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impeachment

Monday 15th of June 2026

2016 Presidential election Anti-democracy Republican Party leaders including Jason Chaffetz, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Ron Johnson, Peter King, Michael McCaul and James Sensenbrenner, and Fox News dumbass Sean Hannity openly call for a coup d'état by impeachment if Hillary Clinton is elected president © 2016 Kwiple.com
2020 Presidential election Right now, Russia's security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests. Fiona Hill, opening statement before the House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry hearing, November 21, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Asslickers I said, whatever you do, don't hire a 'yes man,' someone that won't tell you the truth. Don't do that, because if you do, I believe you'll be impeached. John F. Kelly, to Donald Trump, on leaving office as Trump's Chief of Staff © 2019 Kwiple.com
Asslickers say I'm coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this. Mitch McConnell, guaranteeing Republicans like himself would acquit Trump despite overwhelming evidence he abused his power and obstructed Congress © 2020 Kwiple.com
Bad news Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it! citation  Donald Trump, February 13, 2021, after his second, historic acquital for high crimes and misdemeanors © 2021 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say Every time I talk with a foreign leader, I put American interests first, just as I did with President Zelensky. Donald Trump, letter to Nancy Pelosi, Dec. 17, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say I am fighting for future Presidents and the Office of the President. Other than that, I would actually like people to testify [before Congress]. Donald Trump, 7:43 AM – 26 Nov 2019, defending his claim that his associates have absolute immunity from testifying © 2019 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials. Donald Trump, kvetching about his impeachment, letter to Nancy Pelosi, Dec. 17, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say Here's the thing. I don't have teams. Everyone's talking about teams. I'm the team. Donald Trump, dismissing the need for impeachment advisers © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say And when your son looks at you and says, ‘Mama look, you won. Bullies don't win,’ and I said, ‘Baby, they don't,’ because we're gonna go in there and we're going to impeach the motherfucker. Rashida Tlaib, Democratic Representative from Michigan, telling supporters, on January 4, 2019, within hours of being sworn in to Congress, about the moment she knew she won election in 2018  © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say At some point, I'm going to sit down perhaps as a fireside chat on live television, and I will read the transcript of the call. Donald Trump, who believes the transcript of his call with Ukraine's president exonerates him of wanting a quid pro quo with Ukraine © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say Let's understand why we are really here, we are really here because the majority of the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future … Nobody says it that plainly but unfortunately I have a way of speaking that way. Bill Castor, Jr., Trump's legal counsel, in his Day 1 remarks during Trump's second impeachment trial © 2021 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say No, I don't take any. Zero, to put it mildly. They took a perfect phone call that I had with the president of Ukraine, an absolutely perfect call, you know it, they know it, nothing was said wrong in that call – to impeach the President of the United States for that is a disgrace and it's a mark against our country. Donald Trump, responding to a reporter who asked, “Do you take an responsibility for the fact that you are about to be impeached?” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say These lowlifes Impeached me TWICE (I WON!), and Indicted me FOUR TIMES — For NOTHING! Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US! Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump, Aug 27, 2023, 5:40 PM, directing Republicans to impeach Biden [NOTE: "me" is "US" in his mind] © 2023 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say This country's end is now in sight. I hope I don't live to see it. Louie Gohmert, during House floor debate about Trump impeachment articles © 2019 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say This irregular channel of diplomacy, it's not as outlandish as it could be – is that correct? Steve Castor, Republican's chief counsel at the impeachment inquiry into Trump, to William Taylor, Acting Ukraine Ambassador © 2019 Kwiple.com
Facts During the first day of public impeachment hearings on Wednesday, Mark Meadows, one of Mr Trump's most loyal congressional allies, said: “Everyone has their own impression of what truth is.” When conservatives embrace relativism, facts have clearly lost their use. Edward Luce, Financial Times, November 13, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Hypocrites say It [an impeachment inquiry into Biden] would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person. Kevin Mccarthy to Breitbart News, 11 days before caving in to pressure from the dregs of the Republican Party — Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elise Stefanik, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, James Comer, Paul Gosar — and unilaterally launching an official impeachment inquiry into Biden on September 12, 2023, without having the House vote on it becaue he knew it wouldn't pass, given opposition from Democrats and moderate Republicans  © 2023 Kwiple.com
