To End a Presidency... or not?

From the first paragraph of the Preface to Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz's "To End a Presidency,"

Impeachment haunts Trumpland. Never before has an American leader so quickly faced such credible, widespread calls for his removal. By early 2019, the list of alleged "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" included abuse of the pardon power, obstruction of justice, assaults on the free press, promotion of violence against racial and religious minorities, receipt of unlawful emoluments, deliberate refusal to protect the nation from cyberattacks, and corrupt dealings relating to Russia. President Donald J. Trump fueled these fires by rejecting bipartisan norms of presidential conduct and by ferociously attacking anyone who dared to challenge him... Calls for Trump's impeachment, and indignant rebukes of those calls, echo everywhere from TV screens and editorials to Facebook comments and Twitter feeds. 

It's now clear that as long as Trump holds the nation's highest office, Americans will actively debate his impeachment. As we write this book, over [more than] 40 percent of the US electorate supports action to force Trump from power.

From the first paragraph of the first chapter,

If we don't allow presidential impeachment, warned Benjamin Franklin, then the only recourse for abuse of power will be assassination. In Franklin's view, that's what history taught about "cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious." Yet assassination is a deeply flawed and unjust remedy. The victim is "not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character." Surely it would be better "to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive when his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused." 

Check your local library for a copy of To End a Presidency, or pick one up at a bookstore or online bookseller now.

To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment, by Laurence Tribe (Author), Joshua Matz (Author), published by Basic Books, an Imprint of Hachette Book Group.

While the easy thing to do would be to lambast House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for dragging her feet on this issue, there IS wisdom in proceeding ONLY in the most methodical and deliberate manner. A scant two decades ago, the shoe, as it were, was on the other foot. The Republican Congress felt and expressed extreme displeasure with then President Bill Clinton over what amounts--in hindsight--to be hardly more than personal indiscretion and certainly not abuse of power on any scale comparable to what the US now endures.

The Arizona Eagletarian personally favors impeachment, but cautions the investigations must take place and documentation of evidence systematically produced and preserved for procedural and historical integrity.