Is Impeachment the Best Way to Get Rid of Trump?
“Donald Trump is corrupt. He is unfit to serve our country as president. He is unqualified to serve our country as commander-in-chief. I’m running for president to defeat him. I think it’s so important for our country to move forward, to bridge these divides, and for it to be the American people that make this decision.” — Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
A message to my fellow Democrats:
Yes, Trump must go. Our country, people, and planet can’t handle another four years of him. However, a successful impeachment (which is unlikely to move forward given Senate GOP) will only give us Mike Pence (leader of the war on women among other things) + increased favorability and political ammunition/fundraising for Trump in an election year.
Flashback 20 years…
After Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, his approval rating actually rose to its highest point and through his remaining time in office — he was acquitted and finished his term. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll from December 1999 found that one year after the impeachment of Clinton was initiated two-thirds of those polled said the impeachment was harmful to the country. And in the month he was impeached by the House of Representatives, only 30% of Americans supported removing him from office.
Trump invokes the worst of America in many ways, but the truth of the matter is racism and sexism and corporate corruption have been ingrained in this country far longer than President Trump’s term and if we want to make any progress eradicating those things we need to make some massive structural and political changes to our system. We have the opportunity to do that this Democratic Primary season, but an impeachment process is not going to help us get there and could very likely give us 4 more years of Trump. Upholding the law and protecting democracy is critical, but a push for impeachment right before the election is not going to help the end goal to remove Trump from office. We need to be laser-focused on doing everything we can to elect a new president and commander-in-chief.
Working in or following politics can be highly emotional. We all feel very strongly about our issues on both sides of the aisle, because they are deeply personal to us in our lives and our loved ones. But I encourage everyone to step back and really think about the best way to change the things you wish to make better. The media and politicians tend to be very reactive by nature and that ends up having an impact on the public — often to the detriment of our own goals.
