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On September 23, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced a formal
impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. This was in response to a previously secret
whistleblower complaint regarding Trump’s call to the President of Ukraine, in which there were
strong concerns about him breaking the law. Trump allegedly wanted information on the personal
activities of Hunter Biden and his father Joe Biden, who is a frontrunner in the 2020 presidential
election, in order to sabotage them.
This article explores the public’s opinion on Trump’s actions and whether they were appropriate,
improper, or grounds for prosecution. In a poll from CBS, more than half of Americans, with a
majority of them being Democrats, support Congress' decision to begin the impeachment process.
In contrast, just over a quarter of Americans, and most Republicans, believe that his actions were
proper.
Trump has been the source of multiple investigations, including his alleged collusion with Russia
to rig the 2016 election. This echoes the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, in which President
Nixon was being investigated for his involvement in the burglary of the Democratic National
Committee and accused of trying to influence the election in his favor.
This impeachment inquiry into the president represents a larger issue in America: the partisan
divide. Although I am not sure what the future holds for this investigation, I do know that it will
have an impact on the upcoming 2020 election and how people view the President and his
administration.
Questions:
- Since a majority of Democrats seem to believe the Trump should be impeached, while a majority of Republicans don’t, could this inquiry worsen the partisan war between them?
- What do you think this inquiry means for Trump and candidates in the 2020 election?
- Should Trump be impeached or removed from office for his actions?
I don’t see this inquiry into Trump’s impeachment as something that will worsen the political divide between the two parties because each party has firmly chosen the side they were expected to. The Republicans mostly think that he shouldn’t get impeached and the Democrats mostly think he should. Both sides took opposite stances as they would on any controversial issue. I don’t think this inquiry will have much of an effect on the 2020 election because Democrats already hated him and Trump’s core voters and supporters already loved him. This inquiry doesn’t doesn’t really do much to change people’s minds besides reaffirm their discontent with Trump or reinforce their approval of him. While I don’t think Trump’s comments during the call with Ukraine were appropriate or proper, I don’t think it constitutes an impeachable offense. What he did was clearly wrong, but I don’t think it was illegal. I think it is worth pursuing an inquiry just to make sure nothing illegal occurred, but as the information available to the public stands now, I don’t think this is something the president should be impeached and removed from office for. What Nixon did was clearly illegal and completely warranted impeachment, but this Trump situation lacks the same aspect of criminality in my eyes.
ReplyDelete1. I agree with Nathan: this certainly won't bring the parties together, but it won't pull them apart either. The Democrats will become more and more certain as more evidence is released that Trump did something wrong, and the Republicans will become more and more certain that it's a witch hunt. There are already some Republicans who are siding with the Democrats on this issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are anti-impeachment Democrats.
ReplyDelete2. I would not say that this will have a significant effect on Trump's chances unless he is found guilty of criminal charges of some sort. It's quite likely that he will be the Republican candidate anyway, and I doubt there would be a ton of people jumping ship from the party that wouldn't have for other reasons already.
3. It's too early to say.
I think people were subject to their own biases when filling out the poll. The evidence is set in stone, but people's interpretations of the evidence are based on their preexisting beliefs, hence people are falling for confirmation bias. While ideally our judgments should be based solely on the law, as we can see, the lines of justice and personal sentiment are blurred in this situation. I think this would definitely worsen the partisan war if and only if Congress is as divided as it is today about the impeachment of Trump, which would make this an issue of party ideology instead of solely legal violations. But as Ryan interestingly mentioned, if more Republicans support impeachment and more Democrats don't, then this would become less of an issue of partisan divides but rather an issue of law and justice.
ReplyDeleteIf the impeachment process proceeds, I think it would definitely be a "hot topic" in the 2020 election and preceding debates. Shall the impeachment be successful, perhaps the next president will proclaim how he or she is the complete opposite of Trump in order to gain public attention.
Regarding the third question, as I previously touched on, I think the best predictor that Trump could very likely be removed from office is when this shifts from less of a divided partisan issue to more of a bipartisan issue - when people are more focused on legal violations rather than keeping someone with shared political beliefs or removing someone with opposing beliefs in office.
To be honest, I don't think the partisan rift between the parties could get any worse. Both sides are so distrustful of the other side that facts will not change anything: Democrats will continue believing impeachment is justified just as Republicans equally strongly believe it isn't no matter what information comes out. We've already seen that Trump is able to survive any kind of attack because his voter base is so loyal they unconditionally give him support, so I think this situation ultimately won't have any long-term effect. As for the impeachment case, based on the current evidence I believe Democrats have jumped the gun. I agree with Ryan that it remains to be seen whether a compelling case can be built.
ReplyDeleteI agree that partisan rifts are probably not going to change as people are generally taking the side that they are predicted to and nothing is really changing with the parties core beliefs. Trump does not really have a strong opponent right now, so I think that even if this inquiry proceeds, Trump still has a very high chance of securing the Republican nomination. As Kevin said, Trump has a very loyal voter base and has survived many other scandals including impeachment rumors about his contact with Russia, so it would not be surprising if he survived this as well. While I agree that there is not enough information to tell if he actually did anything illegal, I believe his impeachment may be similar to Clinton's. Clinton got charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, and if this investigation continues, the government may find more secret conversations that may incriminate Trump.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think this impeachment inquiry could potentially worsen the gap between the republicans and democrats. There are already enough issues that both parties disagree about such as immigration, abortion, and education - adding this major even to the list of disagreements will make the partisan gap even worse. As far as what this (potential) impeachment means for President Trump in the 2020 election, itś hard to say. This is due to the fact that although this impeachment inquiry is out, it means nothing unless it is acted on. People can keep talking about the matter but unless something is done about it, this will not directly impact the 2020 election. However, it could impact peopleś opinions on President Trump, further leading them to rethink their vote in the coming elections.
