Read on Twitter
1/20 A thread on the impeachment/25th Amend frenzy:
I spent the best part of three years writing about impeachment (and to lesser extent the 25th Amendment) and in the end advocating for Trump's impeachment & removal.
I spent the best part of three years writing about impeachment (and to lesser extent the 25th Amendment) and in the end advocating for Trump's impeachment & removal.
2/20 He was properly impeached in 2019 for an undoubted "high crime & misdemeanor." And if Republican Senators other than Mitt Romney had any courage or patriotism, we would have been rid of Trump a year ago & much agony & perhaps many deaths could have been avoided.
3/20 Similarly, Trump's conduct since 2020 election has been a continuing assault on democracy and constitutional gov't. His incitement of a mob yesterday was an even more egregious "high crime" than the Ukraine affair, fully meriting impeachment.
4/20 There are also fair grounds for questioning Trump's current mental stability and grasp of reality, which would present a constitutional reason to invoke the 25th Amendment.
5/20 That said, we should all get serious about what is possible.
The 25th Amendment is not going to be employed. Mike Pence would never do it. Says he won't do it. Notion that majority of Trump cabinet would agree is fantastic.
The 25th Amendment is not going to be employed. Mike Pence would never do it. Says he won't do it. Notion that majority of Trump cabinet would agree is fantastic.
6/20 Impeachment in the House is possible. Maybe even likely given the justified outrage of Dems and some Repubs in that chamber. But it would be a purely symbolic act, because...
7/20 ...well, the Constitution hasn't changed since last February. Conviction by Senate still requires 2/3 - 67 senators. Even in a reconfigured, post-Georgia Senate, that means you need every Dem and 17 Republican votes.
8/20 Until Warnock & Ossoff are sworn, which won't be until after inauguration, Repubs hold majority & McConnell effectively controls floor. Despite Senate impeachment rules that seem to require a next-day trial once House managers are appointed...
9/20 ...in practice, the issue can be delayed for days or weeks. That means no Senate vote until after Trump has already left office. Thus, impeachment cannot possibly serve purpose of early removal of Trump from control of gov't.
10/20 It would, in my opinion, be possible for Senate to try & convict a president who had left office. But the issue is debatable, and there are ambiguous precedents. Notably impeachments of Sen Blount & Secy of War Belknap.
11/20 In any case, the reason to continue an impeachment after Trump left office would be to invoke constitutional penalty of barring him from future federal office. Which would prevent a presidential run in 2024. That would obviously be desirable, but...
12/20 Seventeen Republican senators are not going to vote to convict Donald Trump for the purpose of preventing him from running again. As horrible as yesterday's events were -& as repugnant to the majority of Americans - the base of the Republican Party...
13/20 ... remains skeptical of the 2020 election results and admiring of Trump. Remember, over 100 Repubs in House voted not to certify some states' electors AFTER the Capitol was overrun by a mob. They believed - and I have no reason to doubt their political judgment - that ...
14/20 most of the Repub base is still with Trump, even if this week's events have cost him some. Certainly, enough Repub voters remain pro-Trump and election-skeptical to prevent any huge outbreak of constitutional principle among Senate Republicans.
15/20 So impeachment, conviction & disqualification will not, in the end, succeed. I wish it were otherwise, but it's not. So why do it?
Trump's behavior deserves official condemnation, & impeachment, even w/out conviction, is certainly a badge of dishonor...
Trump's behavior deserves official condemnation, & impeachment, even w/out conviction, is certainly a badge of dishonor...
16/20 But once House impeaches a president, the Senate MUST take it up. Which means, in this case, that the first weeks or months of the new Congress and new Biden Administration would be sidetracked by a fight over Trump's last days...
17/20 ... a fight doomed to defeat by constitutional math & Republican political calculation.
I deplore Donald Trump & the crimes he has committed against American constitutional governance with every synapse & sinew in my body...but...
I deplore Donald Trump & the crimes he has committed against American constitutional governance with every synapse & sinew in my body...but...
18/20 ...taking one last impeachment whack at that bad man just isn't worth it if the price is diversion of the nation's attention from the vital task facing Biden and nation of doing the concrete work required to repair Trump's vandalism...
19/20 I do not say that he should be allowed to simply go in peace without any repercussions for what he has done. But that work can be done w/ other tools & w/ deliberation. Prosecutors, grand juries, administrative investigations, congressional investigations, civil lawsuits...
20/20 ...all these should feature largely in Donald Trump's future. But neither the last days of his miserable reign nor the first months of Joe Biden's hopeful one should be wasted on quixotic efforts to accomplish the politically impossible.
PS1-Nonetheless, if my assessment of speed at which even unsuccessful Senate trial could occur is wrong & it could be done in a few days-either b4 or after Jan 20, then symbolic value of House's condemnation would itself be worth the effort....
PS2 - Likewise, if my read on Republican senatorial sentiment is wrong and there were any indication that conviction and disqualification from future office-holding was even remotely possible, then the effort should be made.
PS3 - My only plea is that Donald Trump, that festering wen on the body politic, not be allowed to remain our daily national obsession an instant longer than need be.
