Could Democrats impeach Trump twice? They might have to.

[Zorro]

While we wait for Mitch McConnell and the White House to figure out whether they can get away with beginning and ending President Trump’s impeachment trial in an afternoon, a provocative new question has been raised: Once impeachment is over, presumably with an acquittal in the Senate, could House Democrats impeach Trump for a second time?

Don’t dismiss it as an absurd idea just yet. Not only might it happen, but it also might be absolutely necessary. At the very least, considering the possibility will help us understand just how deep our governing crisis could get if Trump wins a second term in office.

This question has come up because of a court case involving former White House counsel Don McGahn, who defied a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee to give testimony regarding the shocking findings of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the Russia scandal.

While Democrats had many questions they wanted McGahn to answer, there was particular interest in one episode that seemed a clear case of obstruction of justice. According to Mueller’s report, in 2017 Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller, and McGahn refused and threatened to resign. Then later, Trump ordered McGahn to lie publicly about a newspaper article that accurately recounted the fact that Trump had told him to fire Mueller. Finally, Trump tried to get McGahn to create a false paper trail claiming that his order to fire Mueller had never occurred.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/24/could-democrats-impeach-trump-twice-they-might-have/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Nothing in the constitution or amendments that say we can't. And better yet, some are saying...

that pardons are not valid w/ an impeached president. Thus, if rump pardons his array of fellow crooks, and if I were the prison authorities, I wouldn't honor the pardons being that there is a good chance that they (the pardons) aren't valid.

[Igel]

2. Where in the Constitution does it say that an impeached president can't pardon?

You're president or you're not. After that it's all I-wanna speculation.

There's a lot of speculative nonsense that. For example, "If the impeachment documents aren't given to the Senate, it's like a prosecutor who doesn't file a grand jury indictment--legally, it never happened." It's a nice analogy, but the thing about analogies is they only hold where they hold. I can compare my love to a red, red rose, but by no means does it mean I want to make tea out of her hips or that her petals are going to fall on--or that to preserve her it's appropriate to press her between two sheets of heavy paper.

Note that Clinton pardoned on his last day in office. Many objected, many defended, but nobody taken seriously said, "Sorry, they're not valid, he was impeached." If that's not valid, then nothing Trump does (or Clinton did) after impeachment was binding.

[doc03]

3. If he gets re-elected he will try and get away

with anything. They will be forced to impeach him again.

[lees1975]

4. There's the Mueller investigation too

This is a criminal presidency. There are over 400 pages of evidence of collusion with Russia in 2016 and obstruction of justice there, the McGahn stuff and lots of stuff that we don't know about yet but will come to light as each of his associates, right up to Rudy Giuliani, gets arrested and questioned.

Bottom line, the Republicans need to be handed an electoral beating in 2020 that they won't forget for a couple of generations. That includes expanding the house majority and knocking out about 7 or 8 senators including McConnell and Graham.

[Seeking Serenity]

5. What's stopping the House from impeaching him again when they return from Christmas break?

Honest question. Couldn't they impeach him again (and again, if the need arises) while awaiting the Senate to act?

How about just flooding the Senate with articles upon articles of impeachment? Keep the Senate so busy with impeachment trials that it wouldn't have the ability to confirm anymore judges?

And since, as then-Rep. Gerald Ford famously noted, an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives says it is at any given moment, there's no limit on what he could be impeached over.

[Counselor1]

6. Impeach and Repeat!

Indeed, Make a second bill out of Muller Report and refutation of Republican charges against the Bidens. But do a couple much more powerful as well!

Want a different and majority – elected, president in 2020? Trump has a MagaHatty cadre of street fascists who can disrupt Town Hall candidate meetings, his billionaires. and Putin, his Internet Hacking Agency, and Russo-American “Businessmen – Corrupters.” Winning against it will require that the Democratic party get at least 3 “battleground states” to adopt ranked-choice voting! The race is likely to come down to only five “toss up” states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Voters get to rank candidates in order of choice. If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, they win, just like any other election. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who picked that candidate as ‘number 1’ will have their votes count for their next choice. This process continues until a candidate wins with more than half of the votes. This process is guaranteed to end with the most preferred candidate among all the votes as the winner candidate in our state situation it will produce a 270 vote electoral college.

Second, rank and file democrats must, for this election only, abandon their self – damaging diversity / identity theme, pitting women and minorities against each other! Make American values the main issue this time! Trumps' values are Vulgarian, from Slobovia and Skankostan! When Sanders says “I'm a socialist” only news media stupid talking heads claim it makes him un electable. Nobody sees Sanders virtue signaling this way as other than an expression of steadfastness, principle. Nobody thinks he alone, as President could make America a socialist nation. Furthermore, It would be stupid to scoff at the idea of another Hollywood actor running, like Ronald Reagan. Many of us did not like some of the values he stood for or some of his decisions. But no one could argue that he was ineffective, like Trump. A number of very prominent actors fit these qualities very well. Draft an actor who is a Democrat such as Tom Hanks! Hanks has exemplified good American values, in splendid films like Saving Private Ryan, Sully, Apollo 13, The Green Mile, Captain Phillips, Mark Felt, and A Beautiful Day – Yes, even as Mr. Rogers!
Try to draft Kevin Costner, who showed courage and other American values in Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood, JFK, A Perfect World, The Postman, Thirteen Days (about the Cuban Missile Crisis), The Guardian, and Hidden Figures. Or consider George Clooney who played in Three Kings, Syriana, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night and Good Luck, The Ides of March and The Monuments Men. Even the writers of West Wing or Madame Secretary could do better and Tea Leoni would make a better President than Trump! Maybe even Pence, even for a caretaker year.