Though this historical review of the impeachment process won’t be published until the March edition of the Atlantic, all of its subscribers received a copy of Yoni Applebaum’s intriguing study a full month early. Applebaum, the senior editor for politics at the Atlantic, has all the right credentials—if that matters to you--including Columbia, a Brandeis PhD and teaching at Harvard. Obviously, an attempt to get the public thinking, I noticed a number of reviews of the study just a day after its publishing.
Because of the fiasco with Clinton, many legislators are wary of moving to impeachment. But the real worth of Applebaum’s review is to limit Trump’s power. From the initial pages of the review, Applebaum argues that the most serious charge is the attack upon the “bedrock of American democracy.”
Here then, are the five arguments Applebaum lays out in support of impeachment...
Once an impeachment inquiry begins, the president loses control of the public conversation. All those facing impeachment, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, learned this tough lesson. Of course, once a president faces the prospect of impeachment, he realizes his words can be used against him, making restraint a key issue.
The impeachment inquiry paralyzes the president’s ability to advance his agenda. The Mueller probe has already hobbled the Trump administration. But impeachment will raise the scrutiny of Trump to an even higher level. As Applebaum concludes, “there is no more effective way to run out the clock on the president and his administration than to tie it up with impeachment hearings.”
The third benefit of the impeachment process is its usefulness as a tool of discovery and discernment. Since Trump’s election, it has been impossible to tell the difference between conspiracy theories and the day’s news. As Applebaum states, some of what is “alleged about Trump is plainly false; much of it might be true, but lacks supporting evidence; and many of the best-documented claims are quickly forgotten, lost in the din of fresh allegations.” Separating out claims from reality is crucial. The process empowers a committee to weigh the available evidence and decide whether to proceed.
The fourth benefit is that the impeachment process inevitably defuses the potential for an explosion of political violence. This was the original rationale for the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Applebaum is probably correct when he concludes that if Trump is impeached, he’d lose his luxury of venting his resentments before friendly crowds.
The final benefit to the impeachment process is that, “even when it fails to remove a president, it severely damages his political prospects.” “Johnson failed to run for a second term. Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford, his successor, lost his bid for reelection.” It’s highly probable, also, that Clinton lost the reelection for Gore.
Applebaum’s article, more than 25 pages, is an enlightening experience on the history and process of impeachment. It clarifies what for many is largely unknown. More than that, it makes a strong case for both the public and the politically involved.
It can be downloaded in full here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/