What The Hell Is Impeachment Anyway And How Does It REALLY Work?
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, the impeachment of Donald J. Trump was a momentous occasion in American history.
And after encountering a wealth of misinformation on social media about what impeachment ACTUALLY means, and wondering if was time to mandate adult civics classes, I thought I’d quit shaking my head, put my Government and Politics degree to good use, and share a quick and easy primer on what the hell an impeachment is and how it REALLY works.
But before we get into the nitty gritty…
Let’s do a quick recap on the definition of impeachment…
Before you start stress eating, don’t worry, it’s pretty painless.
What is an impeachment?
Simply put, impeachment is Congress’s power to “fire” the president. And while we commonly hear it used to mean removing someone from office, it actually only refers to the filing of formal charges or “articles of impeachment.” Still with me? Good!
So how does one go about being impeached?
The grounds of impeachment in the Constitution are limited to: “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” But, unfortunately, the precise meaning of “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” isn’t defined in the Constitution.
And you guessed it…
The Founders described impeachable offenses as those arising from “the misconduct of public men.” Impeachable offenses were deemed “political” as they resulted in injury to society itself.
This is where it gets tricky… because that means that a president’s behavior doesn’t necessarily have to be a “prosecutable offense” (i.e. criminal conduct), but simply an action that violates an official’s “duty to country” or undermines the “public’s trust.”
In short… things that make American’s want to:
This has led to a broad interpretation, and impeachment in America has been inspired by some pretty varying circumstances.
So what have previous presidents done to warrant impeachment?
Who has been impeached?
Only 3 presidents in the history of the United States have been impeached (if you exclude Richard Nixon who resigned from office before an all but certain impeachment following the Watergate scandal). The list includes: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and finally Donald Trump in 2019.
But why though?
ANDREW JOHNSON (1868)
To keep it simple – Andrew Johnson didn’t like his co-worker – Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton because he was a pain in the ass. And at the time, there was a federal law called the “Tenure of Office Act,” which restricted the power of the President to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate. President Johnson said “screw it” and fired him anyway.
As a result, the House of Representatives adopted ELEVEN articles of impeachment against Johnson under the broadly defined “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” ground. Number 11 was particularly savage:
“Bringing disgrace and ridicule to the presidency.”
BILL CLINTON (1998):
In perhaps the most publicized political scandal of our time, Bill Clinton was impeached for his handling of extra-marital affair accusations with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
For those Gen-Zers reading this, here’s a little background:
Married President Bill Clinton, age 49, was accused of having a sexual affair with his 22-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky… and then lying to the American people (and Congress) about it.
His denial lives in infamy:
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”
The President doubled down:
“I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people.” *mic drop*
However, it was only a matter of time before the President had to fess up. A sample of semen was taken from Lewinsky’s famous “little blue dress” and tested with a 7.87 trillion-to-1 certainty to match the President.
Whoops.
This left the American people, and undoubtedly his wife (and future presidential candidate), Hillary Clinton, feeling like…
Bill Clinton was subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives on the grounds of perjury (lying) and obstruction of justice.
Fun Fact: Almost 20 years later, in 2018, Monica Lewinsky finally shared the location in which President Clinton soiled her famous dress (read: Oval Office Bathroom) and why she didn’t originally recognize the stain “I thought it was spinach dip.”
DONALD TRUMP:
The recent impeachment of Donald Trump was less personally salacious than Bill Clinton’s, but has political commentators bringing stark comparisons regarding the “legitimacy” of the impeachment (more on that later).
In short:
A White House whistleblower (a secret informant) alleged that Donald Trump withheld military aid as a way of pressuring newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into two political favors. (Read: Quid Pro Quo – Translation: “something for something”):
1. Investigate political rival Joe Biden’s son Hunter
Hunter Biden sat on a consulting board for Burisma, one of Ukraine’s largest gas companies, while his father was serving as Vice President. Trump and his supporters insisted that the Bidens acted corruptly to protect the company from prosecution in Ukraine while Hunter suspiciously received a $50,000 A MONTH salary… despite having no known expertise in the production, transport, or distribution of natural gas and generally spending his working career coasting on his daddy’s famous name. (Read: Another Quid Pro Quo)
Getting bored? Don’t worry – there’s always a sex scandal.
Other accusations against Hunter Biden:
While dating his brother’s widow (weird I know), he fathered a child with a different woman. DNA results (uncomfortably released on his father’s 77th birthday) confirmed it was his child.
It gets better.
We now know where he met his baby mama-to-be… at his favorite D.C. area strip club. Yay, politics.
On to Trump’s other potentially coerced favor…
2. Investigate a conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine (and not Russia) behind the alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election.
It was rumored that Ukranian-linked company Crowdstrike, hired by the Democratic National Committee to help investigate the hacking of their email during the 2016 campaign, played part in the allegation that the election was “hacked by the Russians.”
Long story short, House Democrats, in a partisan move (without Republican support), voted to impeach Donald Trump using… you guessed it… the high Crimes and Misdemeanors clause, citing an abuse of power and accusing him of obstructing Congress.
Republicans were vehemently opposed to the impeachment, stating that impeachment necessitates bipartisan support and saw it as “political strategy” (solely to damage the reputation of President Trump) with no benefit to the American people.
Why?
Because the subsequent Senate trial would, with near certainty, result in the impeachment being “thrown out.” (Here’s where political historians draw connections to the Clinton impeachment which had partisan support… just that time it was the other way around.)
Recent ammunition for the Republican’s claims stem from the actions of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She has threatened to withhold sending the articles of impeachment over to the Senate (so the trial can start) in order to get the Republicans to give her something she wants (witnesses in the trial that could be damaging to the President). (Read: Another-nother Quid Pro Quo… seems to be a trend here)
Which leads us to our next question…
What does impeachment ACTUALLY mean for a president and for the American people?
Perhaps the most confusing part of an impeachment is that it does not necessarily mean that a president will be removed from office. In fact, a sitting president has NEVER been removed from office after an impeachment.
How is that possible, you ask?
Remember when we learned about Separation of Powers in school? No?
A refresher:
The Founders wanted to ensure that where was a balance of power in government so that decisions were made in a fair and equitable way (i.e. we couldn’t make rash decisions based on the views of one branch of government). Power is equally distributed between the Executive Branch (President), the Senate (2 representatives from each state) and the House of Representatives (representatives based on state population). Usually, no single party (Republican or Democrat) controls (has a majority in) ALL branches.
Right now, Republicans “control” the Senate and the Executive branch, while the Democrats hold a majority in the House of Representatives.
This separation of power is how all three of our impeached presidents have avoided being removed from office.
Still confused? Enter: The Senate Trial
In order to maintain a separation (balance) of power, when the Executive Branch does something stupid, the House steps in to make a judgment and then the Senate makes a judgment on that judgment. Sound inefficient? That’s politics!
But it’s an important part of the American Constitution and guarantees that big decisions (like the ousting of a president) are made with support of both sides of the aisle (a good thing). But this “gridlock” can be frustrating to the average American because it can seem like a big waste of time, effort and tax dollars…
What does this mean for Donald Trump?
Well, he’s very likely to go down as the 3rd president to be impeached and to stay in office as the Senate is controlled by his party – the Republicans. So where do we stand?
The Democrats are angry because they believe that Trump should be removed from office:
The Republicans don’t think his actions warranted impeachment in the first place:
Donald Trump:
Where does that leave the rest of us?
Well, not quite, but it will be interesting to see how this impeachment plays out in the Senate and if it will have an effect on Election 2020.
Will Donald Trump be the first impeached president to win reelection?
Sound off with your thoughts below and thanks for tuning in to this edition of All-in with Allyn.
And a extra special thank you to Marsai Martin, of one of my all-time favorite shows Black-ish, for always having exactly the right gif reaction for any scenario.
XOXO, Allyn
