Previously on White House Apprentice, Donald Trump showed once again that he is a bumbling idiot. While honoring Navajo veterans at a White House event Monday, he referred to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as “Pocahontas.” In doing so, he may have provided yet another way for Congress to impeach him.
As Newsweek reminds us, “[a]buse of Congress once formed part of the case to remove” Andrew Johnson—one of only two presidents ever to be impeached. Johnson was accused of using “intemperate, inflammatory and scandalous harangues … and loud threats and bitter menaces … against Congress.”
(Wait. Did Andrew Johnson have a Twitter account? ’Cause this sounds familiar as fuck.)
Trump is known to use his Twitter account to go after everyone by hurling teenage insults, and members of Congress have been no exception. While that alone may not be enough to impeach him, it could certainly add to the already overwhelming evidence that this is a person who does not deserve to hold the highest office in our country.
Allan Lichtman—a political historian at American University and the author of a book on Trump called The Case for Impeachment—told Newsweek on Tuesday that it could bolster the case against Trump.
“That could be part of an article of impeachment,” Lichtman said. “After all, you could couple that with his very intemperate attacks on the judiciary. Combine that with his attacks on the free press. You could couple all of that together and create a fairly powerful article of impeachment.”
Earlier this month, Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen introduced five articles of impeachment against Trump that covered obstruction of justice for firing former FBI Director James Comey, two emoluments-clause violations, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and undermining the freedom of the press.
Cohen, who is now the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said at the time he introduced the articles, “The time has come to make clear to the American people and to this president that his train of injuries to our Constitution must be brought to an end through impeachment.”
Lichtman believes that Trump’s attacks against members of Congress demonstrate “a clear abuse of presidential power.”
And while the case brought against Johnson may not be the strongest upon which to base a case against Trump, Lichtman said, “Certainly it shows, at least at one time, the House of Representatives considered this kind of attack on an important societal institution worthy of impeachment.”
Read more at Newsweek.