HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

The Case for Impeaching Trump

Views:892
@ReasonVids

"The question of whether incitement to riot is an impeachable offense is pretty easy," says the Cato Institute's Gene Healy. "Clearly, yes."
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
"From the beginning of this not normal presidency, we've had a lot of talk about both impeachment and the 25th Amendment," says Cato Institute Vice President Gene Healy, author of The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power.

"In most ordinary circumstances…the 25th Amendment is a really poor tool for removing a president," Healy tells Reason. "It was really designed for presidents that were nearly completely incapacitated: Woodrow Wilson after the stroke, James Garfield dying of blood poisoning after the assassination attempt."

"During the Trump presidency, when this solution has been proposed, I thought it was pretty unrealistic," says Healy. "I think we may be in a different situation here, though."

"The argument for a 25th Amendment solution here would be: How lucky do you feel? Are we sure that what happened at the Capitol, after Trump's riot rally speech, are we sure that that was peak Trump?…Maybe it is. Do you want to think about how much you're willing to stake on that proposition?"

The argument for impeaching Trump—an action House Democrats are promising if the president is not removed through the 25th Amendment—is different, Healy says.

"What impeachment does is it puts an additional black mark on a presidency—an additional mark of disgrace and shame," he explains. "It's a signal to the presidents that are going to follow that this black mark can be put on you even at the last moments of your presidency if your behavior has been egregious enough. Making Donald Trump the only president to have been impeached twice would really underscore that point."

A long proponent of impeaching more presidents, Healy hopes the worst arguments against impeachment will be buried in the wake of Wednesday's storming of the U.S. Capitol.

"I don't ever want to hear again, that it's impeachment that's a constitutional crisis, that it's impeachment that's disruptive and anti-democratic. I think that argument deserves to be laughed out of court, given what we've experienced over the last few days."

Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg.

Photos: Pat Benic/UPI/Newscom; RMG News / Rise Images / MEGA / Newscom; Ken Cedeno/UPI/Newscom; Lev Radin/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Shay Horse/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Carol Guzy/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Liu Jie Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; Michael Nigro/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom; Shawn Thew/POOL/CNP/InStar/Cover Images/Newscom; Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom; Yegor Aleyev/TASS/Sipa USA/Newscom; Shealah Craighead/White House/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Douliery Olivier/ABACA/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for How To Respond to the Great Deplatforming of 20218:57
    How To Respond to the Great Deplatforming of 2021
    ReasonVids
    946 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson3:52
    Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson
    ReasonVids
    983 views
    Thumbnail for Special Reason Edition DVD: Atlas Shrugged Part I, On Sale Now!0:36
    Special Reason Edition DVD: Atlas Shrugged Part I, On Sale Now!
    ReasonVids
    877 views
    Thumbnail for eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher0:08
    eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher
    bestofupgoat
    92 views
    Thumbnail for Cafe Hayek's Don Boudreaux Brings Sanity to the "Half-Witted" Media6:50
    Cafe Hayek's Don Boudreaux Brings Sanity to the "Half-Witted" Media
    ReasonVids
    899 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: The Southern Poverty Law Center Scam5:41
    Stossel: The Southern Poverty Law Center Scam
    ReasonVids
    997 views
    Thumbnail for When is a hate crime not a hate crime?1:04
    When is a hate crime not a hate crime?
    bestofsaidit
    820 views
    Thumbnail for Modern architecture is usually shit, but this pretty cool.2:10.332999999999998
    Modern architecture is usually shit, but this pretty cool.
    bestofsaidit
    553 views
    Thumbnail for Fear of the Unknown & School Choice: Gerard Robinson on the biggest obstacle to reform0:46
    Fear of the Unknown & School Choice: Gerard Robinson on the biggest obstacle to reform
    ReasonVids
    823 views
    Thumbnail for Should the Government Provide Health Insurance to All Americans? A Soho Forum Debate1:31:39
    Should the Government Provide Health Insurance to All Americans? A Soho Forum Debate
    ReasonVids
    783 views
    Thumbnail for Don't Expect Unions To Make a Comeback4:26
    Don't Expect Unions To Make a Comeback
    ReasonVids
    894 views
    Thumbnail for Why It's So Hard to Make a Movie: Q&A with Filmmaker Joe Gressis10:21
    Why It's So Hard to Make a Movie: Q&A with Filmmaker Joe Gressis
    ReasonVids
    902 views
    Thumbnail for Net Neutrality, Title II Proponents "Assume Nothing Has Changed" Since 1995: Daniel Berninger11:30
    Net Neutrality, Title II Proponents "Assume Nothing Has Changed" Since 1995: Daniel Berninger
    ReasonVids
    892 views
    Thumbnail for Glacial Lake Missoula | Nick Zentner18:52
    Glacial Lake Missoula | Nick Zentner
    science.topic
    52 views
    Thumbnail for Lynching Charlie Lynch, Medical Marijuana Martyr: Q&A with Filmmaker Rick Ray7:17
    Lynching Charlie Lynch, Medical Marijuana Martyr: Q&A with Filmmaker Rick Ray
    ReasonVids
    856 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Not to Get Worked Up Over Super PACs3:11
    3 Reasons Not to Get Worked Up Over Super PACs
    ReasonVids
    945 views
    Thumbnail for Denial: 25 Years Without a Soul - Q/A with Jonathan Rauch9:54
    Denial: 25 Years Without a Soul - Q/A with Jonathan Rauch
    ReasonVids
    984 views
    Thumbnail for The Feds Arrested Aaron Sandusky Because He Was Too Successful, Says Dan Forman0:53
    The Feds Arrested Aaron Sandusky Because He Was Too Successful, Says Dan Forman
    ReasonVids
    862 views
    Thumbnail for Wannabe Dictator: Donald Trump has confused the job of President with King | MSNBC11:16
    Wannabe Dictator: Donald Trump has confused the job of President with King | MSNBC
    invidious
    355 views
    Thumbnail for Jo Jorgensen: Don't Waste Your Vote on Trump or Biden4:05
    Jo Jorgensen: Don't Waste Your Vote on Trump or Biden
    ReasonVids
    897 views
    Thumbnail for Errol Morris on Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, and Evidence-Based Journalism41:30
    Errol Morris on Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, and Evidence-Based Journalism
    ReasonVids
    859 views
    Thumbnail for Americans Believe Most Politicians Abuse Their Power: Reason-Rupe Poll April 20141:18
    Americans Believe Most Politicians Abuse Their Power: Reason-Rupe Poll April 2014
    ReasonVids
    954 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle