Impeachment in the United States

Other than Presidents, there have been 17 Judges (including Justices, and Associate Justices), a Secretary of War, and a Senator to have been impeached, throughout the history of the United States of America.

Donald Trump is the fifth POTUS in America's history, to be impeached; the others were James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon (the case was dropped when he resigned) and Bill Clinton. Johnson and Clinton were both acquitted; although, to hear the Conservative uproar, concerning Trump's impeachment, you could swear that Clinton should be rotting in jail, for what he did!

Our Constitution states that the government has the authority to impeach another government official; it's written in Article 2: Section 4, and reads like this...

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Trump is being impeached on grounds of abuse of power, and obstruction of Congress. To hear him rant on and on about it, you'd think he was being impeached because he forgot to put the toilet seat down; but, like it or not, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are pretty serious offenses! They both fall under the category of "high crimes and misdemeanors".



The definition of Abuse of Power is "....in the form of "malfeasance in office" or "official misconduct," is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties. Malfeasance in office is often grounds for a for cause removal of an elected official by statute or recall election. Abuse of power can also mean a person using the power they have for their own personal gain." (Wikipedia)

Obstruction of Congress is the charge of interfering with the duties of Congress. There are quite a few laws that prohibit the obstruction of justice, like witness tampering, witness retaliation, obstruction of Congressional  or administrative proceedings (18 U.S.C. 1505), conspiracy to defraud the United States, and contempt.

His cult following are not impressed or pleased with any of this; but that's only because they don't understand it. He's their hero; their god, if you will. He can do no wrong, even when he does. If he were a literal child, the way they go on about how perfect he is, would be adorable. But he's the Leader of the free world, and he needs to act, accordingly; anyone holding the Office of President of the United States, should be held at a much higher standard of conduct.


If you're not quite sure how he abused his power as President, or obstructed the duties of Congress, you haven't been paying attention. It's been all over the news. I read an article, by FactCheck.org, the other day, highlighting the flaws in Trump's claim that the impeachment proceedings were UN-constitutional, in a letter he wrote to Nancy Pelosi; they even annotated the letter, to point out where Trump is wrong. I encourage you to read it, as well; this link will take you there. The annotations also explain where his actions lead to the charges brought against him.

If we still call ourselves Americans, and consider ourselves to be patriots of this once great Nation, then we should all step down off our high horses, and trust the process. As disappointing as it may seem, he did something wrong; if we are truly a democracy, then he needs to be held accountable!

I'm going to end this blog with two quotes on patriotism; may We the People all learn to be a wise as these two....






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