyer Rudy Gulliani and through EU ambassador Gordon Sondland that Ukraine announce an investigation into Joe Biden in exchange for a White House meeting and also military aid approved by Congress. Two people in the Office of Management and Budget quit because of this improper order. Multiple people reported the situation to National Security Council and White House lawyers because they understood Trump's actions to be illegal. There have been no witnesses from the White House who have come forward to give an innocuous explanation for what occurred. All have said that they recognized it was improper to secretly pressure Ukraine for political favors and morally wrong to deprive an ally of support in the midst of a war.
Recall that as Trump began as president in January 2017, he only reluctantly fired Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor even after he had been warned that Flynn was lying publicly that he had not talked with the Russians when wiretaps of Russians made clear he had. In May 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey who had refused to pledge his loyalty to Trump saying to both Lester Holt and Russians in the Oval Office that he had done so to stop investigations into his involvement with Russia. So, yes, there have been those who have been concerned with Trump's behavior since his first days in office.
It is hard to understand what you mean by what "they're doing to our country." Trump could have avoided criticism by acting with integrity. It likely does seem to you that he is being attacked from many sides. But it is not for his protection of religious freedom or even for his appointment of conservative judges (except for the ones that are very controversial because of their lack of qualifications) or even for his tax cut. Today too he cut access to food stamps. These are normal political controversies that Mike Pence also would face. I understand you think President Trump was a good businessman but in fact his history is that of receiving an inheritance from his father, cheating on taxes, bankruptcies, a fictional reality show, branding, and almost certainly, money laundering (though we are unsure because he has hidden his financial information). He has also been a serial adulterer. This immoral greediness has been the way he has continued to operate in the White House. This is why it seems like he is being attacked so often. He surrounded himself with others who were willing to operate without scruples. Many supporters have now been indicted for their crimes. As president, impeachment is the only way to hold a president accountable because the Department of Justice policy against indicting a sitting president.
You are right that it is unlikely that 67 senators will vote to remove the president in the Senate impeachment trial. Still, this process is the legal, constitutional way to make a president feel some pressure to operate ethically out of fear that it is possible 67 Senators might remove him in office and elevate Mike Pence to the presidency.
As far as I know, Democrats do not have a clear idea of the "calendar." Some want this to be over quickly so that the Democratic primary candidates can campaign and they worry that a long drawn-out process hurts them. Others, do think that the impeachment process should go slower in case the Supreme Court rules that Don McGahn and others in the White House must testify and that Trump's financial records must be turned over to Congress. So, it is not true that everyone "knows" this is just a ploy to damage Trump politically before the next election. Again, this is the Constitutional means to give a president some sense of accountability.
I agree that our hope is in God. May God give us wisdom and bring truth and light.