https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/trump-acquitted-impeachment.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
To almost no one's surprise, President Trump was acquitted of two impeachment charges on Wednesday, February fifth. The five months of investigations and hearings over the Ukraine allegations did nothing to sway Senators across party lines as every single Democrat voted Trump guilty on both counts and all but one Republican found him innocent. The lone holdout was Mitt Romney, who found him guilty of abuse of power but not of obstruction of Congress. Romney was the first senator to vote to remove a president of his own party. He was promptly attacked by the President (on Twitter of course) for being a "Democratic secret asset." Democrats are not recognizing the acquittal as valid, especially since it is the first impeachment proceeding in American history to reach a verdict without calling witnesses. The president is set to make a statement about “our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax” on Thursday.
1. What, if anything, can/will Democrats do to combat the acquittal?
2. What impact could the acquittal have on the 2020 election?
3. Do you believe standards for impeachment should be changed? Why or why not? If so, how?
I think that the impeachment standard of "high crimes and misdemeanors" is intentionally vague, which allows for impeachment based on partisan likings. Even the term of "abuse of power" under this constitutional label is highly subject to interpretation. While this situation may seem like an impeachment based not on "law and order" but on personal preference, in the end, personal preference determines what we define as the law. Even in Nixon's impeachment, the majority of Democrats supported the action and the majority of Republicans opposed it. Perhaps Trump's acquittal could increase his support for the 2020 election, and he could use this as part of his campaign. I believe that even if we change the impeachment standards, partisan biases and interpretations will deem the process inherently subjective.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I think it has become evident that in this situation, there is not much that the Democrats will be able to do. Considering he was acquitted of impeachment, even under these circumstances, shows how there is only so much that can be done to limit President Trump and his actions; this impeachment being one of them. Furthermore, in terms of how this situation will impact the 2020 elections, I don't think it will. Most of the individuals that voted for Trump in 2016, will no doubt vote for him in the upcoming elections as well. In fact, I think they may even do so because of what has taken place - to further prove how strong of a president, Trump is in their eyes. Also, as far as whether or not the standards of impeachment should be changed, I generally do not think so. Excluding this situation with President Trump, the system has worked well in keeping presidents in their boundaries; at least thus far.
ReplyDelete1. Democrats can't really do anything congress-wise to combat the acquittal. In my opinion, Democrat's never truly intended to remove Trump from office given the huge majority that republicans hold in the senate. The impeachment to me seems more of a symbolic act to say that Trump's actions in Ukraine are not acceptable and that he would be investigated for them.
ReplyDelete2. In terms of impact, I believe that the Acquittal will certainly be a large arguing point for republicans in saying that democrats are partisan, upset, or something along those lines, while Democrats will argue that the acquittal is another symbol of the partisanship that pervades republicans.
3. I believe that although the standards are often used in a partisan way, They should remain unchanged. There are many justifiable reasons for impeachment beyond bribery and treason, and without additional standards, there are many "high crimes" that a president cannot be convicted for.
The effects of the acquittal on the election will simply be a reminder and intensification of the clear party divide in America. Democrats will be provoked to make more claims about Republicans blindly and unfairly supporting a criminal, and Republicans will continue to accuse Democrats of crying wolf, using impeachment to attempt to win the election. Ultimately, the Republican majority is the only reason Trump is still in office, but the same could be said if there had been a Democratic majority and Trump had indeed been impeached. The war between political parties in America has only been highlighted throughout the impeachment process, and will continue with special fervor through the election process.
