Forty percent of Americans already favor impeaching President Trump after less than two weeks in office — and just 48 percent say such a drastic move is not yet justified, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. This remarkable number comes as Trump has registered record-high disapproval numbers. Trump’s disapproval is at 52 percent in the Gallup tracking poll and at 47.3 percent in the Real Clear Politics average — which means about four out of five of those who disapprove of Trump think he should be booted from office.
He is certainly providing grounds. He has been in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause since the moment he took his hand off the Bible on January 20, and he is defying court orders over his de facto Muslim ban. (Lee Gelernt of the ACLU told Samantha Bee that if this continues, a constitutional crisis is certain.)
Trump could also face impeachment over Russia’s efforts to rig the U.S. presidential election in his favor, over still-pending allegations of sexual assault, over his tax returns, over any of a number of conflicts of interest, or just over gross ineptitude.
Republican State Department veteran Eliot Cohen warned this week, “It will not be surprising in the slightest if his term ends not in four or in eight years, but sooner, with impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment.” Richard Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean chimed in, “The way the Trump presidency is beginning it is safe to say it will end in calamity. It is almost a certainty. Even Republicans know this!”
An online petition calling for Trump's impeachment crossed 500,000 signatures this week, and Paddy Power has the odds of a Trump impeachment at two to one. They were at four to one on the day before Trump took office.
With a Republican House and Senate, impeachment remains a longshot. But if Republicans can get some of their favored legislation signed by Trump, and if they fear his dismal approval ratings will hurt them in 2018, they will find an excuse to show him the door and bring in President Pence.