Impeachment: A Political Disgrace
After years of calling for impeachment, leftists have finally gotten their way with President Trump. Last Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, citing his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the basis for the investigation.
The transcript from President Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian President may seem damning. But for what?
The Constitution points to three reasons a government official can be impeached: high crimes and misdemeanors, treason, and bribery. None of these properly categorize that phone call. It may be embarrassing for President Trump to have leveraged aid for political favor, but this is far from a high crime and misdemeanor. What we are seeing with the impeachment inquiry is nothing more than a political game, and a bad one at that.
In fact, every impeachment of a sitting president has been a political game.
In 1868, Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House due to ideological disagreements. Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for perjury regarding his personal affairs. In either case, the Founders would have failed to equate their actions with that of high crimes and misdemeanors, treason, or bribery necessitating impeachment.
The fact that the Senate acquitted both of these presidents shows that only extreme circumstances warrant a president’s removal from office. There is an air of respect for the executive that falls beyond political lines.
The Framers of the Constitution had intended impeachment to be used as a tool to remove a treasonous and disgraceful president, one who did not share a love of country. Elections are a tool for the people to expel a president who does not reflect the values of the public. With Johnson, Clinton, and now Trump, it was and is up to the American people to determine what they value in a president at the ballot box.
Impeachment is not a process to be taken lightly. However, it is clear that throughout history, impeachment has been used as a political ploy to remove an ideological opponent.
The game the Democrats are playing is a dangerous one, and there is no guarantee it will work. America is divided on impeachment, usually splitting along party lines. It stands to reason that Democrats would be better off devoting time and resources to producing a formidable opponent to Trump rather than getting rid of him altogether.