My 2cents: I'm not a lawyer or constitutional scholar, but I am a citizen of the nation. Let me suggest: Impeachment doesn't work. I know we think our founders were incredible geniuses, they weren't. They did their best in their era. No one could predict the future. That Trump 1/ was the first president to ever get a vote to impeach from his own party & is on the bring of acquittal again despite a horrific act that his party would undoubtedly hang Obama for is all the proof we need. Would the Dems do better? I'd like to think so, but won't bet my life. 2/

A quick thread on the psychology of the narcissist version of "Downfall" we are watching unfold: Trump lives in a tightly enforced bubble of his own design. In it everyone agrees he is right & others are stupid. In it he never makes mistakes. This works, until it doesn't. /1 We all to some extend enforce false consensus of our views & of our self image. If it's important to our self image we be seen as funny we strengthen relationships with those who laugh at our jokes.Those who don't drift away by mutual agreement.Over time we create confirmation./2

Great question from @mademarest about how change comes to Trump supporters. I have a few thoughts from a psychological perspective. As we have all experienced,it’s very difficult to engage them due to strong confirmation bias,cognitive dissonance defense,limited sources of info. My hope is they see his betrayal on issues like military,corruption,tax fairness & patriotism. His not donating on 9/11,not going to Arlington on Vetern’s Day, not spending VA$ & not going to church expose his lack of credibility on those issues.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, mentally exhausted & need to take time away from the news and twitter its normal. If you’re feeling persistently disempowered it’s understandable. (1) Our cognitive capacity is limited. That’s why you don’t know how many mailboxes you drove by on your commute & didn’t listen to the signal from your right pinky until I mentioned it. We are cognitive misers to manage this. (2)

For those interested in psychology,one big takeaway from Social Psych is we think we are independent, largely immune to influence. Asch,Milgram & Stanford Prison are just three quick examples of how humans will do things they know are wrong.1/5

https://twitter.com/7im/status/1055925296434540545

Conformity:Asch taught us people would agree with obviously wrong answers about the length of lines when those around them consistently gave the wrong answer. We don’t like to buck the crowd. Others can make us do things we know are wrong. 2/5