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The first time that Donald Trump was president, the House of Representatives impeached him twice. At each Senate trial, impeachment managers made a vigorous case against Trump. They presented convincing evidence that the then-president should have been removed from office, or the case of the second impeachment prohibited from seeking office again.
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The vast majority of Senate Republicans went into each trial with their minds made up, and there was never a chance that Trump would ever be convicted.
It was even more telling that voters turned around and put a twice-impeached former president back into the White House.
Enough voters made it clear that they didn’t care about impeachment. There is no public shame or consequence for impeachment without a conviction, which makes the news that Democrats have little interest in impeaching Trump again more understandable.
Semafor reported:
“We’ve done this. We’ve been through this circus already,” Donovan McKinney said in an interview. “How many times has Trump been impeached? He got reelected. He’s not going anywhere. We need to figure out another strategy to fight back.”
…
Elected Democrats accept the premise that Trump deserves impeachment. They have also learned that impeachment does not remove presidents whose own party will stick with them.
“He’s been impeached twice, but we don’t have any confidence that House and Senate Republicans would do their jobs” and remove Trump, House Democratic Conference Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told Semafor. “And so, this is not an exercise that we’re willing to undertake.”
Democrats are dealing with a base that wants action, but some elements don’t seem to acknowledge the difference between effective action and doing something just to do something.
Impeachment is only effective if both parties are participating. If the president’s party refuses to acknowledge evidence and budge, and the party bringing the impeachment articles doesn’t have enough votes to convict in the Senate, impeachment is a pointless task.
Impeachment is also ineffective if it contains no public or political consequences. Trump wasn’t hurt by his impeachments. Neither was Bill Clinton. If the American people don’t view impeachment as a serious punishment that comes with heavy consequences, then presidential impeachment is nothing more than a reprimand.
Some Democrats want to believe that there is something that can be done to fix the Trump crisis, but impeachment isn’t the solution.
The answer that Democrats are seeking is to win the midterm election and take power away from Trump, whose power isn’t derived from what he is trying to seize in the Executive Branch. Trump’s power is coming from Republicans in Congress laying down and refusing to do their job as a co-equal branch of government.
Donald Trump will be disempowered if Democrats can win back all or part of Congress.
As soon as Democrats win back the House, Trump becomes a lame duck whose legislative agenda is dead. The nation will turn its eyes increasingly to the 2028 election, and the current president will be a man with no political future.
Impeachment can’t fix the country, but your votes can.
What do you think about the limited Democratic interest in impeachment? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
