Congressman Al Green and President Donald Trump. Fox News/Getty.
The majority of Democrats joined Republicans to vote down an impeachment push of President Donald Trump over his strikes in Iran. Fox News. The measure was brought by Congressman Al Green who was famously ejected from Trump's Joint address to Congress earlier this year. 128 Democrats joined all Republicans to kill the impeachment, with only 79 Democrats voting in favor. All three of the Democrats major leadership, Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, Minority Whip Kathrine Clark and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, voted against the measure. Democrats were put in a difficult position with the vote.
My Comment:
This was a pretty serious rejection of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. The party's leadership understood this was a losing cause and wisely voted against it. Though Al Green and AOC might be upset about this, it was the smart thing to do for the Democrats, a rare case of them doing a sensible thing.
Why? Well for one, with the ceasefire still holding, it sure looks like Trump was justified in what he did. Bombing Iran was controversial, but the results were effective. Iran's nuclear program has been dealt a severe blow and now the war is over. Polling hasn't been done but I am guessing Trump's actions will be popular with all but the most dedicated Trump haters.
Second, Trump didn't do anything wrong here, under the laws of the United States. The War Powers Act gives the President the right to do strikes like this. And he followed the rules on consultations and notifications as well. You could argue that the War Powers Act should be changed but under the rules that we have now, Trump is absolutely in the clear.
And it's not like the Democrats hate the War Powers Act. Every Democratic President since the law was passed has used the act in some way, with even Carter having the Iran rescue operation, which failed spectacularly, under the act. I am guessing that the Democrats understand if they impeached Trump over this, there would be nothing stopping a now more anti-war Republican congress from doing the same thing to their next president.
Finally, I think that they might have finally realized that impeaching Trump twice made him a lot more popular among his base. Much like the lawfare against him, it was clear that both impeachments were just political in nature and that Trump didn't actually do anything wrong in either case. To impeach him over something that is not only on completely ridiculous ground, it's also likely to be very popular, would be political suicide for the Democrats.
The problem the Democrats have is that they still have 79 members in the house, and large parts of the base, that don't care about any of those reasons. They care less about winning and more about getting Trump at all cost, even when he is doing something that is popular and legal. It makes it very easy for Republicans to, correctly I might add, dismiss all criticism from the left as Trump Derangement Syndrome.
What's funny is that I do think Trump deserves some criticism for his actions in Iran. I still don't think that Iran was that close to the bomb and at the very least, we should be allowed to see the intelligence that informed the decision. I can't argue with the results but like I said in my last post, this was a roller coaster, and it didn't necessarily have to be. It's absolutely not worth impeaching Trump over, and I certainly still support his Presidency, but he's not above all criticism here.
With that being said, I do think that Trump is now pretty well suited to having a successful 2nd term. Some of it might depend on the 2026 midterms, but given that a few states are redistricting the map should be easier. If impeachment actually does happen again, it would require the Democrats capturing the house, and should that happen, which seems unlikely, it will be a repeat of the first two. Based on nonsense and defeated in the Senate.
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