ReplyDeleteI think there is already a big split between the Republicans and the Democrats, and I do believe that this inquiry will make matters worse in the case that each person is choosing a side for which to impeach President Trump or not. I also do believe that since we are so split on ideas of how the government should run, this inquiry gives another reason why America is so split between Democrats and Republicans. If the impeachment does go through, I do think it will play a role in the 2020 elections, but as of now, I think it will force Americans to use their right to vote in the 2020 elections due to the huge split in political party beliefs. As of right now, I don't think that there is clear evidence for the impeachment of Trump. However, in the future if there is something that Trump has done illegally, then I think it will be probable that he will be impeached at that time. For right now, it is too soon to tell.
ReplyDeleteThis inquiry could cause the gap between republicans and democrats to worsen as they are forced to pick sides. Although they have already sort of done this with their stances on certain policies, the weighty decision to impeach Trump will have more of a lasting impact on the government and how it and the nation will move forward. In response to the second question, I think this inquiry can have multiple effects. Trump's supporters could defend him stronger than before, creating a larger rift between them and Democrats, or Republicans who are unsatisfied with Trump's work in office could stray away from voting for him in the next election. In all, I think a lot of different outcomes can result from this inquiry that will affect the nation as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe transcript of the call between Trump and Ukraine was moved to a highly classified system, and many speculate whether there is more evidence of corruption in that system. Because the House is going through a formal impeachment process, they now have more power to subpoena people, obtain access to files, and require the White House to cooperate with the proceedings. So I think that because of this formality, it is likely that they may find more evidence against Trump, or more people may be willing to speak out against the president. The likelihood of the Trump getting convicted in the Senate is slim because Republican Senators are currently prioritizing their allegiance to the president and their political futures over the Constitution and democratic values. Even if Trump does not get convicted, I think this impeachment will leave a lasting scar on his presidency. The disapproval ratings for the president are 12 points higher than his approval ratings and as the impeachment process proceeds, the gap may increase which will definitely be seen in the polls in November 2020 if he lasts until then.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the impeachment inquiry it's something that came way too late. When Jackie speier was here talking to us she confirmed that the Mueller report found him guilty on nine accounts but that was something that went without repercussion because he's a sitting president which I don't agree with. Now this inquiry is focused strictly on the phone call and I think the majority of Americans agree with it because the current president has shown that he has no regard for the rules and is a compulsive liar. Because most democrats favor the impeachment, I think it will cause tensions between the parties because Republicans could argue that the inquiry is just another way for the Democrats to gain control or what not but in reality it's just to ensure that the president of the United States upholds the values of the nation.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first question, I don’t think that this single situation regarding Trump’s impeachment will essentially worsen the divide or tensions between the parties. Each party has their own concrete beliefs that ultimately have already been established; therefore I dont think that this inquiry would disrupt or change their already existing political divide. As for the 2020 election, I think that this inquiry could possibly have some effect on voters political views, or it could potentially have no effect. This situation could be eye-opening for some individuals, but ultimately Democrats and Republicans will hold onto their beliefs despite what happens with Trump’s impeachment inquiry. I don’t exactly think they have definite or really strong evidence or reasoning to impeach him right away at the moment, so I think that the decision should be made at a later time.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that impeachment is the right move for democrats. In the late 1990's when Clinton was impeached, it did not favor well for Republicans. They were thrashed in the popular election in 2000 and came down to s supreme court ruling to elect Bush to president. Trump has not committed any crime like both Nixon and Clitnon did (even though Nixon was not impeached). Trump is duing his due diligence against his opponents that have had shady deals in other countries. Trump is doing what is best for Americans and he is being targeted because of his name and where his values lie. It is flat out ridiculous that there is talk of impeachment. this act will fail and Trump will be elected in 2020.
ReplyDeleteBroadly speaking, partisan differences are already at an all-time high, so the impeachment process will most likely not generate further catastrophic tensions. That being said, the pressure on Republicans to impeach President Trump will be a determining factor of whether or not the controversy will reach an effective result. Moreover, the Republican party will most certainly be concerned by this impeachment inquiry, as it produces doubt and uncertainty among the general population, which may very well cause particular swing states to favor the Democratic party. Based on the information provided, I believe that Trump should indeed face repercussions for his actions, but there needs to be undeniable and sufficient evidence to remove him from the oval office. Holistically, there needs to be an accumulation of evidence that he is guilty of serious crimes.
ReplyDeleteI think that this investigation will deepen the partisan divide, but only for those either extremely liberal or extremely radical. Those who have a more radical ideology will tend to stick more with the overall party ideology more vehemently, especially in the wake of the "lock her up" mantra adopted by Trump and his followers in 2016 and more liberal Democrats' indignation towards his entire presidency. Furthermore, polarization throughout the country is also much higher than in recent decades, and polarization coupled with divided government has created gridlock. This tends to lead to further polarization, as one side blames the other side for the inefficacy of government. This inquiry could have serious implications for Trump's 2020 campaign, as other Republican candidates will be able to take more moderate Republican votes away from Trump, and independents could learn more towards moderate Republicans or Democrats over Trump. Overall, it definitely won't help him, and as his approval rating is lowering, there is a lesser and lesser likelihood that he will garner the same amount of electoral votes he did in 2016. This also gives the Democratic candidate a higher chance in 2020, especially as the result of the inquiry will come out in the midst of campaigning for 2020. An interesting fact about this inquiry is that if Trump is impeached by the House, and somehow convicted by the Senate, there is nothing in the Constitution that would prevent Trump from running for reelection. The Senate also hasn't established a precedent for reelection after impeachment, as this has never happened before, but the precedent will probably be established by the public and Congress.
ReplyDelete