Thoughts on the Trump impeachment

Now that the Trump Impeachment is over, it’s time to talk about what happened and what it means for the American political system. This was only the third impeachment in American history, not including the Nixon case. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.

During the current proceedings, the Republicans pushed a narrative that transcended the politics of this single event; that no impeachment should be driven by one party alone, no impeachment should be pursued on weak evidence, and no impeachment should be pursued without due process being granted to the president. While these points served as the basis for the Republican’s defense, they should also be recognized as the best rules of engagement for the impeachment process, regardless of party.

By coming together and resisting, the Republicans saved the Democrats from themselves, and preserved the balance of power in our government. The danger of success by the Democrats, in this case, would have set a precedent that would have become common practice in the future. Armed with this approach, a future Congress could remove a president from office because they didn’t like his/her behavior.

The Democrats pushed forward on weak evidence, which should have been a brake on their enthusiasm. Strong evidence of misbehavior would remove partisanship, compelling the minority party to accept the credibility of the accusations. Weak evidence only makes the partisanship more blatant. The framers purposely defined impeachable offenses as high crimes and misdemeanors so only egregious crimes would result in the removal of a president. To remove a president from office based on minor offences would nullify elections and take away the power of the American people to select their leader.

The third error the Democrats made was to deny the president due process, during the House impeachment process. They argued during the trial phase that the Republicans were violating the norms of the American trial system by blocking witnesses when they themselves had blocked the president’s participation in the gathering of evidence. This unfairness made the public suspect the motives of the accusers.

Fortunately, the Republicans controlled the Senate, so they were able to block this dangerous adventure. If the Senate had been controlled by the Democrats, Donald Trump would have been removed from office, and the die would have been cast for all time.

One wonders why the Democrats pursued a path that resulted in failure. They must have understood that success in the Senate was only a remote possibility. Was it pressure from the base or pure hated of Trump? As the Democratic Party moved left in the time since 2016, there has been increasing pressure on the moderates to move with them. The Democrats have now moved so far left, they make Bill Clinton look like a Republican. It’s likely that pressure from the Left helped to push the impeachment narrative forward. The far Left has a greater disagreement with Trump then the moderates so they are more enthusiastic about removing him.

How much of the Democrat’s impeachment effort was driven by Trump Derangement Syndrome? Can dislike of the president produce such irrational behavior among seasoned politicians, they feel compelled to pursue the impossible? Perhaps the Democrats thought they could convince some Republicans to join them, although it would have been fanciful to imagine 20 Republicans jumping ship to favor the president’s removal. A goal to, at minimum, damage the president’s reputation, may have backfired because the partisanship was too obvious.