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 »

This Week in Impeachment: Trump Lets Democrats Off the Hook, Puts the Squeeze on GOP Instead

The impeachment of President Trump was already a likely event by the end of last week. It became even more likely this week. … A Washington community that is ordinarily fond of cautioning Democrats that they are risking “overreach” by engaging in any politically assertive behavior temporarily ceased its usual […] Read more »

The Obama effect has helped Joe Biden with black voters. Will it last?

Fairly or unfairly, Joe Biden has been taking some heat over the fact that, while he was vice president, his son Hunter held a $50,000-a-month board position at Burisma, a Ukrainian gas firm. Democratic leaders are nervous about how his campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination has been responding. Meanwhile, […] Read more »

Investigations usually hurt a president’s public reputation – but Trump isn’t usual

Douglas L. Kriner, Cornell University and Eric Schickler, University of California, Berkeley Will the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump ultimately have any effect? Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi had long resisted calls for impeachment, arguing that it is “just not worth it.” However, the Trump administration’s initial refusal to […] Read more »