Nixon resigned the next day, less than two years after a resounding reelection in which he won the third-highest popular vote and Electoral College percentage victories in U.S. Two days after release of the infamous “smoking gun” tape, the party’s last presidential nominee (Senator Barry Goldwater), joined by the Republican leaders in the House (John Rhodes) and Senate (Hugh Scott), explained to President Nixon in the Oval Office that nearly two-thirds of the 42 Republicans in the Senate (and a similar percentage in the House) now supported impeachment and removal. Nixon’s then-recent electoral success did not dissuade leading Republicans from recognizing that the president’s high crimes and misdemeanors meant he had to be not only impeached, but also removed from office. Richard Nixon left office 21 months after being elected with majorities in 49 states and 18 million more popular votes than his opponent.Donald Trump was elected 36 months ago, with pluralities in 30 states and 2.9 million fewer popular votes than his principal opponent.Or Trump cannot be removed because it’s too close to the next election.įor those who assert that impeachment and removal constitute an invalidation of the last election: Trump cannot be removed, they say, as that would constitute a coup overturning the last election. Unable to defend his inappropriate conduct or his imperfect conversations, the president’s defenders increasingly argue in the alternative about elections past and future. And, by the time of the Senate trial, the question will no longer be: Is what he did and said impeachable? That process will by then be done. We also know that what he said and did is not okay. The facts-at least the broad outlines and necessary highlights-are already well known, so the question is not: What did the president say and when did he say it?Īll but a handful of the president’s most fervent congressional cheerleaders know the answers. Trump should be removed and disqualified from office for the precise set of reasons our Constitution’s Framers created this extraordinary process: As he has told us repeatedly, he will seek and use information from foreign governments and agents to pervert our next presidential election to his personal, political, and pecuniary benefit. Even before formal articles of impeachment are drawn up, the proper result is clear: Donald Trump should be removed from office and disqualified from holding office again in the future.
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