The President and Republicans in Congress have been complaining that the impeachment proceedings in our nation’s capitol are politically motivated. It is a thoroughly hypocritical argument, designed to ensnare stupid people.
Here’s why it’s stupid. The Framers of the Constitution knew that everybody in Congress and in the White House would have political motives. Despite this fact, the Framers empowered the House of Representatives, by a simple majority, to decide when to impeach the President, regardless of political party. And they empowered the Senate to decide whether to remove an impeached President from office, also regardless of political party. Nothing has happened in the current impeachment process that isn’t built into the system by the Framers.
To prevent a Congressional majority from removing the President from office for purely political reasons, thus overturning the will of the people, they required a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove an impeached President from office. That is a pretty high bar to clear. They envisioned that only rarely would a party that does not hold the White House have a two-thirds majority in the Senate. So far, they have been right as rain.
