What can be learned from the failed effort to remove President Trump from office? This is more than an abstract question. If Trump wins reelection and Democrats retain control of the House, there surely will be pressure for more impeachments. Even if political alignments change, the approach taken in this case could signal greater openness to impeachment as a response to future disputes between a president and Congress.
Key takeaways
The impeachment was destined to fail from the outset. Democrats launched their impeachment investigation as a partisan project and it never moved beyond that. After voting to impeach, they continued to treat it as a political exercise by holding a signing ceremony complete with souvenir pens and then delaying submission of the supposedly urgent impeachment articles to the Senate. The impeachment attracted zero Republican votes in the House and a single Republican vote on one article in the Senate. It failed to gain ground with the public despite heavy media promotion. Opinion polls hardly budged throughout the process; they consistently showed Democrats strongly in favor, Republicans strongly opposed, and independents roughly split.
House Democrats never attempted an impartial investigation. The Ukraine-related allegations against Trump certainly warranted congressional investigation. Had Democrats investigated them through the regular order and in a less partisan manner, the outcome might have been different. Once it became clear that impeachment would not gain bipartisan support, they could have opted to censure Trump instead. A censure resolution probably would have drawn significant Republican votes and passed both the House and Senate. However, Democrats made no effort to follow the regular order or work with Republicans. The investigation was assigned to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a highly partisan and long-time Trump antagonist, despite having nothing to do with intelligence matters. It was quickly designated an “impeachment” investigation. From then on, there was no chance of attracting Republicans or for Democrats to step back from impeachment.
Senate Republicans didn’t conduct a meaningful trial. The Senate was derelict in not obtaining witness testimony. There was no plausible justification for not calling John Bolton, at a bare minimum. The whistleblower also would have been an important witness. He could have explained his interactions with Democrats before filing his complaint and elaborated on the information provided to him. It doesn’t matter that the House failed to do its job or that Democrats probably didn’t really want witnesses either. Nor does it matter that witnesses might have extended the process. The Senate could have suspended the trial and initially obtained testimony through depositions.
Hardly any participants in the impeachment process distinguished themselves. The opposing factions mirrored each other in many ways, none of which provided a good look:
- The House impeached Trump on an overwhelmingly partisan basis without fully developing the facts; the Senate acquitted him on an overwhelmingly partisan basis without fully developing the facts.
- During the House and Senate proceedings, advocates on both sides regularly distorted what facts they had and engaged in hyperbole and demagoguery.
- The media largely assumed the role of cheerleaders for one side or the other, depending on their biases, and served as uncritical echo chambers for their favored side. As a result, media coverage was sorely lacking in objective reporting and thoughtful analysis.
- Members of Congress on both sides acted like craven partisans. Many Republicans surely recognized that Trump’s behavior was improper but very few voiced even the slightest criticism of him. Many Democrats no doubt understood that impeachment was an overreach, yet only three House Democrats voted against it and not a single Democratic senator voted against conviction on either impeachment article.
- For his part, Trump attempted to stonewall the process from start to finish and spouted his usual malign nonsense throughout.
The only person to clearly distinguish himself was Chief Justice Roberts, who presided over the Senate trial with remarkable patience and equanimity. Mitt Romney might deserve honorable mention for at least showing some independence.
House Democrats lowered the bar for impeachment. Democrats struggled to fit their case within the constitutional grounds for impeachment, floating different theories at different times. The “abuse of power” article they finally settled on was essentially that Trump exercised legitimate powers of his office “corruptly,” i.e., with self-serving political motives. However, presidents regularly factor their political interests into their actions and have vast legitimate authority to take actions that stand to benefit them politically. The Democrats’ theory of the case—that Trump elevated his political interests over the national interest—could convert a wide range of policy disputes between Congress and a president into potential impeachments.
Key lessons learned
Partisan impeachments are fundamentally a bad idea. Nancy Pelosi was right the first time when she counseled against them. Impeachments that lack significant bipartisan and broad-based public support are bound to fail and result only in further degrading our politics.
Don’t be too quick to attach the “impeachment” label to investigations of presidential misconduct. Once the impeachment card is played, both sides dig in and perspectives harden. This leaves little room to bridge political divides and explore bipartisan responses. Better to wait until it’s likely that impeachment and conviction are both viable options.
If the House is determined to impeach, do a thorough job of it. House Democrats rushed through Trump’s impeachment with incomplete facts and squishy legal theories and then pressed the Senate to fill in the blanks. It was a losing strategy. They also punted on pursuing litigation to get more facts that would also have established important judicial precedents to demarcate the rights of the legislative and executive branches in future impeachment cases.
Impeachment should be limited to presidential misconduct that is unlawful by some objective standard. It is and should be exceedingly hard to make an impeachment case out of presidential conduct that is legal on its face. Impeachable conduct need not be limited to violations of criminal statutes; it can include violations of the Constitution. In order to be impeachable, however, constitutional abuses of power should involve an action that clearly exceeds a president’s constitutional authority or a failure by the president to carry out a constitutional duty. An impeachment case that turns entirely on the president’s subjective motives is problematic at best.
If there’s a next time, do it right. Follow the regular order and normal jurisdictional lines in conducting investigations of presidential misconduct. Take the time to develop the relevant facts as thoroughly as possible, pursing litigation if necessary. Try to work with the minority party. Don’t go the impeachment route unless and until the facts and law clearly justify that approach.