Impeachment is very hard to do

A president of the United States cannot be impeached for lying on Twitter. A president cannot be impeached for being an obnoxious, sexist boor. He cannot be impeached for insulting a visiting head of state or calling reporters fakes.

He cannot be impeached even for saying, without evidence, that a former president illegally wiretapped his high-rise. He cannot be impeached for having destructive economic policies or harboring animus toward immigrants. He cannot be impeached for being a self-centered narcissist or traveling too often to his luxury resort in Florida. He can’t be impeached even if he talks to Russians, or caters to the rich at the expense of the poor.

You can’t even impeach a president for violating the Constitution. They all do that, one way or another.

Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution says, “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” That’s it. The House of Representatives has “sole power of impeachment.” The Senate has the power to try all impeachments, a two-thirds vote required for conviction.

The Framers of the Constitution obviously intended this to be very difficult. Removing a president for fleeting and fanciful reasons obliterates the separation of powers and comes dangerously close to a coup d’etat. When tried, in 1868 and 1998, it hasn’t gone well for the accusers, even if they thought the charges very serious.

No matter how much people dislike President Trump, no matter how ridiculous and embarrassing his tweets, no matter how outrageous his behavior, it doesn’t approach the threshold for impeachment, yet.

There are some who believe Trump’s business activities constitute a violation of the “emoluments clause” of Article I (which forbids any public official to “accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state” without consent of Congress). But Republicans control the House, so as far as impeachment goes, all Democrats can do is moan.

There is the 25th Amendment, which allows the Cabinet and Congress to remove a president who is incapacitated or “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. Be realistic. Remember, we don’t do coups.

All this being said, you do not need to relax or calm down. Being angry, being suspicious, being resentful of a president is surely allowed and well within out political traditions. Will Trump ever be impeached? It’s possible, sure. But wait for a good cause.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Impeachment is very hard to do."