Trump reportedly believes being impeached would help him win in 2020

Donald Trump
(Image credit: Zach Gibson)

President Trump reportedly thinks Congress impeaching him would actually help him win in the 2020 presidential election.

This is according to a report from Axios Wednesday, which says the president has told those around him that if he were impeached but not removed from office, he would paint himself as the victim during his 2020 run. According to one source who Axios says has discussed this issue with Trump, the president believes impeachment would be a "victory, politically" because Americans would see it as an "overreach" on the part of the Democrats.

At the same time, the source said the president isn't exactly wishing for impeachment because "his ego would not tolerate such a thing."

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As the pivotal midterm elections draw near, some political pundits speculate that Trump's potential strategy could work. Impeachment might actually backfire on the Democrats, they say, the same way beginning impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton backfired on Republicans in the 1998 midterms. But while only 36 percent of Americans wanted Clinton impeached in 1998, per NBC News, an August 2018 poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post showed 49 percent of respondents favored impeaching Trump.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.