The biggest advantage of impeaching President Trump and removing him from office is that he could be disqualified from ever seeking office again. But removing Trump is a messy solution to a complicated problem, and it might just make things worse.
Democrats are calling for Trump’s impeachment once again. This time for his role in Wednesday’s chaos. There is no question that Trump must be held accountable in some capacity. Lawmakers and his own vice president were forced to flee the Capitol after a rowdy group of his supporters stormed the Capitol building, one woman was shot and killed inside by police, and five others, including one police officer, died as a result of injuries.
It was Trump who had directed his supporters to march on the Capitol. It was Trump who then failed to rebuke them when it became clear that things were getting out of hand. Instead, he mildly urged them to go home, reminding them how much he loved them.
Trump’s conduct was, without a doubt, impeachable. But at this point, impeachment would not only be impossible, but harmful. Like it or not, tens of millions of people still support Trump and believe the presidential election was stolen from him. It does not matter that what they believe is wrong. What matters is that they will not be convinced otherwise. Forcibly ousting Trump would only solidify their belief that the entire government is out to get them and that Trump is the only one who stands up for them. Is that the kind of influence lawmakers hope to give Trump?
Legislative procedures also guarantee that any impeachment effort would fail. The House might successfully draw up articles of impeachment and vote against the president, but the Senate could not begin his trial until Jan. 20 because it is not currently in session. In order for the Senate to reconvene during a pro forma session, every single senator would need to consent. And there is no chance at all that GOP senators such as Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Tommy Tuberville (among others) would agree to participate in an impeachment trial.
This leaves us with the 25th Amendment. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are urging Vice President Mike Pence to meet with Trump’s Cabinet and invoke Section Four of the 25th Amendment, which allows the Cabinet to remove Trump and replace him with Pence if “the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” However, this section was drafted for the rare scenario in which a president is mentally or physically incapacitated and unable to do his job. Trump is in no such position, and twisting the amendment’s meaning to make it something it is not would set an incredibly dangerous precedent for all time, just to get one guy out of office perhaps 10 days ahead of schedule.
I agree with my fellow conservatives who are alarmed by Trump’s behavior and fear what he might do over the next two weeks. But if we are originalists, then we must be originalists and stick to the Constitution. The 25th Amendment does not exist to counter a president’s character flaws or political missteps — that’s what impeachment is for.
Finally, what the country needs now is a cooling-down period. Trump’s removal will only increase tensions, leaving us vulnerable to foreign adversaries who would seek to take advantage of our internal divisions and increasing the likelihood of a chaotic transition of power. Getting rid of Trump will not get rid of the millions who support him. We might not win them over, but we can at least begin to disentangle the Republican Party and its voters from Trump’s web rather than pushing them further into it.
The best and only solution we have now is to allow Pence and other administration officials to work closely with the president, prevent him from acting out, and allow President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to begin taking the reins. Trump has, at the very least, agreed to begin that transition. Our leaders should allow that process to move forward before setting a precedent that we cannot take back.
