I have no doubts that Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Just on the basis of his action dealing with the new Ukrainian President and Trump attempts to get that man and his administration to start an ‘investigation’ whose purpose was to bolster Trump political fortune is enough.

Arguments defending Trump tend to fall into a few camps.

• There was no ‘Quid pro Quo.’ This defense is untenable. For one thing there is growing evidence of the explicit favor-for-favor exchange and do not forget that when the Ukrainian President brought up the desire to purchase particular weaponry Trump responded with “I want you to do us a favor, though.” But setting aside the favor-for-favor even without any pressure campaign at all requesting a foreign power to take official action to damage a political opponent is an abuse of office, plane and simple.
• Trump Did Nothing Illegal. One defensive argument is centered on the concept that asking a foreign power is help in an election is not in itself illegal. I have seen some counter with this with arcane election regulation, that the assistance itself has a monetary value and getting anything of monetary value from a foreign nation or citizen for electioneering is illegal. This may very well be true on the face of it. Just as lying under oath is a crime even if you are set up with malicious intent the perjury remains illegal. However even is something was legal doesn’t mean it removes it from being an impeachable offence. The President has the power to declassify any information that he wishes, but if he did so with a battle plan so that an enemy could act upon it, while the action itself would be legal it would also be impeachable.
• There was No Investigation. This one really tries to lay out a ‘No harm no foul’ excuse as though this were just a pick-up game of basketball between friendly rivals but this is our highest office and the most powerful position on the planet not amateur athletics. Simply because the Ukrainian President did not actually go the microphone and issue the damaging statement that Hunter Biden was under investigation, which would have cleared the way for an entirely disingenuous propaganda campaign, does not mean the attempts to gain that favor is forgotten. Trump abused his office and the position of president to politically personally profit.

It is an irony that the same people who have repeated conspiracy theories for decades about Senator Edward Kennedy seeking Soviet assistance in 1984 to defeat President Reagan are now utterly fine with foreign assistance as long as it helps them. That the same people who wailed and bemoan Obama’s lackluster response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have no concerns about a man of their party or their political damaging Ukraine’s ability to defend itself in a shooting war with Russia as long it has damages the Democratic Party of the United States of America.