American impeachment has been the talk of the town these past few weeks. After all, not every day that we get to witness American President being tried to oust out of the office. And it seems that many American, as well as people outside of the US, are hoping that this process is going to go through and that not only Trump is going to be kicked out of the office earlier, he is also not going to be available for re-election in October, 2020.
But, impeachment is a difficult process. Especially when it is impeachment of another country. And with USA shining so much light on the process, let’s dive in and see – what are the most interesting facts about US impeachment.
1. What are the reasons?
2. It’s a two-step procedure.
3. How many votes?
4. Impeachment cannot have rivalry as a reasoning.
5. A lot of Presidents caught talks of impeachment.
1. What are the reasons?
The founding fathers have intentionally kept reasons for initiating the impeachment process vague, so that the people of the United States can decide this for themselves. For every time and every president are to be judged on their own.
For example, Richard Nixon was being impeached for obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress. Bill Clinton in his turn was given the following reasons: lying under oath to a grand jury about the nature of his relationships with Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones and obstruction of justice.
Right now Donald Trump is being impeached for an alleged abuse of the power and asking for quid-pro-quo from the foreign government – he withheld military help for Ukraine [a country fighting off Russian aggression in its Eastern regions] in exchange for incriminating information on his most likely opponent in the upcoming presidential election – Joe Biden.
2. It’s a two-step procedure.
There are two votes that need to be taken for the official to be impeached. First, the House of Representative has to vote. And even when majority of the lawmakers said ‘yea’, that doesn’t guarantee that the process is going to end as intended. After this vote, the inquiry goes to the Congress, where a sitting Prime Minister has to lead the process.
Of course, Prime Minister is going to be bias when it comes to presidential impeachment, as they are the two parts of one team, so if Trump’s impeachment does go as far as being given over to the Congress, the Supreme Court Chief Justice is going to lead the process.
3. How many votes?
Even after the deal is given to the Congress and investigated, 2/3 of the Congress has to vote in favor of the process, otherwise the President remains in his office until the end of the term.
4. Impeachment cannot have rivalry as a reasoning.
As we know, American political system is based on two major political parties – Democrats and Republicans, with the latter being of conservative looks, being anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant, which doesn’t really sit well with the modern American society. Democrats all over the country have been very vocal when it comes to getting rid of Trump and his toxic views.
Nancy Pelosi – the first female Speaker of the House in US history is a Democrat. Plus, she was the one who initiated the impeachment inquiry just 1.5 months ago. So is this just bitter rivalry? Of course not! According to Pelosi herself, her act was called for by a mere wish to protect American democracy.
5. A lot of Presidents caught talks of impeachment.
Impeachment is a serious deal. As we can see, being solely American, it creates waves around the world and everyone is talking and thinking about it. The truth is that it is easier for a President to resign, when the process is getting serious, then to withstand the pressure.
Nevertheless, it seems that talks about impeachment have not been so seldom after all. It seems that Every President since Ronald Reagan have created talks about impeachment. Yes, even beloved by the whole world Barack Obama was on a business end of this thought once. Of course, none of them came as close to actually being impeached as Donald Trump. Well, except for Bill Clinton, of course, who was impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors in 1998.