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ReplyDeleteThere are very limited courses of actions that the Democrats can do to protest this acquittal, as there is seemingly no outcome that will result in a substantial change. In terms of the election, I believe that Trump's supporters haven't batted an eye on the impeachment process, and will only continue to support him. His opposition will continue to fight against him, leaving no one surprised. This acquittal has long been expected and not much will change within the voters' confidence. Later down the line, I believe that the current impeachment proceedings must be fundamentally changed such a way that the process is not so partisan. However, creating a fair and systematic process will certainly be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Kai that the impeachment standards are rather indistinct, and the vast space for interpretation allows it to be easier to press charges, but also easier to be argued out of charges. Personally, I believe that Democrats began their inquiry knowing that the odds of Trump being removed from office were grim, but rather aimed to negatively impact him for the 2020 election, and even with an acquittance that effect should hold true. With that being said, I still think think they will attempt to fight the acquittance, even if it is in vain. I don't know if changing impeachment standards would help; it might just cause every radical-leaning president to face impeachment if partisan tensions keep growing.
ReplyDeletePretty much all the Democrats can do is continue to hold their majority in the House, but as several people have mentioned, the symbolic purpose of the impeachment has been achieved. We can't tell if Trump will be able to turn the impeachment around as a publicity stunt that could improve his standing, or if it will damage his reputation in his constituency. However, I feel like the standards of impeachment are vague purposefully. The concept that you would rather let a guilty person go free than jail an innocent can be applied. I do agree that Trump has done extremely concerning things, setting negative precedents for the future, but the way our government is currently set up means that nothing he has done is irreparable.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Democrats can do anything to combat the acquittal, nor should they, else they risk looking like a modern day reincarnation of the Radical Republicans who attacked and impeached Andrew Johnson for primarily partisan reasons. I'm not saying that Trump didn't do anything wrong, but I think it's a waste of resources for Democrats to purse the issue further, even if the lack of witnesses was corrupt. I think that part of the impeachment process needs to be changed: transparency is definitely necessary, but to try and control partisan influences in impeachment processes specifically is impossible. Only the most egregious of crimes will be punished under the system, and for better or worse, I think it should remain that way. Now, the immediate impact is that the 2020 election remains a Trump v. Democrats affair instead of a Pence one, which is what everyone predicted and prepared for. I won't deal with the hypothetical situation of a Pence campaign as it is no longer possible, but I think the lack of change keeps the Democratic race as it is.
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ReplyDeleteThe Democrats can’t do anything to combat the acquittal other than beat him at the ballot box and win the presidency. I’m really not getting my hopes up. The acquittal essentially “proved” to Trump supporters that he is totally exonerated and completely innocent. Additionally, it makes the democrats look bad because from the conservative perspective it looks like they have to change the rules to win. (I believe asking Ukraine to interfere in our election was an abuse of power, I’m just saying how some people interpret it.) Lastly, this really sets a dangerous precedent because it essentially allows future Republican presidents to do basically whatever they want to help themselves get elected no matter the constitutional legality. The Senate is not an accurate representation of population, and we needed a 2/3rds majority. Trump was never going to be removed from office by impeachment, what's important is Democrats beat him in the general.
While I think the lack of witness in the impeachment inquiry was completely unfair, I concur that the Democrats will attempt to get around the acquittal with very little success. Additionally, if the Democrats attempt to change the rules of impeachment, it would most likely reflect badly on the party as a whole. Like others have already said, I believe that the Democrats should be focusing more on how to ensure their win in the 2020 election.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s reasonable to say that the main goal of the Democratic Party in impeaching Trump was not to actually remove him from office. They were well aware that the Republican controlled Senate wouldn’t convict Trump, so more likely than not their main objective was to stir up the news and media with the controversy of the impeachment trial in order to tarnish Trump’s image even further and give the Democratic Party a boost in the 2020 election. However, now that Trump has been officially acquitted, Trump could actually use the results to his advantage by claiming that liberals have been going after every one of his actions as president without any concrete proof, thus furthering his own credibility to the American people.
