Seven is a “magic” number. Well, actually the power of the number seven has more to do with science than magic. Psychologists have long recognized that our brains are only designed to process up to seven bits of information at a time. This is why your phone number has only seven digits. This is why, although there are dozens of neurotransmitters in the brain, a typical introductory Psychology textbook only lists seven. (Any more and the typical student couldn’t remember them.) And consider that there are exactly seven days in a week. The length of the day and year are determined by the sun; the length of the month is determined by the moon. But the week of seven days was created by mankind, or if you prefer, by divine intervention. The fact there are exactly seven days in every week isn’t a coincidence. Neither are seven dwarfs, seven seas, seven wonders of the world, seven deadly sins, or (wait for it): Seven Articles of Impeachment for Donald Trump.
This is why Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic House of Representatives should draw up seven articles of impeachment against President Trump. Any more and the average person won’t be able to process them all, and will erroneously conclude the Democrats are trying to list more things they dislike about the President than actual crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment.
However, any less than seven will give the erroneous impression that the fewer number listed are the total number of serious reasons Trump should be impeached. Moreover, the President can be impeached if only one of all the articles of impeachment, receives a majority of votes. This gives those Republicans, who wish to save face with their constituents, the opportunity to vote against most of the articles of impeachment; but still vote to impeach Trump for the most egregious crimes with the most evidence of guilt.
When I wrote Impeachment and Game Theory, I maintained that given two chances to win, slim or none, one should go for slim every time. At that time impeachment seemed unlikely and conviction in the Senate seemed impossible. That was then; this is now. Today, impeachment seems inevitable and conviction is a far greater possibility. Yet we should still remember that, in spite of our great expectations, the Republicans in the Senate are not likely to convict Trump, which would remove him from office if they did.
So why impeach Trump at all? Many here have argued that impeachment is futile if the Senate doesn’t convict. Nancy Pelosi herself forwarded this argument in her reluctance to move toward impeachment. Thankfully, Pelosi finally came around after the whistle blower exposed Trump was colluding with the Ukrainians to tilt the election in his favor, even while he denied he colluded with the Russians. The Senate hasn’t changed much, but the sentiment across the country favoring impeachment has.
There are three good reasons for impeachment.
(1) It is possible impeachment will result in the removal the criminal president from office, as the Republican Senate might decide to throw Trump under the bus.
(2) It is politically advantageous for the Democrats. It will help defeat Donald Trump in 2020 if he isn’t first removed from office. It will help the Democrats win the Senate. Republican Senators will be caught between a rock and a hard place. If they vote to convict Trump, they will piss of the Republican base of mindless Trump-lovers. If they don’t vote to impeach Trump in the face of overwhelming evidence they will look like they care about their own career and own party more than they care about their country. Plus, it will help other Democrats (including me) running in 2020.
(3) It is the right thing to do. Not impeaching Trump says the Democrats will allow him to commit any atrocity without any repercussions.
Of course, Trump will cry foul and claim the Democrats are only impeaching him for political reasons. Yet this doesn’t change the reality that Trump can’t stand being impeached, and that it will most likely help ruin his chances for re-election.
There are those who argue that we only need one article of impeachment, namely the whole hullabaloo about Ukraine. Have we already forgotten about the Mueller Report? One theme of the Mueller Report is that Robert Mueller and his team would have indicted Trump for his myriad crimes, but didn’t because precedent dictated that a sitting President of the United States must first be removed from the office of President by impeachment and conviction, prior to being prosecuted for any crimes committed while President. Remember, Nixon was pardoned by Gerald Ford, after Nixon resigned. If he weren’t pardoned, Nixon would have faced far more legal charges and could have gone to prison. Mueller did his job, demonstrating clearly that Trump violated the law and the Constitution in many ways. It is now Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ job to impeach the President. Finally, impeachment is on the table, but not because Trump’s previous crimes and misdemeanors were not impeachable offenses.
Also remember that no one knows for certain exactly what “high crimes and misdemeanors” specifically means as this phrase was deliberately chosen to be vague in order to give those who deem impeachment necessary wide latitude. Something might literally be against the law—such as committing perjury by lying about an extra-marital sexual affair—but not be valid grounds for impeaching a president. On the other hand, something might literally be within the law—such as separating small children from their parents and locking them in cages—but still be impeachable offenses. Impeachable offenses include both violations of the law and legal but reprehensible statements and acts unfitting for the President of the United States. An impeachment inquiry is both a legal investigation and a political process to peacefully eliminate an out-of-control, dangerous and incompetent President.
