Is A Donald Trump Impeachment Realistic?
One thing the reality-star turned President is good at is making headlines. Albeit, these days those headlines are usually concerning a questionable decision made by the President or his cabinet. Nonetheless, it seems as though there is always a new breaking news story about his adverse decisions. The most recent of these is his choice to pull the United States out of The Climate Accord with Paris. The Climate Accord has been accepted by most countries, with only Syria and Nicaragua declining the agreement.
Although America elected Donald Trump as the 45th President in a shocking electoral outcome, Trump has sinse witnessed a steep drop in his approval ratings. Trump has only officially been appointed Commander-in-Chief for less than 150 days, yet, his approval ratings continue to decline tremendously. Americans who strongly approve of Trump stood at 30% in February, however because of his political moves (i.e. the emission of the ACA), this number has since dropped to 21%.
As his supporters slowly back off, the threat of impeachment is growing steadily. According to Five thirty-eight, Trump’s overall rating sits at a 39.2%, while 43% of the public supports his impeachment. The rapid growing support for Trump’s impeachment comes after a plethora of seemingly thoughtless decisions. These decisions include, but are certainly not limited to removing funding from Planned Parenthood, and vacating other landmark deals such as the Affordable Care Act, or the much-discussed Paris Climate Accord. Still, when it comes to actual grounds for impeachment it is his possible involvement with Russia or his handling of former FBI director James Comey, which may ultimately build the case against him.
Numerous petitions for impeachment have been gaining traction. ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org states “The nation is now witnessing a massive corruption of the presidency, far worse than Watergate. Indeed, Nixon White House Counsel John Dean told reporters: “I don’t think Richard Nixon even comes close to the level of corruption we already know about Trump.”
Although there have been a lot of impeachment discussion, we must first be certain that we understand the grounds for impeachment. According to, Section 4 of Article Two of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
In order to bring allegations of impeachment against a President, the House of Representatives must rule in favor of impeachment by majority vote. The House votes to impeach, then the Senate conducts an impeachment trial. When the President is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. When the case is tried by the Senate, a vote of at least ⅔ is required for conviction and Presidential removal.
To put that into context, you can be impeached by the House of Representatives, but if the Senate doesn’t reach the ⅔ vote required, a President won’t be removed from office. Bill Clinton was impeached on an obstruction of justice charge (as well as a perjury charge) by the House of Representatives, but the Senate did not reach the required ⅔ vote for his removal and he finished out his term. President Clinton is only one of three impeachments in the history of American presidential politics, Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon being the other two. Nixon of course resigned to get away from his impeachment.
If the President is impeached, what does that mean for his cabinet? In the event that Donald Trump is impeached, his Vice President Mike Pence will be next in line to take the Presidential office. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution provides: “In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.”
However, although many Americans are calling for impeachment, the chances are slim according to Newsweek. “We note that the president’s impulsive character and disregard for protocol means that even the unlikely is possible,” the Economist intelligence Unit wrote in a statement to Newsweek. “But it would take a significant shift in mood, even allowing for his existing transgressions, to shift Republican loyalty away from Trump.”
It’s worth reminding that the House of Representatives and the Senate are both run by a Republican majority for the time being. It’s extremely unlikely that they would want to put a Republican President in any harms way, regardless of his actions.
It is imperative that a watchful eye is kept on any potential impeachment proceedings. As American people, we must strive to hold our elected officials accountable for ALL actions, as said actions can affect average Americans tremendously. Hopefully, we as a Nation can allow our voices to be heard, and provoke change within our government.
Democrats have already started the Donald Trump impeachment process, but it is going to be a long uphill battle from here.
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