Merged Is a a Trump impeachment likely?

[Delvo]

I once followed conventional wisdom that the Republicans won't do it, but the more this goes on, the more I suspect they might, in order to get him out of their way so they can get more done.

 

[skyeagle409]

Yes, but the soundtrack will consist of nothing but "Yakety Sax."

The "Yakety Sax" noises will probably be intelligence services raining down their voices on Trump in unison.

 

[skyeagle409]

All the President's Men 2: All the Best Men. Everyone Says So.

Thanks to Conway, I now know what "alt-facts" mean and understand that Trump speaks in one voice that is out-of-step with voices of his administration which all are out-of-step with reality.

 

[Dragon]

The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election.

As we're comparing the current White House shenanigans to Watergate...

 

[McHrozni]

Welcome to not the point. The beast occupying the Oval Office is abysmally stupid in addition to its myriad of other faults. Not only could we end up in a war for little good reason (again) but it could easily choose the wrong target.

An engagement pretty much anywhere else would require prior Congressional approval. South Korea has US forces placed who would come under attack, so US would be involved from day one regardless of Congress and the Baltic states are all NATO allies, making Congressional approval a done deal.

There are no other flashpoints at the moment where either of the two criteria would be met, nor is there any indication there will be in the near future. The stupid beast can order attacks, but they would be illegal and the very public clash over violations of presidential authority likely would see the stupid beast impeached. If it starts as a Republican-initiated effort it stands a chance of succeeding right now, let alone over the President directly violating the constitution in a particularly touchy subject.

That's just naive because there is no way to be certain where we might next be engaged militarily. There are over 7 billion people in the world and America has proven we'll go to war over the tiniest fraction of that.

Welcome to not the point yourself

McHrozni

 

[Hercules56]

Impeach Trump?

Can Trump be impeached for colluding with the Russians, or Wikileaks, or hackers?

What High Crime or Misdemeanor would that be?

I want trump impeached as much as anyone else, but is collussion with a foreign power or with hackers, an actual crime?

I'm not sure it is.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Same as Clinton and Nixon, obstruction of justice. At the very least. Then there is bribery, one of the actually listed reasons.

Impeachment has always been interpreted as a political action, not a criminal one, so "actual crime" is not an issue.

 

[Hercules56]

Same as Clinton and Nixon, obstruction of justice. At the very least.

Yes, we have that now.

But do you agree that collusion before being sworn in, may not be an impeachable offense?

 

[Loss Leader]

Obstruction of Justice, coming January 2019.

 

[portlandatheist]

Many commentators have made statements along the lines of "impeachment is more political than judicial" .
It isn't so much the high crimes and misdemeanors but the political will of the Republicans to have the backbone and integrity to hold Trump responsible for them and the public to back them up. What needs to happen is Trump to lose enough support from the public which will in turn put pressure on the house and senate, and in turn impeach the president. The Trumptanic is going to sink and there are only so many life rafts, it would be wise to get on a raft while you still can.

 

[BobTheCoward]

Many commentators have made statements along the lines of "impeachment is more political than judicial" .
It isn't so much the high crimes and misdemeanors but the political will of the Republicans to have the backbone and integrity to hold Trump responsible for them and the public to back them up. What needs to happen is Trump to lose enough support from the public which will in turn put pressure on the house and senate, and in turn impeach the president. The Trumptanic is going to sink and there are only so many life rafts, it would be wise to get on a raft while you still can.

The other side of the coin is that with enough political will the articles of impeachment can simply say "we don't like you."

 

[skyeagle409]

Can Trump be impeached for colluding with the Russians, or Wikileaks, or hackers?

What High Crime or Misdemeanor would that be?

I want trump impeached as much as anyone else, but is collussion with a foreign power or with hackers, an actual crime?

I'm not sure it is.

Collusion with an adversary such as Russia and covering up evidence would be an obstruction of justice, and impeachable, but I would expect Trump to resign before it got to that point.

 

[Beerina]

Impeachment is a political process, and is not reviewable by the other branches. I'm not sure it even has to be a defined crime.

Obstruction of justice would not be a crime in this case, as there are no strings attached to what reasons the president has to stop a particular investigation, nor could there be (e.g. a law) because Congress can have no authority over the exercise of a direct power by another branch without the Constitution specifying so.

Stopping an investigation into himself is a smarmy thing to do, and politically stupid, but is not illegal.

That doesn't necessarily mean Congress couldn't impeach him over it anyway. Maybe.

Nixon's obstruction of justice was in the attempt at a cover up, not in the firing of the special prosecutor.

 

[portlandatheist]

The other side of the coin is that with enough political will the articles of impeachment can simply say "we don't like you."

And that, in essence, is what democracy is.

 

[Cavemonster]

Can Trump be impeached for colluding with the Russians, or Wikileaks, or hackers?

What High Crime or Misdemeanor would that be?

I want trump impeached as much as anyone else, but is collussion with a foreign power or with hackers, an actual crime?

I'm not sure it is.

I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I'd say that in a vacuum outside of partisanship, outside of the difficulty in making a charge against a President really happen and a whole lot of practical concerns...

I can see a strong argument for calling it treason.

I'd say that to the extent they were trying to subvert through illicit means our democratic process, the Russian government would be clearly an enemy of the US. Any collusion would be aid and comfort of that enemy, supporting the very action that made them enemies.

Now in reality, I highly doubt the political will to prosecute for treason will never happen.

 

[dejudge]

Amazingly, after a little more than 100 days as President, there may be at least four ways to have Trump impeached.

1. Collusion with a foreign Power.
2. Obstruction of Justice
3. Perjury.
4. Financial crimes.

The firing of Comey will probably end up being be the worse mistake by Trump.

The POTUS claimed that Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation which will eventually be shown to be false.

Trump's impeachment is inevitable.

 

[psionl0]

This time for sure.

 

[Belz...]

Many commentators have made statements along the lines of "impeachment is more political than judicial" .
It isn't so much the high crimes and misdemeanors but the political will of the Republicans to have the backbone and integrity to hold Trump responsible for them and the public to back them up.

So never, then.

 

[elgarak]

Amazingly, after a little more than 100 days as President, there may be at least four ways to have Trump impeached.

1. Collusion with a foreign Power.
2. Obstruction of Justice
3. Perjury.
4. Financial crimes.

The firing of Comey will probably end up being be the worse mistake by Trump.

The POTUS claimed that Comey told him three times that he was not under investigation which will eventually be shown to be false.

Trump's impeachment is inevitable.

Correct.

The problem is the GOP and its representatives in Congress. So far, they have blocked a lot. Officially, Congress does not yet know of the transgressions of Trump and Co.

As I said before, the reason for this is, IMO, that certain high ranking GOPs have done things themselves. Either participated in Trump and Co.'s actions, or knew of them and did illegal things on their own profiteering from it.

The problem is that blocking is a rather dangerous strategy. By know, everything will come out, at some time in the future, in a way that cannot be ignored. And if too many GOPs block up until this time, it will be disastrous. Not only for the GOP, but the whole political system.

 

[Crossbow]

Considering that Trump has hired a lawyer to help sort out the various Trump problems, then it is safe to say that even Trump himself has realized that 'the Donald' is in some serious trouble.