ReplyDeleteI completely believe in everything Daniel said above, but I think it would be unnecessary to reiterate his initial point. That being said, in effect to the 2020 election, I hold the same perspective as everyone else here, and would say that Trump will have a larger amount of support due to the outcome of the impeachment. The outcome was predetermined, but I believe the house impeachment did impact some voters who aren't that experienced in the world of politics, (maybe), and also the fact that Romney went against his party, may help to give perspective to some people, in both parties. I think the democratic party was solely banking on people like Romney to bring a miracle and maybe, just maybe, turn the majority, although incredibly unlikely, but this act of romney may inspire some republicans to do the same, or maybe the other way around and discourage, as people forsee his political popularity will dwindle due to going against his party. Of course many people believe the process of impeachment should be mended to prevent gatekeepers of the sort, but that's how our country's judicial system has been run forever, and if Republicans hold senate again, I don't see it changing anytime soon, I think it's just as complicated as trying to change the Constitution. But we'll see.
ReplyDeleteI mean we all know they won't give up easily, but then again Republicans own most of the Senate so it would be difficult to get him truly thrown out of office. I feel that the impeachment hurt his case a little in 2020, but not as much as throwing him out of office would do.
ReplyDeleteI think at this point, the Democrats are not going to try and combat the acquittal. Considering that the Senate is controlled by Republicans, I find it very unlikely that the Democrats could find a way to remove Trump from office. Also the fact that the 2020 election is coming up soon, I think any action taken to try and remove him will be cutting it too close to election date and may not result in much happening. It is clear to me though the frustration that this whole process has put on the Democratic Party. We’ve seen from instances like the State of the Union when Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of Trump’s speech how irritated and angry Democrats are in the failure of the impeachment process. Not even calling any witnesses up to testify displays the broken nature that this impeachment process has and the outright control the Senate has over action being taken.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Democrats can’t really do anything within Congress to combat the acuital as there's little to no outcome that will result in substantial change. Throughout the entire impeachment process, Trump supporters haven’t really done much and have continued to support him. This impeachment most likely won’t affect the 2020 election because of the continued amount of support from Trump supporters regardless of everything that is going on. I believe that the standards for impeachment don’t need to be changed, despite the fact that they are often used in a partisan way, because there is always going to be some sort of issue or obstacle when it comes to an impeachment of a president.
ReplyDeleteThe democrats can not really find a way to remove Trump from office unless they somehow convince the republicans to also help impeach him. The best course of action the democrats could take if they wanted to have the president be democratic would be to focus their efforts in the 2020 election. They could try to put Trump down and ruin his reputation but I don't think that is better than improving their own reputation and standing among the American people.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe there is any way for Democrats to combat the acquittal, as the only checks that exist for the legislative branch to counteract the President is through impeachment, overriding a veto, or by decreasing the executive's regulatory power. Seeing as conviction of what Trump was impeached for did not work, the only way they can curb Trump's action is through dampening his power to pass regulation or other powers (such as commander in chief). For example, Congress recently passed the Iran War Power Act through bipartisan support, blocking Trump's ability to pursue military action against Iran without Congressional approval. The War Powers Act has been used against Trump three times, with some Republican support each time, and exemplifies how Congressional action can truly limit Trump's ability to abuse or go beyond his powers as president. I believe the standards of impeachment have changed drastically. With our increasingly polarized climate, impeachment has become a political tool used for partisan gain, and is less and less used to actually charge a high official with committing "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." This discredits the validity and entire process of impeachment, and makes it a partisan issue instead of one judged objectively and through the perspective of the law.
ReplyDeleteThe democrat's best way of getting Trump out of the presidency is to elect a strong presidential nominee to beat Trump in the election. Though I believe that the evidence was sufficient enough to deem Trump unfit for office, Trump will face another trial when the people of America decide whether or not to reelect him. The controversy surrounding Trump will likely not his chances among his loyal voter base, but I imagine that this has compromised his position in the Obama-Trump districts of 2016. I believe that the standards for impeachment should not be changed because a high bar should be required to remove a sitting president. The high bar for convicting makes it so that a tyranny does not arise in Congress, and those standards should be kept.
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