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I've been noticing that we don't have a name for it, and I think the reason why is ultimately pretty clear: The scandal is the presidency. The presidency is the scandal.
I think we're going to just wind up referring to the whole thing as "the Trump scandals." No -gate, no nothing. Just the Trump scandals.
And this is, by the way, part of the reason why I think the hand-wringing over how broad or narrow the impeachment charges wind up being is a bit overwrought—however broad or narrow they are, they're going to be only a small slice of what's available.
If he's impeached only on Ukraine, that will be a stand-in for everything else. If he's impeached on five things, those will be a stand-in for a dozen others.
The Trump scandals are fractal, as the Ukraine investigation itself is demonstrating. Impeachment is simply a process of breaking off a frond.
Another thought: When articles of impeachment are brought forward, the media focus will be overwhelmingly, inevitably on whichever ones are perceived as the weakest or least popular.
If five bulletproof articles of impeachment are brought forward, and one marginal one, the marginal one will be the only one politicians—from either party—are ever asked about. Because that’s the “controversial” one.
(And of course the standard by which certain articles get chosen for that status will be largely trivial.)
Impeachment in the age of Trump is neither a criminal process nor a political process. It’s a media event.
