Congress

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new CNN poll done in mid-January (and reported by Jennifer Agiesta) finds that 51 percent of Americans favor the conviction and removal of Donald J. Trump as president. Only 45 percent disagree. 53 percent of Americans think he does a rotten job as a president. As George Conway pointed […]

Congress

The War Powers Act isn’t Restraining the President: Congress Must de-Fund Wars

Harry Blain

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – By any measure, the War Powers Act has failed to constrain presidential warmaking. A simpler step would be to stop funding wars. Practically speaking, the Trump administration’s extrajudicial assassination of a top Iranian general was probably legal. The rationale is straightforward: Congress has steadily settled on a constitutionally dubious theory […]

Congress

Trump is 3rd President in History to be Impeached; But will Senate Remove Him?

The Conversation

By Brendon O’Connor and Daniel Cooper | – The US House of Representatives voted today to impeach President Donald Trump, making him the third president in the history of the United States to be impeached. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump. The first stated that Trump committed […]

Congress

Why Dems Missed a Real Opportunity by not Including Trump/ Stormy Daniels in Impeachment

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Early twentieth century humorist Will Rogers once remarked, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Nearly a century later, the observation is still true. The Democrats should have added a charge in the impeachment of Trump for the Stormy Daniels scandal. Trump paid […]

Congress

Founders: Removal from Office is not the only Purpose of Impeachment

The Conversation

By Clark D. Cunningham< | - As Congress considers formal charges of impeachment against President Donald Trump, they should consider words spoken at the Constitutional Convention, when the Founders explained that impeachment was intended to have many important purposes, not just removing a president from office. A critical debate took place on July 20, 1787, […]

Congress

A Coup against Trump? Or Trump’s Coup against the Rule of Law?

John Feffer

(Foreign Policy in Focus) – Donald Trump says that impeachment is actually a coup. It’s one more example of his attack on the rule of law. Coups have been one of the greatest threats to democracy. The people elect a daring leader willing to take on the status quo. And then, as in Iran in […]

Congress

Impeaching Trump: Amid Ukraine Mess, Don’t Forget his Domestic Crimes

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Trump’s war on the law extends beyond flouting Congress and packing courts — overseas, it extends to arguable crimes against humanity. It’s a cliché in Westerns. The bad guys ride into town only to be met by a sheriff who stands tall. “I am the law,” the sheriff says, […]

Congress

Trump’s War on our Language: Fudging, Waffling and Lying weave Alternative Universe

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – These days, witnessing the administration’s never-ending cruelty at the border, the shenanigans of a White House caught red-handed in attempted bribery in Ukraine, and the disarray of this country’s foreign policy, I feel like I’m seeing a much-scarier remake of a familiar old movie. The cast of characters and the headlines […]

Congress

Quid Pro Quo: 4 GOP Defenses of Trump that Sondland and others have Shot Down

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. No quid pro quo (“this for that”). The Republicans, and Trump himself, kept asserting that the president didn’t offer a bribe. That is, he didn’t ask Ukraine for a thing of value in return for his bestowal of some favor on Kyiv. It isn’t necessary for Trump to have […]