An Impeachment Vote Now is an Exercise in Absurdity, So Of Course House Democrats Are Going Ahead With It

Six days ago it seemed like a serious and urgent matter to consider removing Donald Trump from the presidency. Even with a mere 14 days left in office, his behavior had become so reckless and erratic, there was reason to be concerned about the fact that he had access to the nuclear codes, as well as the vast power all presidents hold over the executive branch.

A serious Congress, concerned about what Trump might do in his few days left in office, would have moved that very day to separate him from that power. Even a semi-serious Congress, feeling genuine concern about such matters, would have at least been willing to work on the weekend.

Not this Congress. Six days have passed. Trump has retained the power of the presidency the entire time. And only now is the House of Representatives bothering to pass articles of impeachment, which they know the Senate cannot and will not act on during the remaining days of Trump’s term.

That means the action House Democrats are going to take today will be an exercise in absurdity:

House Democrats introduced one article of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Monday for “incitement of insurrection” for urging his supporters to march on the Capitol last Wednesday.

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The House will vote on the impeachment measure Wednesday morning after considering legislation Tuesday night that calls on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office before Jan. 20. The planned votes come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Democrats that the chamber would proceed with Trump’s impeachment if Pence doesn’t agree to the 25th Amendment process.

Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said the House could delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate until after Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office to allow the president-elect to get his agenda off and running, including Covid-19 relief legislation and the confirmation of his Cabinet officials.

There is no reason to impeach and convict Trump once he’s already left office. One argument for doing so is that it’s necessary to bar him from ever running for public office again. But if Trump was such a danger as to make such a ban necessary, then it would also stand to reason that Congress would have removed him from office immediately after the Capitol Hill insurrection of last Wednesday. The fact that they did not do so undermines any argument that it’s necessary to ban him from future pursuits of public office.

If Trump decides to run for president again in 2024, the public will know what to do with that situation. It won’t need its hands tied by Congress.

As for the fanciful notion that today’s action will in any way shorten Trump’s term: It won’t and Pelosi knows it. The Senate’s own rules say it can’t take up any substantive business until January 19, which is the day before Trump is going to leave office anyway. And the Senate couldn’t just vote to convict without first holding a trial over which Chief Justice Roberts would preside. There would need to be an opportunity for the president’s lawyers to present a defense.

All of that is not going to happen between January 19 and noon on January 20.

Democrats may accomplish the goal of being able to say they impeached Trump twice, but there will be no value to the nation for their having done so. If they really believed Trump was such a danger, they would have moved posthaste to neutralize that danger. They clearly didn’t believe it.

At this point, neither should the rest of us. Trump will be president for eight more days. The best thing for the country at this point is to run out that clock and move on. Impeaching Trump and attempting to hold a trial after he leaves office would keep Trump in the spotlight for months beyond the point when he really should fade into the background.

If House Democrats want that, it’s only because they think Trump’s continued high-profile would hurt Republicans and help them. That is no reason to impeach a president – especially one who isn’t even president anymore.