Trump v. America.
History predicted Trump would end up impeached. It’s a useful guide to what might happen next.
In a short statement September 24 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally uncorked the impeachment genie she had hoped to keep safely ensconced in its bottle.
It was a big risk. A constitutional imperative. A distraction from the real issues Americans worry about. A matter better left to the ballot box in 2020. A futile gesture that might hand the election to Trump. A historic demonstration of the majesty of representative democracy.
And that’s just from one morning’s opinion pieces in the New York Times.
At a time when so many competing arguments have validity and none quite explain what should come next, I find it useful to watch events from the lofty perch of history. Last spring I wrote that the passage in the history books worth dusting off isn’t the Bill Clinton affair — whose impeachment politicians and pundits alike bring up as a cautionary tale because it misfired so badly. Rather, it’s the impeachment of our 17th president, Andrew Johnson.
Donald Trump and Andrew Johnson are in important ways the same man. Each came into office with a chip on his shoulder, harboring a dark, combative nature and a deep contempt for both the loyal opposition and the…
