Impeachment is the Only Radically Moderate Option
Now that Biden is inaugurated and getting to work, most Americans just want to cash their stimulus checks (those are coming, right?!?!?) and take a long nap. It's been a pretty crazy year.
But, our work isn't over!
After the House successfully impeached Trump for the second time, this time with 10 Republicans joining in, an unusually bipartisan vote, there was hope that perhaps the former President might be held accountable for his actions in inciting an insurrection.
Alas, given signals from various Republican Senators, most obviously in a vote on the constitutionality of convicting a president after he leaves office, the likelihood of that impeachment seems unclear.
Republicans are hesitant because they're either unprincipled (Ted Cruz) or scared for their jobs and lives or because they still think Trumpism holds the key to at least short-term electoral success. Even some Democrats are hesitant because of fears a prolonged impeachment trial would slow down the confirmation of Biden's Cabinet and prevent his administration from hitting the ground running after inauguration.
But let's be clear: a conviction in the Senate is the only way to restore norms and hold people accountable for the historic failure of leadership that led to the Capitol riots and the deaths of at least five people. It's also the only path toward a more moderate American politics moving forward.
Impeachment Isn't About Punishment
Let's start by clarifying that impeachment isn't worth it if the only goal is to punish Trump. Punishment is fine and all, but there's a lot of research on restorative justice that suggests that punishment has the potential to deepen divides rather than bridging them. So particularly in the public arena, one must use punitive tools rather carefully. Especially in the midst of a global pandemic where decent governance is crucial.
We'll be defending impeachment here not because it's the easy choice or because it's important to punish people or to rub Trump's nose in anything, but instead because it is the only clear path forward for a more politically moderate future. Let us explain....
We want to defend impeachment not because it's the easy choice or because it's important to punish people or to rub Trump's nose in anything, but instead because it is the only clear path forward for a more politically moderate future.
There are three main issues at play, and they're all interrelated:
Impeachment is necessary to hold not just Trump, but all presidents, accountable for their actions. The founders envisioned impeachment being used much more often than it actually is, and there may be a correlation between the lack of use of this tool and the ever-escalating power of the presidency. Without an impeachment conviction (and disqualification for holding office) there is no real signal here to future presidents that we'll punish apparent coups at all. But even more than that, failure to impeach extremist behavior condones that behavior and makes it more likely in the future. Failure to impeach Trump tells future presidents (and others) that even the most extreme appeals to their base, the most irresponsible and reckless of behavior, will be overlooked. Boys will be boys, as they say.
A second reason impeachment is necessary for a more moderate future is that impeachment is the only way to save the Republican Party. If Trump remains a potential 2024 candidate, the GOP will continue its implosion into a fractured and unprincipled mess of white supremacy, fiscal irresponsibility, and war mongering. The actual principles of conservatism and libertarianism that the GOP has claimed to support will be swamped by the MAGA rhetoric of a dangerous demagogue, and countless GOP representatives and Senators will be either terrified to stand up against him for fear of being primaried or will be emboldened to go public with their own racist and xenophobic sympathies. A GOP implosion of this sort will essentially guarantee Democratic wins in the coming years, which isn't a great thing for the forces of moderation, given the direction the Democratic party is going. But it's also a terrible thing for the GOP, because the path of Trumpism is not a sustainable one. The demographics aren't there, as we'll discuss below.
Finally, and most urgently, impeachment is necessary to preserve peace and prevent violence in 2024. The disqualification vote that follows an impeachment conviction is a crucial step to make room for more moderate Republicans in future elections.
The reality is that Trump has such enormous symbolic power over the Republican party right now that unless he's really and finally out of the picture, there's no hope for a more moderate GOP moving forward.
And let's be clear, that's what needs to happen. Not just for the country as a whole, but for the survival of the GOP itself. The Republicans have been trying to solve their demographic problems -- namely the shrinking and aging of their traditional base -- by appealing to the nativism and populism of their waning white base. While such a move is a reasonable short-term solution (despite being a pretty morally gross one), this strategy is death to the party in the long run and it's especially death to a party founded on ideals that claim to be the party of religion and family and limited government. Conservatives who claim to be the party of civil society, small government and Christian love have instead wielded government power in increasingly brutal ways to appeal to the margins of their base, and that's a very dangerous move.
Conservatives who claim to be the party of civil society, small government and Christian love have instead wielded government power in increasingly brutal ways to appeal to the margins of their base, and that's a very dangerous move.
The GOP can and must reinvent itself in the coming years and the most solid foundation on which to reinvent itself is in the much older classical liberal tradition that emphasized limited government, civil society institutions like the family and faith, and a safety net for those who need a bit of a boost. The future of the Republican Party, if it's to have any shot at all of attracting a diversity of votes from all racial, economic, and other backgrounds, needs to look a lot more like Justin Amash than Donald Trump. And there's room to attract this diversity, but not with the extremist strategy the GOP is using.
By not impeaching the GOP is signaling its commitment to this short-sighted strategy of empowering the most nativist and populist and least principled parts of its base at the expense of the majority of citizens who are desperate for a more balanced political conversation.
What's astonishing is that all this should be obvious to the GOP and they should be striking while the iron is hot. They're fully aware that the Democratic party has an extremism problem too, but because Progressive extremism seems less ugly people will hold their nose and vote for Democrats because at least Democratic candidates aren't clearly completely bonkers.
What needs to happen, for the future of the GOP, for the future of moderate and thoughtful political discourse, and for the future of actually representative democracy in the United States, is for the GOP to take a deep breath, impeach Trump, and start rebuilding their new GOP on the basis of serious small government principles, faith and family, and civil society solutions to people's problems.
Both sides are in desperate need for a moderate recentering if they aim to really represent the American people (which, maybe they don't), but because the Dems are currently in the stronger position it won't be the Dems who moderate first. What needs to happen, for the future of the GOP, for the future of moderate and thoughtful political discourse, and for the future of actually representative democracy in the United States, is for the GOP to take a deep breath, impeach Trump, and start rebuilding their new GOP on the basis of serious small government principles, faith and family, and civil society solutions to people's problems. There will probably be electoral losses as all this shakes out. Their current base will shrink back and they'll likely lose a lot of elections for a bit. But they'll emerge a stronger, better party as a result. A moderate GOP would challenge the Democrats to find their own moderate position too, which can only benefit civil discourse moving forward.
In the end, impeachment isn't about punishment or rubbing anyone's face in it. It's about the future of the Republican party and the future of moderate politics in the United States. It's not the best kind of moderation, we'll admit, but it's worth striving for nonetheless. And getting rid of Trumpism once and for all (hopefully) is the only thing that will do it.
What do you think? What are we missing? What can you add? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!