According to a columnist for the Washington Post, it would be difficult, if not impossible to impeach President Donald Trump no matter what may come out of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation -- but that doesn't mean that Trump can't be made to pay politically for his crimes.
"First you have to confront a practical reality," began columnist Paul Waldman before advising, "It takes 67 votes to convict in the Senate, and there is almost nothing that will make 15 or 20 Republican senators (depending on how many are in the chamber next year) vote to remove Trump from office. So saying you support impeaching Trump actually means saying you support impeaching him in the House, then holding a trial in the Senate at which he will be acquitted."
With that in mind, Waldman said a Democratic take-over in the House -- which appears to be a real possibility -- will allow those same House Democrats to bedevil the President while also destroying his prospects for being re-elected in 2020.
"It’s a near certainty that by the time special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is finished with his investigation, more will have been revealed about what Trump and those around him did — before, during and after the 2016 campaign," Waldman writes.
"In the meantime Democrats can and should talk about the kind of accountability that they want to bring to the president and the administration without using impeachment," he continued. "And there is so much that Democrats will be able to do if they control just one house of Congress."
According to the columnist, there are 5 ways Trump can be kept on the defensive as he is subjected to daily news releases from Democrats who will have taken control of the House and therefore all of its committees.
- Use their control of the Ways and Means Committee to obtain and release Trump’s tax returns so that we finally learn what he has been hiding.
- Hold hearings on the ways Trump is personally profiting off the presidency and potentially violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
- Mount a serious, comprehensive investigation into the Russian attack on the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s cooperation with that attack.
- Investigate accusations of wrongdoing that have been leveled at Cabinet officials such as Wilbur Ross and Ryan Zinke.
- Demand answers from the administration on the decision-making process and effects of controversial administration policies, such as adding a citizenship question to the census, relaxing rules for power plant emissions, making it easier for private “universities” to scam students, and tearing children from their parents’ arms at the border.
As Waldman writes, "All that has been missing because Republicans in Congress refuse to exercise even the mildest degree of oversight over the administration. If and when Democrats are able to do so, they will be serving an important function for the public, and yes, gaining political benefit from it at the same time."
