Tag: Donald Trump

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Symposium on Impeachment

The Constitutionalist

Susan McWilliams Barndt is Chair and Professor of Politics at Pomona College. On the one hand: I study American political thought and history. So I understand that impeachment is a big deal. On the other hand: I’ve already lived through three impeachments. So I understand that impeachment is banal. On the one hand: I don’t want to be glib because this may well be a moment of real significance in the history of the republic. On the other hand: Been there, done that. * * * When we’re talking about impeachment, here’s an underlying problem: Right now, it is hard … Continue reading Symposium on Impeachment

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Political Resignations: Comparing the Watergate and Trump Eras, by Jeffrey Abramson

The Constitutionalist

Political resignations can be a matter of great conscience and statesmanship. Or they can be the too little, too late scurrying of rats off a sinking ship. The last few months of the Trump Administration resemble the end of the Nixon presidency in giving us some of both. Continue reading Political Resignations: Comparing the Watergate and Trump Eras, by Jeffrey Abramson

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Dear Originalists: Are You Better Off Today than You Were Four Years Ago?

Greg Weiner

As the Trump Presidency unravels, with the country quite seriously contemplating whether it can endure not another four years but rather another nine days of it, it is worth asking originalists Ronald Reagan’s question: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? The Capitol that represents the republican essence of constitutional government will, for the foreseeable future, be a fortress protecting American leaders from American seditionists. Its windows are smashed, its halls have been desecrated and, most important, the members of Congress who occupy it endured a several-hour siege in which the president of the United States … Continue reading Dear Originalists: Are You Better Off Today than You Were Four Years Ago?

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Impeachment Beats the Alternatives

Greg Weiner

Congress seems split, mostly but not entirely on partisan lines, between two alternatives: removing Donald Trump immediately or getting the nation across the January 20 finish line on a wing and a prayer. The problem is that the wing and prayer are also predicated on bad precedents. The most ominous of these was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call to General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about, in her words, “preventing an unhinged president from using the nuclear codes.” That kind of interference from Congress in the military chain of command is a dicey precedent. These are, … Continue reading Impeachment Beats the Alternatives

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Insurrections and Abstractions

Greg Weiner

Ben Kleinerman and George Thomas have eloquently said what most needs saying about yesterday’s unspeakable events. There is not yet enough distance to process them soberly. But a preliminary thought: The insurrectionists’ chant, and apparent self-justification, as they plowed through security barriers, scaled walls and smashed windows of the U.S. Capitol, was “Our House!” Never mind whether they act that way in their own homes. The question is: Whose house, exactly? This was an “our” contraposed to a “them”: real Americans versus traitors, with the latter category encompassing not only 81 million Americans who voted for Joe Biden but also, evidently, the millions more who … Continue reading Insurrections and Abstractions