Yesterday, Rep. Al Green, a left-wing Democrat from Texas, filed articles of impeachment against President Trump. He based his filing on Trump’s suggestion that four radical, America-bashing congresswomen leave the country.
Green’s filing stated:
Donald John Trump has, by his statements, brought the high office of the President of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute, has sown discord among the people of the United States, has demonstrated that he is unfit to be President, and has betrayed his trust as President of the United States to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, and has committed a high misdemeanor in office.
The idea that Trump’s suggestion to the four rads constitutes an impeachable offense is laughable. It’s not serious.
Don’t take my word for it. Take Nancy Pelosi’s. She said:
We have six committees who are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest that the president may have engaged in,” Pelosi told reporters when asked about Green’s efforts. “That is the serious path that we are on. . . .”
Then, realizing the obvious implication of this statement, she added, “not that Mr. Green is not serious.”
Mr. Green may be serious. He’s certainly earnest. However, his argument for impeachment isn’t.
Nonetheless, 95 Democrats rejected an attempt to “table” Green’s effort — in other words to kill it. 137 Democrats voted with the Republican members in favor of tabling.
The 95 Dems who opposed the motion to table included some in House leadership. According to the Washington Post:
Rather than tabling the resolution, several Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee tried to persuade Pelosi and other leaders to refer the articles of impeachment to their panel. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a private supporter of impeachment, said that is how such matters are historically handled, but was rebuffed, according to congressional officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks.
Nadler and several of his committee members who are in Pelosi’s leadership circle voted against the motion to table.
Green has been offering impeachment articles since the first year of the Trump presidency. Each time, he has been thwarted by a motion to table.
But he’s gaining votes. In the past, his support hasn’t exceeded 66 Dems, according to the Post. This time, he nearly reached the century mark and obtained the backing of Nadler.
I’m not sure whether future impeachment attempts will command a majority of the House, but they might well soon command majority support among House Democrats.
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