Hypocrites say There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed that they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. And having that belief was a forseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet earth. Mitch McConnell, February 13, 2021, after preventing impeachment 2.0 from starting as long as Trump was still president, and then voting to acquit him because Trump was “constitutionally ineligible for conviction” given that he's no longer president © 2021 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The adjective is the key. A “crime” occurred when one citizen or subject harmed another. “High crimes” were conversely those committed against the crown in a monarchy, or the people in a democracy. The term says nothing about the severity of the crime, or its consequent penalty, merely its type as one that surpassed mere criminal law, being a more funda- mental assault against the body politic. “Such public wrongs,” William Blackstone … argued in 1792, “are a breach and violation of the public rights and duties, due to the whole community.” Jeffrey A Engel © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. Donald Trump, 4:52 AM -– 22 Oct 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Already there is enormous demand for impeachment. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll in May found that 68 percent of Republican voters think the House should impeach Biden.  A majority expect that it will  impeach him. Thwarting those expectations would be dangerous for any House Republican. Barton Gellman, The Atlantic, October 26, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Impeachment An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history. Gerald Ford © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Andrew Johnson is innocent because Benjamin Wade is guilty of being his successor. Newspaper comment on Johnson's acquittal quoted by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz in To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The argument that only criminal offenses are impeachable has died a thousand deaths in the writings of all the experts on the subject, but it staggers on like a vengeful zombie. In fact, there is no evidence that the phrase “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” was understood in the 1780s to mean indictable crimes. Laurence Tribe, on Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz's claim that even if Trump abused his powers, the articles of impeachment don't allege that he committed a specific crime © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment But if – and this is an if – if for the next year, year-and-a-half, going right into the heart of the election, all that the Congress is talking about is impeaching Trump and Trump, Trump, Trump, and Mueller, Mueller, Mueller, and we're not talking about health care, we're not talking about raising the minimum wage to a living wage, we're not taling about combatting climate change, we're not talking about sexism and racism and homo- phobia, and all the issues that concern ordinary Americans, what I worry about is that works to Trump's advantage. Bernie Sanders, CNN Town Hall Manchester, New Hampshire, April 22, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Consider the old tale of the Sword of Damocles, about which it was said, “The value of the sword is not that it falls, but rather that it hangs.” The importance of the sword of impeachment is that it sometimes falls. But for We the People, it is also important that it hangs. Cass R.Sunstein, Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide  © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The Constittution places a life-or-death bet on the American people and their representatives. It gambles that presidential misconduct risking grave harm to the nation will arouse unified popular opposition so strong that it prevails over partisanship, personal loyalty and political inertia. This is a noble wager. If the public won't resist tyrants and defend its form of government, the game is already lost. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The day Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment because he took the power of Congress over the impeachment process away from Congress and became the judge and jury. Lindsey Graham, 1998 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Determination of right and wrong require evaluation of circumstance, motive and result. Given that we live in a tribal political environment unable to agree on basic facts, we are unlikely to generate the widespread moral outrage necessary to prompt senators to risk eviction by voting against their constituents or against their party. Jeffrey A. Engel, in Impeachment: An American History © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment DONALD TRUMP: When she [Nancy Pelosi] first got in and was named Speaker, I met her. And I'm very impressed by her. I think she's a very impressive person. I like her a lot. But I was surprised that she didn't do more in terms of Bush and going after Bush. It was almost – it just seemed like she was going to really look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which personally I think would have been a wonderful thing. WOLF BLITZER: Impeaching him? DONALD TRUMP: Absolutely. For the war. For the war! Well, he lied! He got us into a war with lies, and I mean, look at the trou- ble Bill Clinton got into with something that was totally unimportant and they tried to impeach him, which was nonsense. From a 2008 interview © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Don’t confuse me with the facts. I've got a closed mind. I will not vote for impeachment. I'm going to stick with my president even if he and I have to be taken out of this building and shot. Earle Landgrebe, Indiana Republican Representative, Nixon supporter, and revered role model for today's Republican Congressmen, the day before Nixon resigned in 1974 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Even if you don't love originalism in general, you might love it for impeachment. That might seem like an opportunistic position, but it has unmistakable logic. … the problems confronted way back in 1787 are not so different from those we confront today. … the abstract concerns that motivated them — treason, bribery, corruption, egregious abuse of public trust or misuse of presidential authority — are no different from those that concern us today. They are exactly the same. Cass R. Sunstein, Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide  © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Get over it. Mick Mulvaney, telling reporters what to do after admitting Trump had indeed had a quid pro quo exchange with Ukraine's president © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment A good magisate will not fear them. A bad one ought to be kept in fear of them. Elbridge Gerry © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment I am deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute “a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive Order” that “does not include differences of opinions concerning public policy matters,” consistent with the definition of an “urgent concern” in 50 U.S.C. §3033(k)(5)(G). I am therefore fulfilling my duty to report this information, through proper legal channels to the relevant authorities. From the complaint a whistleblower filed with the IG of the intelligence community about Trump's behavior © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment I can't imagine the courts allowing it. