Conservative columnist: Founding Fathers had Trump in mind when they included impeachment clause
A conservative Washington Post columnist wrote Thursday that the Founding Fathers had President Trump in mind when they added the impeachment clause.
Jennifer Rubin argues that Trump’s comments about the press could be a basis for impeachment.
“He is precisely the sort of person whom the Founding Fathers had in mind when they included the impeachment clause,” she writes.
Rubin, who is frequently critical of Trump, writes that his battle with the media and suggestions that broadcast outlets' licenses be revoked are a “direct repudiation of the First Amendment.”
“That’s not merely outrageous and indefensible,” Rubin writes. “It is, I would argue, one of many instances in which Trump’s words reveal an inability to carry out his oath of office.”
Rubin cites Bob Bauer, former White House counsel to President Obama, who argued that Alexander Hamilton’s definition of an “impeachable offense” is “one that inflicts ‘political’ injury on a society.”
“His self-interested ends justify the use of virtually any means—or at least any he could hope to get away with,” Bauer wrote about a leader’s demagogic conduct.
Rubin said that description “embodies Trump’s behavior.”
Rubin added that the president is “morphing into an authoritarian” who believes he is above the law.
