After I listened to what Donald Trump said with my own ears, here are my thoughts, which I will explain through a counterfactual hypothetical:
Imagine in early January of 2017, we found out via a recorded telephonic conversation that out-going President Barack Obama had called up one of the Democratic Secretaries of States of one of the "Blue Wall" States and angrily chastised him to find 11,780 votes for Hillary Clinton in order to overturn the state's election at the 11th Hour in order to stop Donald Trump from taking office. Imagine if he had vaguely alluded to the SoS's criminal prosecution for allowing "Russian Election Interference" to obviously corrupt state elections that had been perennially won by Democrats election after election, and angrily dismissed any protestations made by the SoS that the President's data was wrong rejoining that his "experts" were telling him otherwise. I would have called for Obama's immediate impeachment and criminal prosecution as being a threat to our democratic institutions and elections, and the integrity of the Federal Republic itself, and I think most United States citizens would have been shocked and appalled and all but the most die-hard partisan Obama supporters would have felt likewise.
So that brings us to the present situation. I have defended Donald Trump when I thought he was being wrongly attacked by hyper-partisan ideologues in our left-leaning national media, who were so quick to leap on every single misstep of the man, and make mountains out of molehills. I prided myself on calling balls and strikes. But this is not a strike. This is not a step too far. This is a leap too far. I can no longer consider Donald Trump to be a mere incompetent buffoon and dishonest, opportunistic show-boater. I now see Donald Trump as an unconscientious demagogue. He is a threat to our democratic institutions and elections, and the integrity of the Federal Republic itself. I would say the same of any other President or public figure. He must be impeached. He must be criminally prosecuted. Twitter must ban him from their platform immediately. Every privately-owned platform with an ounce of civic responsibility towards our country must kick him off.
This man does not represent or care about principled conservatism. He represents and cares only for himself.
If I have somehow misread the situation and have fallen for the biggest con made by our left-leaning media thus far, then I truly am a huge fool and I will admit it at such time that the truth comes out. But until then, I am left with the President's words. He needs to be removed from office.