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Robert Reich: This Is How the Trump Presidency Ends


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Robert Reich: This Is How the Trump Presidency Ends

92ab3d90-bae2-11e6-9da6-3b7a932389dd_NEWRobert Reich,Newsweek 3 hours ago
 

 

 
 

This article first appeared on RobertReich.org

The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Donald Trump. It is when enough Republicans will put their loyalty to America ahead of their loyalty to their party.

Trump’s statements last week about his firing of former FBI director James Comey provide ample evidence that Trump engaged in an obstruction of justice – a major charge in impeachment proceedings brought against Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton.

 

It’s worth recalling that the illegality underlying Nixon’s impeachment was a burglary at the Watergate complex, while the illegality underlying Clinton’s was lying to a grand jury about sex with an intern in the White House.

Trump’s obstruction is potentially far more serious. It involves an investigation about whether Trump or his aides colluded with Russia in rigging a presidential election – the most direct assault on American democracy in history,

Last Thursday, in an interview with NBC News’s Lester Holt about his firing of Comey, Trump said: “I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.” Trump also said that he had pressed Comey during a private dinner to tell him if he was under investigation.

Trump conceded that the ongoing investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election, which includes a probe into the possibility that Moscow was coordinating with the Trump campaign, was one of the factors Trump considered before firing Comey.

 

“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,’” Trump said.

05_15_Trump_End_01 Donald Trump at a Mother's Day event hosted by First Lady Melania Trump for military spouses in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, May 12, 2017. Robert Reich writes that if Trump’s poll numbers continue to plummet—particularly among Republicans and Independents—twenty-two House Republicans may well decide their chances for being reelected are better if they abandon him before the 2018 midterms. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty

The law is reasonably clear. If Trump removed Comey to avoid being investigated, that’s an obstruction of justice – an impeachable offense.

 

On Friday, Trump tweeted that Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

Here, the law is also clear. Seeking to silence, intimidate or even influence someone who is likely to offer evidence in a congressional or criminal proceeding is also an obstruction of justice – and an impeachable offense.

As a practical matter, though, nothing will happen until a majority of the House decides on bringing a bill of impeachment. Which means, under the present congress, twenty-two Republicans would have to join with House Democrats to put enough pressure on the Speaker of the House to allow such a bill to be considered.

The odds of this occurring in this Congress, under present circumstances, are approximately zero.

So – barring a “smoking gun” that shows Trump’s complicity with Russian operatives in interfering in the 2016 election – Trump’s fate seems to hinge on the midterm elections of 2018.

Those elections are less than eighteen months away. That’s a long time in American politics. Under a Trump presidency, that’s an eternity.

But there’s another possibility.

 

In my experience, most elected politicians have two goals – to do what they consider to be the right things for the American public, and to be reelected (not necessarily in that order).

If Trump’s poll numbers continue to plummet – particularly among Republicans and Independents – twenty-two House Republicans may well decide their chances for being reelected are better if they abandon him before the 2018 midterms.

Paul Ryan and the House Republican leadership might make a similar calculation, at least enough to put a bill of impeachment on the table.

Most House Republicans prefer Vice President Mike Pence to Donald Trump anyway. As one said to me several months ago, “Pence is a predictable conservative. Trump is an unpredictable egomaniac. Most of us are more comfortable with the former.”

There’s a good chance Trump’s polls will continue to fall. First, he’s shown to be his own worst enemy. Even when things are going reasonably well, he seems bizarrely intent on stirring controversy – and saying or tweeting things that get him into trouble.

 

There’s also a matter of the economy. The expansion that began in 2009 is getting long in the tooth. If history is any guide, we’re due for a slowdown or recession. And justified or not, presidents get blamed when Americans lose jobs.

Donald Trump doesn’t have the character or the temperament to be president of the United States. But this obvious fact isn’t enough to get him fired.

He’ll be fired when enough Americans decide they can’t abide him anymore.

Then, maybe in an impeachment proceeding, it will come out that Trump did something incredibly stupid – like give a nod of approval to one of his campaign bottom feeders like Roger Stone to tell a Russian operative to go ahead with their plan to interfere in the 2016 election.

The House impeaches. The Senate convicts. That’s the end of Trump.

 

 

 

OUCH!!!!

