Does the United States now have an “anything goes” Presidency? The Economist makes a convincing argument that it does — and that this will be the way the institution is redefined going forward into the 21st century.
The magazine gives a bit of history on impeachment, noting for instance that not once in American history has a president been removed from office. It recounts Donald Trump’s expansive view — and use of — Presidential power. And also notes that he’s likely to be acquitted which will have real consequences for the rest of his term, for a second term if (as many expect) he wins one — and for the future.
The Economist also finds fault on both sides and, no, this is not a “false equivalency” (an overused phrase by the way that often but is used when someone doesn’t like THEIR side being criticized.) For instance, it points out:
It concludes:
…The result, perversely, is that the failed trial of a president deemed unfit for office by the House for misdemeanours that seemed to warrant impeachment and removal would emerge more powerful than ever.
His supporters might conclude that is a good thing. But even they should think again. American politics has a tendency to swing from one pole to another. A Democratic equivalent of Mr Trump would no doubt enjoy freedom from the possibility of impeachment at some future date. Precedent is not binding when it comes to impeachment trials, but what happens in this one will inform the next. And the lesson from the impeachment trial of 2020 seems likely to be: anything goes
Indeed, you see this as a pattern in democracies.
It may seem “forever” that a party holds onto power, but if it’s a democracy, it seldom happens. Republicans living under the New Deal, Fair Deal, New Frontier and Great Society for many years felt powerless as Democrats won a large part of elections at all levels and dominated the Supreme Court.
I lived in India from January 1972-May 1972 as Colgate University student doing independent study which included an internship on The Hindustan Times in New Deli. I came back as an accredited foreign freelance newspaper correspondent from September 1973-May 1975. Many Indians who didn’t like the Congress Party — and members of the Congress — really couldn’t envision a day when the Congress didn’t hold the PM-ship.
India’s current Prime Minister belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. When I was in India most of the Indians I knew considered the RSS an extremist party that was against secularism and could not believe they’d ever have someone linked to it as Prime Minister.
I lived in Spain from May 1975-December 1978, as an accredited freelance newspaper correspondent (my credential was The Christian Science Monitor). Although many Spaniards were battling to undermine or topple the Franco regime, many feared that even with the support of Prince Juan Carlos the odds were against a peaceful transition to democracy and that they would never see a Socialist as Prime Minister in their lifetimes unless there was massive bloodshed.
Guess what happened next?
“Anything goes” is likely to happen in the 2020 elections’ aftermath as well.
A year ago it was considered extremist to truly believe that if Donald Trump lost the election he wouldn’t concede and could cling to power. Now it is not considered extremist to suggest that will happen, and you note more columnists raising the idea.
But now there’ even a new twist on that: at least one analyst suggested that maybe NEITHER side will concede.
The bottom line: one political party cannot stay in power forever — unless the U.S. stops being a democracy.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.