The topic of impeachment is back and hotter than ever in Washington. But is it back by popular demand? Will the issue simmer into the fall, or will the heat dissipate in the days ahead? More Democrats than ever — a majority — now favor opening formal proceedings to remove […] Read more »
Why Democrats can’t speak for the ‘silent majority’
Ever since Richard Nixon coined the term “silent majority” in 1969, commentators have been obsessed with debating this voting bloc’s contours and character. … The silent-majority concept is inextricably intertwined with backlash politics of the sort promoted by Trump. The concept was perhaps best explained by historian Rick Perlstein, who […] Read more »
Nancy Pelosi, Impeachment, and Places in History
… The basic historical error behind suppressing an impeachment inquiry confuses the genuine crisis surrounding Trump with the manufactured one that engulfed Clinton. In 1998, the House Republicans, lacking public support and all but assured that the Senate, though it was controlled by their own party, would not convict Clinton, […] Read more »
Will support grow for impeaching Trump? Data on Nixon offers a clue.
If you’ve closely followed the debate among Democrats over whether to launch an impeachment inquiry on President Trump, chances are that you’ve heard this number: 19. As many who support impeachment hearings have pointed out, in early 1973, Gallup polling showed that only 19 percent of Americans supported removing President […] Read more »
Would Democrats Really Face A Backlash If They Impeached Trump?
Some rank-and-file congressional Democrats favor starting impeachment proceedings against President Trump. Even Democrats who don’t favor impeachment, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have suggested that Trump’s behavior could be impeachment-worthy, pointing to his administration’s refusal to comply with Congress’s requests for documents and testimony from key officials and the […] Read more »
Trump might make us miss Watergate
We may be approaching the third presidential impeachment effort of the past half century. There was widespread talk after Richard Nixon’s resignation that the “system had worked” despite the strain of a criminal president. Bill Clinton’s impeachment arguably placed the system under far less pressure; only the most obsessed Clinton […] Read more »