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment I'm not for impeachment. Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it. Nancy Pelosi © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. From Trump's July 25, 2019, telephone conversation soliciting President Zelensky of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Bien and his son  © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment If he abuses that authority for personal advantage, financial or political, he injures the country as a whole. That is precisely why the framers rejected the idea of relying solely on an election to remove an abusive president from office. Indeed, waiting for the next election is an option that is obviously insufficient when the abuse of power is directed at cheating in that very election. Laurence Tribe, Washington Post, January 10, 2020 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment If he were anyone other than the president of the United States, he would be in handcuffs and indicted. Elizabeth Warren, May, 2019, after reading the Mueller report © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment [I]f US President Donald Trump is not brought down for his alleged wrongdoing, it will not be because his inquisitor, Robert Mueller, lacked thoroughness or because his political enemy, the Democratic party, lacked nerve. It is because not quite enough voters minded quite enough. If they did, the pressure would tell on Democrats to seek his impeachment and on Republicans to at least consider voting for it, on pain of electoral rout. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, April 24, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Impeachments are confined to political characters, to political crimes and misdemeanors, and to political punishments. James WIlson, 1801 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment [If you] actually think that President Trump committed a criminal offense … you go and arrest him. … The Department of Justice does know what to do with such people, and, so far, I haven't seen any activity in that direction. Bill Castor, Jr., Trump's legal counsel, concluding his Day 1 remarks during Trump's second impeachment trial © 2021 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Impeachment shouldn't be considered as merely a cleaner and more orderly form of assassination. Rather it's a democratic process by which the American people, speaking through Congress, decide that for the constitutional system to live, a presidency must die. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment In the days following the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to “lock down” all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced – as is customary – by the White House Situation Room. This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call. From the complaint a whistleblower filed with the IG of the intelligence community about Trump's behavior © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment It means whatever we say it means … because there is no judicial review. Daniel Patrick Moynihan on “high Crimes and Misdeemeanors” © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment It's like pornography. You know it when you see it, but you have trouble defining it. Henry Hyde, during Clinton's impeachment © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Later can't mean never because the case for inaction here is starting to get pretty weak. John Oliver, June 16, 2019, after Trump said he would accept foreign meddling again in American elections in order to get rerelected in 2020 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The law case will be decided by the PR case. Richard Nixon © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment “Let the jury consider the verdict,” says the King in the trial scene in Alice in Wonderland. “‘No, no!’ said the Queen. ‘Sentence first—verdict afterwards.’” With Trump's trial, there is a refinement on this order: verdict first, trial afterwards, sentence never. Fintan O'Toole, New York Review of Books, February 27, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Lying to the American people might be impeachable, but it might not be a crime on the statute books. Akhil Amar © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Moreover, even if a decisive majority of the American electorate does  awaken to the onset of tyranny, all it takes to block impeachment is enough support to sway thirty-four senators. Particularly in light of the Senate's unrepresentative composition, which gives small states an outsized voice in government, a president backed by less than 20 percent of registered votes can become practically immune to removal. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call informed me that, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the President used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests. Namely, he sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President's 2020 reelection bid. From the complaint a whistleblower filed with the IG of the intelligence community about Trump's behavior © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Of course I did. Rudy Giuliani, responding to CNN host Chris Cuomo, who asked Giuliani if he had requested Ukraine's government to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment On the one hand, you're shocked, and at the same time, you’re not surprised. And maybe that's the most awful thing about this. Adan Schiff, on testimony presented to the House Intelligence committee about Trump's attempted extortion of Ukraine © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Only if a future impeachment case plays out like Johnson's, in which senators are called to consider their consciences as well as their constituents, and at the same time like Nixon's with conclusive evidence strong enough to justify lawmakers' breaking party discipline, should a president truly fear impeachment. Jeffrey A. Engel, in Impeachment: An American History © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The president's transactional worldview always implied the possibility of his own abandonment. Once he stops being useful to people, by his own logic, they have no reason to stay loyal. He does not offer a relationship much deeper than – what an airing this Latinism is getting – quid pro quo. … Whether to support Mr Trump is becoming a finer and finer calculation for Republicans. And calculation, not fraternity, is all it ever was. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, October 2, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Queens man impeached — — — — — Former Jamaica Estates resident Donald Trump was impeached Wednesday by the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the third president to be impeached in United States history — and the first from Queens. headline and lead, Queens Daily Eagle, December 19, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Queens man impeached — again — — — — — A Queens-born real estate developer made history Wednesday when he became the first U.S. president ever impeached twice by the House of Representatives. headline and lead, Queens Daily Eagle, January 13, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The question presented by the set of facts enumerated in this report may be as simple as that posed by the President and his chief of staff's brazenness: is the remedy of impeachment warranted for a president who would use the power of his office to coerce foreign interference in a U.S. election, or is that now a mere perk of the office that Americans must simply “get over”? Adam Schiff, preface to Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The reason why evidence is irrelevant to Trumps' trial is not just that the evidence is inconveniently damning. It is that this doctrine of the president's will as the source of all authority must not be undermined by the manner of the trial. At the heart of Trump's defense is the jus- tification that underlies all authoritarian rule. The leader is special. He is not like us because he has unique instincts. His gut (or divine inpiration or mystical ability to discern the true will of the people) leads him to make the right call. And the gut cannot be questioned: the job of everyone else in government is to accept what the leader does first and find the reasons for it later. Fintan O'Toole, New York Review of Books, February 27, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Refusing to impeach a known tyrant out of partisan self-interest would constitute a failure of governance at least as profound as urging impeachment solely for partisan reasons. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Richard Nixon impeached himself. He gave us Gerald Ford as his revenge. Bella Abzug © 2024 Kwiple.com
Impeachment The Senate is on trial as well as the president. Does the Senate conduct a trial according to the Constitution to vindicate the Republic, or does the Senate participate in the president's crimes by covering them up? Jerrold Nadler © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Shall any man be above Justice? Above all shall that man be above it, who can commit the most extensive injustice? … Shall the man who has practiced corruption and by that means procured his appointment in the first instance, be suffered to escape punishment, by repeating his guilt? George Mason, Constitutional Convention, July 20, 1787 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Some mode of displacing an unfit magistrate is rendered indispensable by the fallibility of those who choose, as well as by the corruptibility of the man chosen. George Mason © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Sometime next year, after an interval of perfor- mative investigations, Republicans in the House  are going to impeach Joe Biden. This may not be  their present plan, but they will work themselves up to it by degrees. The pressure from the MAGA base will build. A triggering event will burst all restraints. Eventually, Republicans will leave themselves little choice. This prediction rests, of course, on the assumption that Republicans will win control of the House next month, which seems likely: … Impeachment is the corollary of election denial — the invincible certainty that Biden cheated in  2020 and Donald Trump won. If you truly believe that and haven't joined a militia, impeachment is the least of the remidies you will accept. Barton Gellman, The Atlantic, Oct. 26, 2002 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Impeachment There is no political inconvenience exception to the United States Constitution. … If there's going to be accountability, that accountability has to come from Congress. … If there are people in the House or the Senate who want to say that's what a president can do when the president is being investigated for his own wrongdoings or when a foreign government attacks our country, then they should have to take that vote and live with it for the rest of their lives. Elizabeth Warren, CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall, Manchester, New Hampshire, April 22, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment There may indeed be proof enough for prosecutors of a future president's treason, bribery, or commission of a high crime or misdemeanor, but so long as a third of voters — or rather voters from a third of the states — tell their senators they remain unconvinced, conviction is hard to imagine. Jeffrey A. Engel, in Impeachment: An American History © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment There was no crime. You know, it's high crimes AND – not with or or. It's high crimes and misdemeanors. There was no high crime and there was no misdemeanor. So how do you impeach based on that? Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment There will be presidents who are neither criminals nor mental incompetents but who are wrong for the role, who pose a danger to the country and the world. It is a principle that sounds radical until you say it, at which point it seems obvious: Being extremely bad at the job of president of the United States should be enough to get you fired. Ezra Klein, “The case for normalizing impeachment” © 2017 Kwiple.com
