Merged Is a a Trump impeachment likely?

[The Great Zaganza]

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.

Trump will solve the problem the usual way: with an out-of-court settlement with Mueller without admitting any wrongdoing.

 

[CORed]

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

Andrew Johnson was impeached on little more than that, and the removal vote in the Senate fell one vote short.

 

[Crossbow]

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

In politics, appearances can, and often do, define reality.

 

[Cain]

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

I'm sure the people arguing that Trump can remove Comey for any whim would readily agree Congress can similarly impeach (but more so if the president were a Democrat).

 

[Babbylonian]

All impeachment needs to be valid is to be politically defensible, and that only if we assume that those voting for it want to be reelected. That bar is easily cleared in the case of the current occupant of the Oval Office.

 

[Craig4]

We're clearly not at a tipping point where The Republicans in the House are ready to be more loyal to their country than their party. We're heading in that direction certainly. In the mean time, an organized, on message resistance needs continue to make being president miserable for The Hair. The trolling of him on Twitter is a good start but needs to be more organized hitting and repeating key messages of failure, body image, stupidity. We know the things that set him off on irrational tweet storms. The opposition to him needs to be more organized in hitting those buttons.

 

[The Don]

We're clearly not at a tipping point where The Republicans in the House are ready to be more loyal to their country than their party. We're heading in that direction certainly.

Is there any indication that the tipping point will ever be reached ?

 

[elgarak]

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.

The investigation he tried to obstruct was officially into collusion between his campaign and the Russians. Meaning, the perpetrators were possibly others, and not himself. It is not an investigation into HIS personal misconduct solely.

 

[Craig4]

Is there any indication that the tipping point will ever be reached ?

I think if the special prosecutor came back and said Flynn or Kushner were his intermediaries Congress might act.

 

[The Don]

I think if the special prosecutor came back and said Flynn or Kushner were his intermediaries Congress might act.

I don't share your confidence I'm afraid.


edited to add......

I'd like to think it's the case, but every time I think that the GOP couldn't possibly be that spineless - they prove me wrong

 

[Civet]

I think if the special prosecutor came back and said Flynn or Kushner were his intermediaries Congress might act.

I think he'd have to have incredibly strong evidence for Congress to act. Not just the sort of solid circumstantial case that a good prosecutor might use to get a conviction in a normal court, but an absolute slam dunk.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

Fox has a 100% monopoly on the pro-Trump audience.

Not so much, One America News Network is slowly but steadily growing and siphoning off people who now group Fox in with the MSM.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

I don't share your confidence I'm afraid.


edited to add......

I'd like to think it's the case, but every time I think that the GOP couldn't possibly be that spineless - they prove me wrong

Not spineless. Complicit. We could see McConnell and Ryan taken down first because they don't have the technical protection Trump does.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

The more the Trump spectacle interferes with the Congressional GOP agenda, the more likely they are to want to trade Trump in for Pence.

That is the bottom line. It's not like the GOP Congress actually supports Trump. I don't believe for a minute he is more to them than a means to an end.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Considering the entire GOP colluded with Russia as well, I doubt they will pursue impeachment. They are all compromised.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

This must be a horror scenario for the Intelligence Service and FBI: they have all kinds of actionable intel,but they can't take it to Congress or the White House because they are exactly the people they are investigating.
The constitution didn't account for this.

 

[Sideroxylon]

He and a number of accomplices are **********.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

This must be a horror scenario for the Intelligence Service and FBI: they have all kinds of actionable intel,but they can't take it to Congress or the White House because they are exactly the people they are investigating.
The constitution didn't account for this.

Hence the very real possibility of a counter-coup against the regime. That's when things get messy as opposed to complicated.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Hence the very real possibility of a counter-coup against the regime. That's when things get messy as opposed to complicated.

It would be a coup, not a counter-coup, even I agree that sounds better: Trump got elected, even if only because too many people got manipulated to vote wrong or not at all: the ballots themselves were not rigged to any sufficient degree.

But a coup can be fully legitimate if the White House, Congress and the DOJ don't fulfill their obligations to uphold the Constitution.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

It would be a coup, not a counter-coup, even I agree that sounds better: Trump got elected, even if only because too many people got manipulated to vote wrong or not at all: the ballots themselves were not rigged to any sufficient degree.

Aside from the question of direct vs indirect vote rigging, there is a growing body of evidence that there was in fact direct vote tampering.

Mike Farb is doing exhaustive work documenting testimony regarding rigged EVM/EVCM, and statistical analysis to back it up, and Jonathan Simon has been discussing the issue for years.