He was never going to enjoy a long honeymoon with Congress. But no one expected Democrats to try breaking up with President Trump this early. After calling for an investigation of the travel ban, at least one member has suggested that impeachment might be in order.
Democrats should tread carefully, though, especially this early into the Trump administration. Though good for attention, idle impeachment threats are bad for politics. A flippant call for ousting the president could just as easily backfire.
While attacks on the rollout of Trump’s immigration ban seem in order, suggesting impeachment this early crosses the line. Still that’s where Rep. Joaquin Castro took his party Tuesday night. The Texas Democrat called for a congressional investigation, floated the possibility of impeachment, and warned that America was on the brink of becoming a “military junta.”
So far that alarmism seems to have little basis in fact. Castro suggests that the White House directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency to ignore judicial stays against the order, an accusation the administration wholeheartedly denies.
As court-issued stays rolled in, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly backed off. “Since the court orders related to the executive order were issued over the weekend,” Kelly said in a statement reported by BuzzFeed, “CBP immediately began taking immediately began taking steps to be in compliance. We are and will remain in compliance with judicial orders.”
If the administration is guilty of anything, it’s sloppiness. Even an imaginative opposition would have a hard time spinning that into a “high crime or misdemeanor” worthy of impeachment. Even if Democrats could make a case, there’s no one to hear it. So long as they’re in the minority, there’s little they could do.
A presidential rite-of-passage, few executives leave the White House without an impeachment threat. Democrat Rep. John Conyers of Maryland launched the first unsuccessful effort against President Bush in 2005. Five years later, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California was the first to float the idea against President Obama.
By coming out so early against Trump without the facts or the political clout, Castro just seems unserious. The whole thing is tacky and seems desperate. That’s not a good look for Democrats struggling to regain influence in the next four years.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
