Corruption, Not Impeachment

Republicans are itching for Democrats to start talking about impeachment so that they can motivate their base to come out and support Trump in the upcoming midterm elections. They are so eager for that, in fact, that Trump and other Republicans have arguably raised that prospect more often than actual Democrats recently. For the most part, Democrats have not taken the bait and, so far, impeachment has not become an issue in even the most heated Democratic primary.

However, that may change if the Democrats at least win back the House come November. There will certainly be pressure from some parts of the Democratic base to begin impeachment proceedings. Personally, I think that would be counterproductive because, based on what we know now about the intransigence sycophancy of Republicans, that effort would be doomed to failure as it will never get the required number of votes to convict. In addition, it would also be premature to start impeachment proceedings without a full report from Robert Mueller.

But there would be another approach that would arguably be more damaging to Trump than impeachment. As Martin Longman writes, it is up to Congress to enforce the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. That does not necessarily require that impeachment be the only method of enforcement. It would certainly be quite possible, as well as legal, for Congress to force Trump and his family to divest themselves of the Trump Organization. In fact, Democrats already proposed such a bill back at the beginning of the Trump presidency.

In addition, taking this tack may actually force Republican Senators to choose whether to pass such a bill or explain why they feel the need to filibuster it, openly admitting they are content with allowing Trump's massive conflicts of interest to continue. And if they choose to filibuster, then House Democrats can spend lots of time holding hearings exposing Trump's conflicts of interest and violations of the Emoluments Clause, even hauling in Trump family members to disclose conversations they had with the President and other foreign nationals about Trump Organization deals and events.

Moreover, this line of attack from House Democrats would also fit in nicely with a general crackdown on the corruption that is rampant in the Trump administration. The initial obvious targets are, of course, Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke who not only have had hidden dealings with corporate interest but have also been involved in using their office for personal pleasure and enrichment. But there are plenty of other juicy targets within the Trump administration for House Democrats to go after in that regard as well.

Lastly, as Republicans have taught us all over the last decade, long drawn-out investigations of the President and his administration are much more likely to weaken Trump and the Republicans for 2020 than impeachment will.

For Democrats, then, the focus should be on corruption rather than impeachment. In the end, after Mueller make his report, it might turn out that the latter naturally flows from the former.