Anyone who thinks an impeachment inquiry is helpful to a sitting president has never worked in a White House where the boss is under the constant threat of removal from office. Fewer challenges are more unhelpful. It is easy to forget now but, nearly 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton […] Read more »
Which is the right question?
Survey questions asking whether voters want to impeach and remove Donald Trump from office are now mesmerizing pundits and pols. Important as it seems, it may be the wrong question on which to focus. … The preeminent indicator of a president’s political health is his approval rating. CONT. Mark Mellman […] Read more »
The Clinton Legacy: Impeachment Hurts the President
Conventional wisdom holds that the Republican Party suffered a big political penalty for impeaching Bill Clinton in 1998. But that’s not quite right. Republicans paid a modest, short-term penalty, while the costs to the Democratic Party appear to have been larger and longer-lasting. … Two decades ago, the Republicans’ decision […] Read more »
Impeachment and American Political Development
A president is facing impeachment, nearly exactly when Arthur Schlesinger anticipated. At the conclusion of The Imperial Presidency in 1973, he offered a warning: “We have noted that corruption appears to visit the White House in fifty-year cycles. This suggests that exposure and retribution inoculate the Presidency against its latent […] Read more »
How Impeachment Affects Vulnerable Democrats
House Democrats are on recess and back in their districts this week, gauging how their constituents are feeling about impeachment. Public opinion has moved toward support of the impeachment inquiry, but many Democratic strategists remain especially concerned that the 31 House Democrats who represent districts that backed President Donald Trump […] Read more »
A Jungle Primary in the Big Easy
This week, we preview the upcoming Democratic primary debate in Ohio, as well as the gubernatorial election in Louisiana. Then we talk impeachment efforts of yore, and Sen. Mitt Romney’s role in the current impeachment inquiry against President Trump. The Forecast Fest, CNN Read more »