Podhoretz: If Dems win 10-seat House majority, they “will impeach” Trump

MARK FINKELSTEIN AUG 3, 2017 5:30 PM

Forget about Nancy Pelosi. The true leader of House Democrats is . . . Maxine Waters.

On today’s Morning Joe, Commentary editor John Podhoretz flatly predicted that if in 2018 the Democrats win a 10-seat majority in the House, they “will impeach” President Trump.

Moreover, Podhoretz said that “the table is being set pretty nicely” for Dems to retake the House majority.

Note: After impeachment by the House, a two-thirds majority in the Senate would be required to actually remove President Trump from office. Podhoretz wasn’t predicting that: “I’m not saying he’s going to be convicted and thrown out of office.” Listen carefully to the clip and you’ll hear Scarborough murmur “oh, he will be impeached.”

Questions:

• What do readers think of Podhoretz’s confident prediction that Dems “will impeach” Trump if they gain a 10-seat House majority?
• What would be the political ramifications if Trump were to be impeached but not removed from office? In that precise predicament, Bill Clinton soldiered on and left office with high approval ratings. Then again, he didn’t have to face re-election after impeachment, since it occurred after he had already won a second term.
• If Trump were impeached before 2020, would he seek re-election? Might he resign and let Mike Pence become President? If he didn’t step aside, he would almost surely face multiple primary challengers. Could we witness the spectacle of a President being primaried by his own Vice-President?

Note: this morning marked the first time in the memory of this long-time Morning Joe watcher that two actual conservatives appeared simultaneously on the panel. In addition to Podhoretz, Lanhee Chen of the Hoover Institute was also on the panel.

Readers might have their beefs with one or both, but the pair are knowledgeable, thoughtful conservatives. A refreshing change from typical MJ “conservatives” like Elise Jordan, or before her, Nicolle Wallace.

JOHN PODHORETZ: Democrats need 24 House seats to take the House back in 2018. The table is being set pretty nicely for them to get that number. And if they get that number, or ten more than that number, he’s going to get impeached! I’m not saying he’s going to be convicted and thrown out of office. I’m saying that the House will impeach him if Democrats have a 10-seat majority. And if he doesn’t right the ship, he’s writing his own, he’s Clinton in 1998 and 1999, with no recovery possible.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY