With all the talk of impeaching President Trump, I thought it would be a good idea to actually look into what impeachment really is and what the process involves.
Impeachment itself is defined as: a charge of misconduct against a holder of public office; a charge of treason and/or another crime against the state; the calling into question the integrity or validity of something.
In the actual wording of Article 1 (The Legislative Department), Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States, it says:
The Senate shall have sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
Furthermore, in Article 2 (The Executive Department), Section 4, it is specifically stated:
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The way it works is that the House of Representatives votes on Articles of Impeachment and then the Senate actually tries the case.
So, in spite of the history lesson, please stay with me on this. All of us really need to get a handle on what the Left is saying when they start throwing the word impeachment around.
In our history, only two presidents have been considered for impeachment. The first was Andrew Johnson in Feb. 1868 and then Bill Clinton in Dec. 1998.
Andrew Johnson
There were 11 articles of impeachment brought against President Andrew Johnson. 9 cited his removal of Sec. Of War Edward M. Stanton, which was a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. This law prohibited the president from removing officials confirmed by the Senate without Senate approval. Johnson, who was from Tennessee, remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Nonetheless, he had a very limited reconstruction policy towards the South when he became president upon Lincoln’s assassination. Although Johnson did violate an Act of Congress, the attempt to impeach him was pure politics of that era. While the House did vote for impeachment, the Senate tried the case but failed to impeach.
Bill Clinton
Clinton’s impeachment proceedings came from charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. These charges were the result of his affair with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent testimony about the affair during a lawsuit brought by Paula Jones on sexual harassment charges. Clinton was acquitted of these charges by the Senate in Feb. 1999. Two other impeachment articles — another perjury charge and the charge of abuse of power — failed to make it out of the House.
Richard Nixon also faced the possibility of impeachment for his role in the Watergate break in, cover up and subsequent scandal. However, he avoided it by resigning the presidency in the summer of 1974.
Okay, so thanks for making it through the history portion. (There might be a test later on….) This now brings us to our 45th president, Donald J. Trump.
The crowds that attended his inauguration had hardly dispersed and the Leftists were goggling “how to impeach a president”. It hasn’t stopped there. Rep. Maxine Waters, the Dem’s gift that keeps on giving, recently lead a rally focused solely on impeachment. But, on what grounds?
Go back and reread Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution. Impeachment is warranted upon “…conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Has President Trump been bribed? Just how do you bribe a billionaire? Has he committed treason? Let’s look at four areas of possible “offenses”.
1. Allegations that his campaign was wiretapped by Obama. Somehow, the Left feels that even for Trump or his campaign to even suggest this is tantamount to treason. Or a high crime. Or something.
2. Foreign delegations going to the Trump International Hotel somehow is bribery. I don’t know who paid the bill for this, but really? Trump owns a facility with his name attached to it and any foreign guest who stays there is bribing him?
3. The travel ban from specific Moslem countries. First off, this ban was for only a few countries, for only a very limited period of time. I just have to wonder, how is it that foreigners from any given country now have rights under the Constitution of the United States?
4. Relationship with Russia. This is my personal favorite.
Ask yourself this: why would the Russians want Trump to be President of the U.S.A.? As a candidate, he was the ultimate outsider, unknown except as a businessman and TV personality. He has a somewhat acerbic, abrasive personality and is used to getting his own way. His political skills, if any, were unknown. So why risk having to work with an unknown?
With Clinton, the Russians knew what they would get: Obama’s third term. More weakness. More indecisiveness. More failed policies. More downsizing of the American military.
Remember that Obama didn’t flinch when Putin went into Crimea. Obama pulled our missiles out of Poland. Obama didn’t back up his “red lines” in Syria with any action. Obama mocked Mitt Romney for still regarding Russia as a threat. Clinton, who couldn’t even get the right Russian word for a reset button prop, would have been no different. (That “legacy” thing.)
So given all this, the unknown versus the known, which one do you think Putin would bank on?
So let’s continue to take a serious look at impeaching President Trump.
Not only is it unfounded and a stupid idea, it would waste time, money and energy and would ultimately be of no benefit to the Left even if it worked.
Why is that, you ask?
Because of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed into law by President Truman…who was a Democrat.
Under this law, if the President leaves office for any reason before the term is up, he is succeeded by:
1. The Vice President (Mike Pence) R
2. Speaker of The House (Paul Ryan) R
3. President Pro Tempore of Senate (Orrin Hatch) R
4. Secretary of State (Rex Tillerman) R
And after the Secretary of State, you start going down the list of the other Cabinet members. All “R’s”.
Why would the Left want this? They would gain nothing. Republicans have the House, the Senate, thirty-three governorships, and Neil Gorsuch is now on the Supreme Court.
These people have become so angry, so unhinged because Hillary the Inevitable was not Enthroned, they have forgotten how our government works.
This is now the season of Democrat Dementia. May it long continue.
photo credit: Susan Melkisethian Women’s March DC 2017 via photopin (license)
