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I'll have more to say about this long @YAppelbaum argument in @TheAtlantic for impeaching President Trump later. So will a lot of other people, I'm sure. For now, three essential thoughts. theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
2. First, Appelbaum's case deserves careful thought because impeachment is where we will end up with Trump, whether the House procedure begins now or later. It's unavoidable, even based only on what is known now, before Mueller has reported anything.
3. Second, a report from Mueller is a necessary condition of an impeachment proceeding. Perhaps it shouldn't be, but Congress will want the group that has investigated Trump's affairs in more depth than anyone else to be heard from before initiating impeachment.
4. The new House Democratic majority will need to be prepared with respect to Judiciary Committee staff for the large undertaking impeachment would be, and cannot have had time to be so yet. So beginning impeachment now as @YAppelbaum urges is probably not practicable anyway.
5. Third and finally, does impeachment involve a partisan judgement? @YAppelbaum thinks it doesn't. He is wrong. The very worst of Trump's conduct as President -- the corruption, the acceptance of foreign help to become President, the obstruction of justice and all the rest...
6... has a constituency within the Republican Party, borne of either conviction, or devotion to The Leader, or dependence on FoxWorld and the rest of the right wing political/entertainment bubble.
7. Republicans in Congress will not abandon Trump because he did things that merited impeachment; many of them, and many within the Republican Party at large, support him because he was willing to do things that merited impeachment. That's what the GOP is, now.
8. Andrew Johnson, an obscure figure from Tennessee, was a surprise to many as President. Richard Nixon, though a public figure for many years before Watergate, had covered his tracks so well even the language he used in private shocked the country. Even making allowances...
9... for the substantial bad faith that powered the Clinton impeachment, the content of the actual impeachment articles included nothing that Americans had voted on in 1992 or 1996. Trump isn't like any of the three Presidents who have dealt with the impeachment process.
10. Everyone knows what Donald Trump is. At issue is only how comprehensively what he has done can be proven, and how durable Republican enthusiasm for a strong-looking leader who has committed acts meriting impeachment will be. I expect it will be quite durable. [end]
