Rep. Al Green Admits That Impeachment is Just a Political Strategy

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) has been one of the loudest voices on the left calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Representing a constituency that likely still believes that they voted for the legendary singer of such classics as “Take Me to the River,” Green has proposed articles of impeachment against Trump numerous times since January 2017, only for his proposals to be knocked down time and again by his own party.

But while Green usually talks a good game about Trump’s supposed crimes and unfitness for office, this weekend he came about as close as any Democrat has come to admitting that the best part about impeaching Trump is that it would weaken him for the 2020 election. Meaning…this isn’t about carrying out a constitutional duty or protecting the nation from a wicked tyrant. It’s just about winning next November.

“Fifty-one percent of the American public believes that the president is a racist,” Green said on MSNBC this Sunday. “Fifty- one percent. It is one thing to want to defeat the president at the polls, but it’s another thing to understand that we have to impeach the philosophy that he’s perpetrating upon society. If we impeach the philosophy, we take on a broader threat to society than just defeating him at the polls.

“If he is not defeated in the Senate, he will still run as an impeached president and there will be a good many people who won’t want to hold fundraisers with him — a good many people who won’t want to be in his company because he will become persona non grata to a good many of these wealthy people who are benefiting from his bigotry,” Green continued.

So, first of all, this is a ridiculous theory. If there are people who voted for and fundraised for Trump in the past, why would a Democrat-run impeachment change their minds about supporting him this time around? If anything, we imagine that this transparently political ploy to reverse the results of the election would only make his rich supporters that much more determined to see him win again. After all, wealthy Trump supporters believe in democracy, too.

Second, how is this a cogent argument for impeachment? We know, we know, “impeachment is a political process.” But while that may be the cold reality of the situation, it’s really not true in a constitutional sense. Impeachment should be reserved for the actual wrongdoing of a president. High crimes, misdemeanors, and the rest, right? It shouldn’t be: Oh, we don’t like him, and hey, if we do this, maybe he’ll lose some of his donors! That’s a perversion.

Nonetheless, we continue to hope that Green gets his way. Nothing would guarantee Trump a second term like a failed impeachment attempt by this corrupt party.