Impeachment  These are not grounds for impeachment. They are grounds for divorce. Maureen Dowd, on the Lewinsky affair © 2021 Kwiple.com
Impeachment These are the stakes of President Trump's impeachment. Like President Nixon, he abused the public trust by wielding the powers of the presi- dency to serve himself instead of the public. But unlike President Nixon, he didn't do it solely with the assistance of Americans; he did it by seeking help from a foreign power. That makes President Trump's high crimes even worse. And if we fail to hold him accountable, as our founders feared, I believe that could very well mark the end of the American experiment. Neal Katyal, Impeach © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment This business of high crimes and misdemeanors goes to the question of whether or not the person serving as President of the United States put their own interests, their personal interests, ahead of public service. Mike Pence © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment This isn't like receiving a parking ticket based on hearsay, as Senator Graham alleged. It's like receiving a speeding ticket based on a speedometer, a camera, and an admission from the driver that he was speeding. Neal Katyal responding to Graham's tweet that, if you can't get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony, you shouldn't be able to impeach a president on it either © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Trump Urged Probe Amid Aid Talk — — — — — — — — — — — President's Team Bets House Inquiry Will Backfire on Democratic Party headlines, Wall Street Journal print edition, September 26, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Try to impeach him [Trump], just try it. You will have a spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection, like you've never seen. The people will not stand for impeachment. A politician that votes for it would be endangering their own life. Rober Stone © 2017 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Was there a quid pro quo? The answer is yes. … Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. Gordon Sondland [“Everyone” includes Trump, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pompeo, Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton, who wanted no part of what he called a “drug deal”] © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Washington is staging the opposite of a Moscow show trial. In the Soviet version, Joseph Stalin would coerce innocent comrades into false professions of guilt. In Donald Trump's Senate trial, the US president's party is proclaiming the innocence of an allegedly guilty man The overlap is that each trial was pre-cooked before it began. Edward Luce, Financial Times, January 23, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment We have grown too afraid of the consequences of impeachment and  too complacent about the consequences of leaving an unfit president in office. If the worst happens, and Trump's presidency results in calamity, we will have no excuse to make, no answer to give. This is an emergency. We should break the glass. Ezra Klein, “The case for normalizing impeachment” © 2017 Kwiple.com
Impeachment What has changed is not the calculus of impeachment, then. What has changed is the Democrats' propensity to calculate. Essentially, the party has stopped overthinking. Rather than second-guess the political consequences of impeachment, their concern is for – do not laugh – the principle. Janan Ganash, Financial Times, September 25, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment What was the practice before this in cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why recourse was had to assassination. Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, July 20, 1787, preferring impeachment to its alternative © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment When considering what the Constitution's authors thought about which acts or defects might warrant a president's impeachment, therefore, one shorthand explanation can be found in asking what would George Washington not  have done? Jeffrey A. Engel, in Impeachment: An American History © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment When we think about “high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” we must ask: Will we survive this presidency, and if we do, what kind of nation will we have become? Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Impeachment When you look at past impeachments, whether it was president Clinton or, I guess president Nixon never got there, he left. I don't leave. There's a big difference. I don't leave. Donald Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Impeachment Whether in London or Washington, what liberals are ultimately defending is not any policy but the rule of law: the frame within which a nation paints its politics, not the choice of colours. Protecting the one might entail some sacrifice of the other. Ms Pelosi seems ready to brave the cost. The test is whether she holds to her course if voters revolt. Janan Ganash, Financial Times, September 25, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Money in politics Performative fundraising is a prism through which to understand not only the GOP activity during the impeachment hearings but also the Republicans' Benghazi hearings and the end- less posturing around repealing Obamacare. It's not about achieving policy goals as much as energizing the base and separating them from their cash. Performative fundraising favors simplistic narratives, melodramatic rhetoric, an implacable enemy, and rote phrases to crowd out reasoned debate. Snippets of the act become fundraising pitches. Facebook microtargeting and e-mail lists ensure that pitches reach conservative retirees, especially in sunbelt states like Florida, California and Texas. Jake Bernstein, New York Review of Books, April 23, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Obituary notice  He passed away May 3, 2017, at his home in Altoona, IA. We told him the process to impeach Trump had begun – so that he could rest in peace. from the obituary for Corliss D. Gilchrist, The Des Moines Register, May 7, 2017 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Obituary notice Mike ran out of family long ago and is survived by his ex-wife and best friend, Teresa