At the moment, President Trump is trying to create the impression that if Democrats win in November, he will be impeached. He might even be right. Republicans like the idea because impeachment seems like such a far-fetched and unjustified measure, and they want to score points from the Democratic excesses that will surely accompany a Democratic victory.

But the thing about impeachment is that it is at least a small-D democratic measure. The House of Representatives, which is elected anew every two years, must initiate the process of removing a president from office. The Senate, whose members also face periodic elections, must then choose to remove him by a very large majority that cannot be obtained due in the current environment due to any amount of mere partisan bickering.