Impeachment is not something that is taken lightly. It was included in the U.S. Constitution as a method of removing especially problematic officials. The wording “high crimes and misdemeanors” gives Congress wide latitude as to what an official can be removed for. If withholding foreign aid to a country until they open an investigation in the president’s political opponent does not meet Congress’s threshold, then the president is effectively above the law. As for whether or not the president actually did it, looking almost exclusively at things coming from him and his administration, it does not look good for his innocence.
There is a lot to this scandal, so here are a few specific details. This whole thing started with a whistleblower complaint alleging President Donald Trump withheld foreign aid to Ukraine, asking their president to investigate former vice president and 2020 Democratic front runner Joe Biden. Many tried to discredit the whistleblower, however. The White House released a “transcript” of the call with the Ukrainian president that more or less confirmed what the whistleblower alleged. Trump, in an interview, publicly asked Ukraine and China to investigate Biden. And last week, when asked about the potential quid pro quo, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, said they did it all the time and to “get over it.” Again, none of this is a particularly good look for the president.
It is important to note that we are currently in the inquiry state of the impeachment process, and the inquiry itself is merely an investigation. Furthermore, the trial part of this process is not until the Senate votes on removal. The act of impeaching, then, is more similar to an indictment, and does not need to meet the same standard as an actual trial. Technically, the House sets the rules of the impeachment proceedings, but in this case, it comes down to whatever evidence it takes to sway a majority of the House to vote for impeachment. The sole check on the House from overstepping is the fact they can be voted out of office, something Republicans learned the hard way 20 years ago. In this case, impeachment of Trump is approaching majority opinion status.
To be clear, if a president does what Trump is accused of having done, there is only one appropriate solution: impeachment and removal from office. To not punish such brazen wrongdoing would set a terrible precedent that the president is above the law, so long as their party has enough votes in Congress. To any Republican who still supports the president, consider what would you want if the president were a Democrat? It will be hard to take those criticisms seriously if only applied to the opposing party. So many people are thinking about this in terms of what will happen in 2020 or 2024, however it may be wise to be thinking of the coming decades and the rest of the 21st century.
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