After Andrew Johnson was impeached, conviction depended on the votes of seven unsure Senators who might vote either to acquit or convict. Johnson was acquitted by one vote. The primary reason he was acquitted was because large amounts of money changed hands. In other words, enough of the seven took bribes to protect the President from conviction. Even so, historians argue that the eleven (not seven) articles of impeachment of Johnson focused too much on an actual crime of disobeying a law passed by Congress (that many considered unconstitutional); and didn’t focus enough on the general consensus that Andrew Johnson was a terrible hateful President who was unfit to lead the country. In the words of the publisher of The New York Times, “Was there ever such a madman in so high a place as Johnson?”
Not until Donald Trump.
However, before addressing my list of the magnificent seven articles of impeachment, let us consider seven other viable reasons for impeachment, that didn’t make the cut. These are all impeachable offenses, and a terrible blot on the Trump’s presidency. It is just that seven other offenses, that will be listed later, are even worse.
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Violation of campaign finance laws by illegally paying off porn star Stormy Daniels.
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Violation of the First Amendment right of freedom of religion by banning people from Muslim countries.
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Exacerbating global warming by denying climate change and threatening all life on our planet by pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, .
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Lying repeatedly to the American people and exhibiting language and behavior that is demeaning to the office of the President of the United States.
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Fomenting hatred, racism and white supremacy; which divides rather than unites our country.
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Failure to acknowledge Russian interference in our elections, or doing anything to prevent future interference in our democratic process by foreign powers.
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Starting a senseless costly trade war with China and lying about its impact on our economy.
What should be included as actual Articles of Impeachment depends not just on bad the presidential behavior is, but on the political parameters of whether conviction is likely. Many thought Nixon should have also been impeached for his secret war, the illegal bombing of Cambodia. It was left out because the War in Vietnam was an extremely divisive issue at that time, and it was feared that it would take the focus away from obstruction of justice, which even Republican hawks like Goldwater found reprehensible. Goldwater convinced Nixon he needed to resign by telling him if he didn’t, both impeachment and conviction were inevitable. Since conviction of Trump is not likely in the last year of Trump’s presidency—God help us all if he steals the election and remains President for a second term—we need to include articles of impeachment, not just to convict him, but to clearly present to the American people why he should not be re-elected!
Here are seven criteria for choosing the seven best articles of impeachment:
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Violation of the law, actual crimes, and behavior or statements that propose the President is above the law.
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Violation of the Constitution and the principles of the Constitution, which the President swore to uphold and protect.
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Charges which can be proven, have substantial evidence of having been committed, or have been publicly admitted.
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Executive decisions that have directly harmed or killed innocent people, which were rashly and inappropriately carried out without proper prior advice or consent.
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Willful abuse of the separations of power by undermining the authority of Congress and/or the Courts.
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Actions by the President which are so foolish and/or dangerous, that Republicans have objected to them, too.
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Accusations which are simple and clear enough for the average American to understand.
And now, The Magnificent Seven Articles of Impeachment:
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The entire quid-pro-quo collusion with Ukraine.
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Abandonment of our allies the Kurds to death, destruction and displacement; who fought valiantly to help us defeat ISIS.
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Obstruction of Justice, including the firing of FBI Director Comey for not being loyal to Trump and refusing to scuttle the Russian investigation.
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Separation of children at the border and their incarceration in cages.
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Using the office of the President for his own person financial gain; emoluments.
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Shutting down the government by faking a nonexistent national emergency.
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Illegally diverting funds from the military to build his border wall.
I have refrained from including the reasons and details for each of the above Articles of Impeachment, as each one is worthy of a separate diary. Indeed, half the Mueller Report deals just with Trump’s obstruction of justice, and that doesn’t include his repeated obstruction of justice, often openly, in refusing to co-operate with any Congressional investigation after the Mueller report was submitted. For those who are interested, listed below are my seven sources of information about impeachment:
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The Case for Impeachment by Allan Lichtman (2018).
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To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment by Tribe and Matz (2018).
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Impeachment by Meacham, Naftali. Baker, and Engel (2018).
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Impeached: The Trial of Andrew Johnson by David Stewart (2009).
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“The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson,” The Week (Oct. 2019).
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The Genius of Impeachment by John Nichols (2006).
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The Mueller Report
Author’s note: I recently announced that I am running for office. I am campaigning to be a Representative in the South Carolina House, from District 20 in Greenville. You may read more about my decision to run by reading my recent diary, Stephen Dreyfus, Frequent Kos Contributor, is now a Democratic Candidate. If you would like to donate to my campaign—and any contribution is both needed and greatly appreciated—please write a check payable to “Dreyfus Election Fund” and mail it to the address below:
Dreyfus Election Fund
Arthur State Bank
1410 North Pleasantburg Drive
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