The desperate dream of the anti-Trump left is that, having failed in the democratic contest of ideas, they can undemocratically win by formally impeaching Trump and ending his hideous reign or hobble his political agenda. ‘Impeach Trump’ is part of the tiresome ‘Get Trump’ carnival an anti-democratic impulse that is all about thwarting the legitimate, democratic will of American voters.
The left has various potential impeachment irons in the fire - hush money payments by Trump to women (for affairs that predate Trump’s presidency), his entrepreneurial interest in building a Trump hotel in Moscow (also pre-Presidential), his use of executive authority to fire former FBI head, anti-Trump political partisan and shameless leaker, James Comey (which is, however, neither improper nor unprecedented nor unjustified). Other hopeful triggers have come and gone, each of them fading into post-headline oblivion.
Presidential impeachment is not about the disinterested pursuit of truth, law and justice. It is not about the sober, non-partisan removal of a sitting President for ‘high crimes or misdemeanours’ (which are whatever Congress says they are). There is also no practical likelihood that anything short of gross violations will suffice for impeachment. Although the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives would wave an impeachment conviction through, the Republican-controlled Senate would need to confirm it and that means that at least twenty Republican senators would have to defect to clear the bar of a two-thirds Senate super-majority. This is a super-remote prospect.
Nevertheless ‘impeachment’ sounds good in the headlines and the theatrics of impeachment are tempting for the anti-Trump Left and would serve to further gloss over their political and policy failures. Impeachment shenanigans would also simply confirm to Trump voters (especially the working class that the Left once cared about) what they already suspect: that they don’t matter, that their political wishes can be frustrated by establishment politicians and their moneyed backers – it would solidify the Trumpist workers behind their new tribune and further alienate them from the left.