Trump loyalists are now arguing that impeachment would be great for him politically
Don't let the haters and losers fool you — getting impeached is actually a solid strategic move for a shrewd president.
President Trump's loyal followers are ready and willing to back him if he gets impeached, Politico reported Thursday. In fact, many even claim it would guarantee Trump re-election in 2020.
Republican lawmakers and strategists say that if Democrats retake the House in the midterm elections, it would help Trump rally moderates and centrists who aren't won over by increasingly progressive liberals. And if a Democratic majority moved to impeach Trump, some argue, he would become more popular, much in the way that former President Bill Clinton's approval ratings rose after his impeachment proceedings.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Asked if impeachment would hurt Trump politically, a Republican analyst told Politico, "Of course not." Another adviser said the theory was "not crazy," saying that "if you're looking at the politics of it, it's not a terrible thing for 2020." Even though Trump himself has been publicly hoping for a "red wave" and expecting to keep a Republican majority in Congress, GOP operatives are behind the scenes contemplating the possibility of spinning a hypothetical impeachment into a win. His most avid supporters say Trump does best when his back is against the wall, reports Politico, and impeachment would be the ultimate wall to rally his base and garner sympathy. Read more at Politico.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.
-
Panama and Canada are caught in a dispute over a copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
‘Dark woke’: what it means and how it might help DemocratsThe Explainer Respectability be damned, some Democrats are embracing crasser rhetoric
-
Book reviews: ‘American Reich: A Murder in Orange County; Neo-Nazis; and a New Age of Hate’ and ‘Winter: The Story of a Season’Feature A look at a neo-Nazi murder in California and how winter shaped a Scottish writer
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
