Part of the problem with impeachment strategy on the part of the Dems was the same as the strategy against Clinton used by the Repubs: when the votes aren’t there, it will never end well.
In the case of Clinton, the Repubs should have settled for a censure, given his actions did not meet the litmus test of being a high crime (nor even a misdemeanor!)
In the last two Trump impeachments, the votes were just not there -nor are they now for the new one being discussed!
So what’s to be done? When the threshold number of votes are not there, the Dems should issue a public letter signed by all or most Dem congress members to the Repubs offering a commitment on supporting an impeachment, with a list of stated reasons for the Repubs to consider; in this case now:
disregard for federal court orders and a rule of law;
abuse of tariffs;
abuse of covert war powers (Greenland…);
violation of emoluments (BRIBEcoins, and Trump’s INEVITABLE veto of legislation requiring decentralized id and legal intermediaries for digital currencies…);
unlawfully constraining Congressional spending that had been previously voted on and approved; and
abuse of the War Powers Act.
Once you do that, the Repubs then completely own him. There can be no later saying by them, “Hey, we didn’t support THAT!” And the Dems don’t piss off voters with the time and expense of a procedure that is guaranteed to go nowhere. When the Repubs have had enough, should they have enough, they can always publicly signal to the Dems that the impeachment party should get started.
And spare me the reasoning of a formal impeachment that is certain to fail being a vote of conscience -the Repubs have demonstrated in spades that they will have no shame in defending Trump, just as the Dems have demonstrated they will have no shame in putting all expenses on the backs of workers and very little on the backs of megacorporations, nor in enabling genocidal Zionist actions. An impeachment will accomplish nothing but piss off voters, unless the votes are there for it.
[Should the Dems draft such an impeachment compact, they should also tack on an invitation to pass an amendment to limit presidential pardons to 1,000 per term…]
Update: After the US strikes on Iran/immediate “War’s over!”
They have to draft the articles of impeachment based on a violation of War Powers (I heard some other charges were recently filed, but violation of War Powers is the one that matters!) Logic tells me they should throw in the unilateral tariffs -other than the steel tariffs which are targeted, the across-the-board tariffs needed an act of Congress. On the one hand, there is a chance that the across-the-board tariffs will be upheld by the Supreme Court. I doubt that a majority on the Court will do that -but once they see their boy is getting impeached on that basis, a majority of the Supreme Court might then change course and go along with the unilateral tariffs to blunt an impeachment.
But…
the tariffs ARE now failing! (no more “going to fail…”) They are so economically bad, Luttnick and Navarro have had to change the narrative: “Hey, in 10 years we’ll be getting TRILLIONS!” At this point it’s plain to see that the across-the-board tariffs are just a mechanism for clandestine side-deals for the Trump family. And the non-extremist parties on the Supreme Court (as opposed to a three man fringe that say to themselves: “we have to save America from Antifa!”) see that too!
So the two key reasons for impeachment are:
War Powers;
unilateral across-the-board tariffs
Some might like to see Posse Comitatus violations (use of the Guard in California…) added to the grounds for impeachment. But due to procedural changes made during the Obama years (TO DO: fix that!), that will be argued against. Your grounds for impeachment, especially when a majority of Repubs are voting on it, have to be, well…unimpeachable.
While many Dems might like to see unilateral deployment of the Guard and military thrown into the charges, if you had a MAJORITY of Dems voting on the impeachment, that would make sense to do. But at the present time, we have a majority of Repubs doing the voting. Constituents of the Repubs will not be signing on to a lighter immigration policy; so by adding that to the charges, you are giving them an out to sell to some of their constituents why they would not vote for the impeachment. [Yes: we here at Turks are sophisticated enough to know that deployment of the Guard and military stoked those riots in LA! But in a runup to a vote on that ground for impeachment, they will be doing an AIPAC funded saturation campaign showing a handful of protesters throwing cinder blocks at the police…]
But…
if the economy degrades further because of the disastrous tariff policy-and most of us agree that it will- more Repubs WILL be forced to sign on to an impeachment over that and a foreign military adventure at the direction of a foreign power, as opposed to their constituents.
The immediate ““cease fire”, the war’s over!” is an acknowledgment by Trumpers and the Israelis that most Americans were NOT going to sign off on another Iraq. But I think it’s just a matter of time before he violates war powers again, as sure as he will make a new proclamation on tariff policy (but not without telegraphing to Repubs first, so they have a chance to call their brokers…)
So there you have it: the grounds for impeachment. And now, timing is everything. You want the charges hitting the floor for a vote when the Repubs see they have to break the emergency glass. That might have been if Trump was going to attempt a regime change in Iran; but with the immediate “war’s over” declaration, we have to wait for the economy to inevitably get really bad (MAGAs go to get “quaint” groceries and find most stuff is jacked or no longer available…), or Bunker Boy needs an attention fix and does another War Powers violation…
Well: let’s now see if the Dems once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by turning articles of impeachment into a laundry list!
Just two issues, to force Repubs to have to placate their constituents by agreeing to an impeachment vote:
Violation of Congressional War Powers (they will try and argue it was not a war -but what does “unconditional surrender” pertain to?!)
Across-the-board tariffs; only Congress has the authority to do that.
No Posse Comitatus/deployment of troops; no abridgment of trans rights; etc. Maybe there’s other issues I didn’t think of; but the litmus test for any grounds for impeachment is whether most MAGAs or Indies who voted for Trump would agree. The previous Trump impeachments were mere exercises in catharsis, knowing that the Repub votes were not there for the issues cited. Knowing that, at that time the Dems should have just gone for a motion to censure and offer a public invitation to the Repubs to execute impeachment once the Repubs had enough.
I say with their constituents rebelling all over the place, they will before too long say they had enough now. No reputable finance experts are seeing a pretty conclusion to Trump’s illegal tariff actions…
It’s just a question of time that we will have third party info confirming they are back to a pre-strike configuration. Iran would be wise to do this:
When that day comes proving they are back to where they were, the neocons and Zionists will have no talking points whatsoever if Iran were to propose what I suggest and Israel refuses to also comply…
It would be helpful if linkage was established between Trump trying to accrue personal favors from his trade negotiations. Then not only would you have him on imposing across-the-board tariffs that are illegal, but also have him on an emoluments charge.
I heard there was a golf course deal that came form Vietnam when they were negotiating a lifting of the across-the-board tariffs?
MAGA world is in a tizzy because an Epstein doc dump is getting blocked. Hey MAGAs, only one way you will get accountability now.
Go to the office of your Reps+Senators and do everything short of setting yourself on fire. Tip: they might take “quaint” grocery prices going to unaffordable levels more seriously than how Epstein is being handled. While the Epstein matter reflects a subversion of the rule of law, I think eating and keeping a place to live has more immediacy which they can’t ignore.
That, and acts of war without congressional sanction.
And there’s no argument the Iran stikeS was a war (as opposed to an emergency action…), because what was “unconditional surrender” for?!