 

B/A

 
 
 
Waiting for finish the other...
Edited by bostonangler
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1 hour ago, bostonangler said:

Then, maybe in an impeachment proceeding, it will come out that Trump did something incredibly stupid – like give a nod of approval to one of his campaign bottom feeders like Roger Stone to tell a Russian operative to go ahead with their plan to interfere in the 2016 election.

The House impeaches. The Senate convicts. That’s the end of Trump.

 

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride...

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Check the source of the article....The Ultra Liberal Professor at Berkley. This is the place they are taught to burm down when Trump or any other Conservative does anything they don't like in the least. 

 

Liberals wonted Comey gone and now they are screaming how wrong the firing was.......You can't have it both ways.

 

Should there be any dealing with the Russians we already know who was behind that and she lost.....Get over it Trump is the New POTUS and is doing great things for America and The American People.

 

Karsten

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Baw ha ha ha. That is the funniest article bostonangler has ever brought to this sight. A nod to Roger Stone ... wicked funny stuff. More like a boisterous conspiracy theorist.  Impeach ... come on . In order to do any of the things you spoke of you need to have the one piece that you didn't mention ... EVIDENCE. No evidence is ever provided by the likes of you. Just outlandish claims, and facts grossly taken out of context mixed with more untruths and innuendo.  You spew the same lies HRC and the Socialist Democratic Nationalist Committee  of America that tried to get HRC elected. She lost, you lost, because she is a pathological lier that absolutely could not keep her story straight.  She refused to visit all the state's in this union, taking the votes of the working class in many states for granted. Collusion between the former Attorney General not to prosecute her, see WJC airport tarmac meeting. Your Schumer cried boo hoo  because he lost confidence in Comey being able to impartially do his job, then turns around with the Nixonian narrative when DJT lost confidence in Comey. Apparently, along with a plethora of field FBI Agents. Go to bed and sleeping off you non-eastie. Lunch break is over gotta go. Ba bye.

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1 hour ago, bostonangler said:

What's really funny is that you guys continue to think I support Clinton.... Seriously? Don't you get it? The two party system is corrupt and Trump isn't changing anything that the masters don't allow.... Geeez, are Americans really so naïve?

 

 

B/A

As messed up as this two party system in the USA is (on that we agree) this is still the best system around that there is. When the gang of inevitable candidates  messes things up enough it is the people of this country that have the opportunity and the duty to kick them both out. That is exactly what WE did by electing Trump POTUS. HRC, JEB, Sanders, and all the other candidates that tried and failed to even get the nomination of their respective parties, were guaranteed to simply keep the apple cart going in the same direction . Thus they got the boot from the people, via the election system the founding fathers of this country set up. IMHO, out of all the candidates that tried  only Trump or MAYBE Sanders would have upset the apple cart the two parties had in place for the last 20 plus years. No one really expected Trump to get his health bill passed till maybe December of this year. That is how the system is set up to work, not the way Obama got  laws passed .  He is having problems in some ways because he IS upsetting the apple cart across both sides of the isle. 

 

Geeez, are Americans really so naive? Bostonangler is one to infer that you aren't from Boston as I have been saying all along. Are you stoking the fires of dissent from Canada or some other safe perch in a foreign country ? This would be ok by me, its just all my Canadian cousins think all Republicans or people that can think on their own politically, eat BS for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ta ta for now.

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7 hours ago, bostonangler said:

whether Trump or his aides colluded with Russia in rigging a presidential election

Hahahaha lmfao! I stopped reading right there! Yeah ok, so the Russians conspired with voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania etc. to pull the lever for Trump. It's so absurd it's laughable 

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22 minutes ago, brob said:

Hahahaha lmfao! I stopped reading right there! Yeah ok, so the Russians conspired with voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania etc. to pull the lever for Trump. It's so absurd it's laughable 

On top of that , the only reason the Ruskies hacked the DNC, getting all the crud they got on HRC and her staff that did come out is because the DNC never ever put any internet security on any of their computer systems, even after HRC's illegal private server got hacked and the DNC knew it was hacked. They just used a dab of their deny deny deny jam whenever the subject matter came up. In fact they still use that bit . And no it was not about her private email set up, is was about her illegal private server setup in her private house that she used solely to process  all her state department work through, because for this tech challenged person it was easier than using multiple laptops and devices. As she said.

Edited by new york kevin
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