A major moment in history is currently underway as an inquiry into American president Donald J. Trump’s actions concerning foreign affairs enters into its third week. On September 24, 2019, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi launched an investigation into the president’s conduct. Due to a whistleblower’s report, it came to light that Trump had applied pressure on several world leaders, notably Ukraine’s, to take actions that would have benefitted him politically. For members of Congress this was grounds enough to begin the impeachment process.
Professor Matthew J. Costello, Professor of Political Science and Chairman of the Department of History and Political science, provides us with a brief description of the impeachment process,” According to the US Constitution, presidents can be impeached for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” (Article 2 Section 4).
Impeachment is a “sole power” of the House of Representatives (Article 1, section 2) which requires that a majority of the members of the House of Representatives vote in support of articles of impeachment. This is like an arraignment, where the majority of the members of the house have to agree that there is sufficient evidence of wrong-doing to justify an impeachment trial. To get there, the House will hold a series of hearings in its various committees, most importantly in the House Judiciary Committee.
This process will take several weeks at least. If a majority of the members in the committee vote in favor of articles of impeachment (the charge), then the full membership of the House of Representatives will vote on those articles. If they pass by a majority vote, the process moves to the Senate.”
Costello adds, “The Senate tries all impeachment cases, and in the case of presidential impeachment trial, the Chief Justice of the U.S. will preside over the trial. Two-thirds of members present are required to convict. If convicted, the president is removed from office and disqualified from holding further office. If this is a criminal act, he may then be tried before a court of law. (Article 1, section 3). “
We asked Costello how the possible impeachment of Trump could be important for American history and politics.
Costello replies, “If impeached, Trump will be only the third president to be so charged (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton arte the others-The house judiciary Committee voted unanimous articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, but he resigned before the full house could vote). That means it is pretty rare. This is also occurring in an era of high partisan division fueled by an increasingly partisan political and social media. The rhetoric of impeachment is very nasty, with name-calling, mockery, unsubstantiated allegations, blatant falsehoods and vulgar language being offered by public officials. This is demeaning public discourse in the U.S. and seems to be fueling the partisan divide rather than bringing people together to investigate the extent to which these allegations are true.”
The issues at stake are very profound. The charge is that the sitting president used the public authority of his office to advance his private political interests, placing our country’s national security in jeopardy by doing so. If this is found to be the case, then the president of the U.S. is violating basic separations between his private and public interests, subordinating the national interest to his own personal gain, behaving more like a 17th century absolutist ruler than the head of state of a society of law.
Trump’s administration is unique from past administrations in several ways.
Costello states that, “The Trump administration has defined itself as revolutionary—changing the rules of a political system that is defined as broken. It was to drain the swamp, renegotiate deals, transform foreign economic and strategic policy, and alter the relation of government to society. This has meant that the administration has viewed itself as unconstrained by a set of rules and practices that it does not accept as legitimate, but that previous administrations felt bound by. Mixing political and administrative roles through social media, treating political rivals with uncivil rhetoric, ignoring expert arguments about various policy issues in favor of positions that fit the ‘revolutionary’ rhetoric, refusing to cooperate with Congressional investigations, and ignoring subpoenas all stem from this same self-view. Trump and his administration see, from the most part, as the rules of a broken system as not applying to them and therefore they do not need to follow them.”
“It is not that this is a more ideological presidency that would imply more consistency in the program. It is the perception of themselves as revolutionary, of upending the old system in a struggle against their foes (the deep state, the politically correct, the democratic majority, the previous administration). This is why they constantly offer themselves as victims of witch-hunts, unfair investigations, and intransigent bureaucracies. They are trying to create the future while these dinosaurs fight to preserve a broken past,” Costello continues.
If Trump was impeached, the U.S. will be affected.
Costello says, “Given the strong divide between Trump partisans and non-partisans, it could be very divisive, unless there is an extended period during which clear and convincing evidence of wrong-doing is repeatedly described and interpreted. This was what happened during the long hearings of Watergate—it became clear to even the president’s allies that this was unacceptable. Similarly, such a process could possibly help bridge the divide today.”
If Trump goes to trial and is not found guilty, Costello says, “The same divides would persist. Not much happened after bill Clinton was found not guilty.”
Costello believes that Trump is successful in drawing supporters because, “Trump is a creation of television, and knows how to use that medium and social media to present himself as the revolutionary populist. He constantly campaigns—the rallies he holds as president are vastly entertaining and draw crowds because of that. He stays on message, he offers a rhetoric of action and change, and he identifies villains who people can blame for the things they deem wrong in society. This combination of media savvy, entertainment value, and narrow niche messaging means that he has a strong and devoted band of supporters no matter what—about a third of the population polls consistently show.”
Though Trump’s opponents have been vocal in their views, the president still has large support, both inside government and out, standing behind him. This is, in large part, thanks to the public image that has been constructed around him as well as the messages he conveys to certain groups. Many have strong opinions on the type of figure Trump has become, both negative and positive.
According to Mike Riviera, an SXU student concerned with the state of politics in today’s climate, had this to say “The discourse is changing daily because of what’s going on at home and around the world.”
Another student, Peter Naber, an accounting major at SXU, states that “Generally I think Trump says a lot of crazy stuff and on most policies I disagree with him, but one good thing I believe he did was starting talks with North Korea. I feel that right now, if Trump were to be impeached, I do not know how a lot of Americans would feel about it because I think people are divided, and there is only one year left on the election so I am not sure if it would be a good thing.”