Thursday, 1 June 2017

Here's what Congressional republicans have to gain and lose by impeaching Trump

It's within the realm of possibility that Trump will be impeached in the coming months. The Republicans in Congress have the power to do it. Lee Drutman of Vox presents the pros and cons for impeaching Trump that Congressional republicans are weighing.

On the pro side, the GOP is concerned that Trump's unpopularity could spell disaster for them in the mid-term elections. Also, Trump's antics are dominating the news, making it difficult to legislate anything. A minor, but not entirely inconsequential, concern for the GOP is this: "Trump is a ticking time bomb who could actually do some real damage to the country or the world."

On the con side, if the GOP tries to remove Trump through impeachment, "Trump might react like an angry bear" and destroy as many GOP congressman as he can on his way out. Also, Trump's millions of supporters will get so angry that the GOP party will get split into two new parties, neither of which will be able to go up against a unified democratic party. Thirdly, to take Trump down "will require a damning case against him, and perhaps implicate many Republicans."

Drutman's conclusion is that "Either way, Republicans are in a terrible situation."

Their president is unpopular, their legislative agenda is unpopular, and the party is divided internally. Impeaching Trump won’t solve any of these deeper problems. It might even make them worse. But at some point, congressional Republican need to face up to the issues. The only question is: Do they want to confront them sooner, or later?