Thoughts about impeachment

A few thoughts on the subject now that it is front row and center.

The change of language from Latin to English seems to be a retreat of sorts.  Not a full retreat, since quid pro quo isn't necessarily illegal, but bribery and extortion is.  The retreat is from reality.  It would be easier to square a "something for something" deal than a corrupt deal that is plainly illegal.  The one thing that is plain is that the bar got higher once the Dems asserted lawbreaking.  A mere accusation of a deal doesn't seem to push the idea of impeachment as a remedy for something not plainly illegal.

They had to retreat from Latin to English in order to justify the drastic remedy of impeachment.  Their retreat in the use of language made the job a lot harder as a result.

The Democrats have to square a political act with the necessity of making it a criminal act.  The Constitution frowns upon the idea of plainly partisan uses of the procedure since "high crimes and misdemeanors" are to be part of the specifications for impeachment.  Without these, it becomes too close to a "bill of attainder", in which disfavored persons are punished even though they may have done nothing illegal.  Bills of attainder are illegal under the US Constitution.  You cannot get rid of a President for merely partisan reasons.

It is also a misuse of the system in order to rein in a wayward president.  First, you have to establish that the president is indeed wayward.  Secondly, you have to establish with the president's supporters that the impeachment is needed in order to settle matters that may well have come undone.

Why would partisans on each side agree when there is no crime committed?  Why would the president's supporters abandon him just to please his critics?

Something else is going on.  The impeachment is absurd on its merits.  If impeachment is being pursued for merely partisan reasons, then success doesn't seem to be its aim.  If not success in removing the president, then what is the real aim?   The real aim is to control their divided faction.  The president's critics are divided amongst themselves on the subject of impeachment itself.  Pelosi got dragged into this.  She considered it a "gift" to the Republicans.  Indeed, it may well unify the GOP.  It may also paradoxically unite the Democrats as well.  They may lose on the impeachment front, but the party will stay unified in its opposition to the president.

Consequently, the real object is not to remove the president but to win the next election.