Elliott. Though their marriage ran aground, their friendship only grew stronger and hers was the last voice Mike heard. And the last thing she said to him was “Donald Trump has been impeached.” Upon hearing that he took his final gentle breath, his earthly work concluded. from the obituary for Michael Garland Elliott , The Oregonian, Apr 11-16, 2017 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Political inequality By my calculation every currently serving Democratic senator represents roughly 3.65 million people; every Republican roughly 2.51 million. Put another way, the fifty senators from the twenty-five least populous states – twenty-nine of them Republicans – represent just over 16 percent of the American population, and thirty-four Republican senators – enough to block conviction  on impeachment charges – represent states with a total of 21 percent of the American population. Christopher R. Browning, “The Suffocation of Democracy” © 2018 Kwiple.com
Political inequality A Quinnipiac University poll just before the Senate vote on whether to allow witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial found that 75% of registered voters favored having witnesses   Census Bureau   Census Bureau   estimated 2019   estimated 2019 Sen- population Sen- population ators represented ators represented voting by Senators voting by Senators “Yes” voting “Yes” “No” voting “No” ==== ========= ==== ========= 49 172,132,319 51 155,401,455 49% 52.55% 51% 47.45% ==== ========= ==== ========= Blow me down! The Senate thwarts the will of the majority! © 2020 Kwiple.com
Presidential immunity from criminal prosecution The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control. Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture. I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 12:32 PM – Jul 1, 2024, responding to Trump v. United States, which largely immunizes presidents from prosecution for crimes commited while in office © 2024 Kwiple.com
Public discourse “It sounds like something I would say. That's how President Trump and I communicate, a lot of four-letter words, in this case three letters,” Mr Sondland quipped, adding that the phrase “loves your ass” was his way of conveying the situation in ”Trump-speak.“ Financial Times, November 22, 2019, on Sondland's response when asked if he had told Trump that Ukrainian President “Zelensky loves your ass,” as others had testified during the impeachment inquiry © 2019 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say By the way, “corrupt intent” is also what you call it when Trump goes camping. Stephen Colbert responding to Senator Ted Cruz's claim that “a quid pro quo is not illegal unless there is ‘corrupt intent’” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Resisters say He needs to show us his tax returns so that we can tell who's influencing his decisions, who he owes money to, who he's doing business with – really so we can figure out whether he needs to be impeached. Protester at West Palm Beach, FL, Tax March on April 15, 2017 New York Times, April 16, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Resisters say  My safe word is impeach  Placard, New York City Women's March, January 20, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie He became a different man when the Democrats viciously stated that they wanted to impeach him. They went wild. We want to impeach him. We're gonna impeach Bill Barr. We're gonna impeach him. He became different. I understand that. I didn't become different. I got impeached twice. I didn't change. I became worse. I became worse.  Donald Trump, July 11, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Selfie I should be impeached more often. Donald Trump, after his second impeachment © 2021 Kwiple.com
Selfie What are they talking about, if I wanted to do quid pro quo, I would've done the damn quid pro quo. Donald Trump objecting to a Wall Street Journal editorial suggesting he was too inept to execute a quid pro quo with Ukraine © 2019 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Republicans would impeach Trump if he pardoned himself © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot I don't want to see him impeached. I want to see him in prison. Donald Trump portrayed by Nancy Pelosi, June 4, 2019 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot It is understandable that Democrats in the House believe they must follow the Constitution and consider an impeachment. It is also a political gamble. Trump is the opposite of a Teflon President; everything sticks to him, and yet he blusters on, unburdened by shame. Donald Trump portrayed by Steve Coll, The New Yorker, November 11, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
State of the union Call it the Tribe/Matz Hypothesis: As discussion of US politics continues in the early twenty-first century, the probability that someone references presidential impeachment approaches 1.0. Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz, To End a Presidency  © 2020 Kwiple.com
State of the union Today, we may be witnessing a collision between the power of a remedy meant to curb presidential misconduct and the power of faction determined to defend against the use of that remedy on a president of the same party. But perhaps even more corrosive to our democratic system of governance, the President and his allies are making a comprehensive attack on the very idea of fact and truth. How can a democracy survive without acceptance of a common set of experiences? Adam Schiff, preface to Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report © 2019 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest Complaining the impeachment hearings lack “pizzazz” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say He's not gonna be removed. He's not gonna be removed. He's not gonna be removed. My .357 magnum is comfortable with that. End of story. Trump supporter in Hershy, PA, responding to a reporter who asked about the possibility of Trump being impeached and removed from office © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I disagree with the House Managers' argument that, if we find the allegations they have made are true, failing to remove the President leaves us with no remedy to constrain this or future Presidents. Congress and the courts have multiple ways by which to constrain the power of the executive. And ultimately, voters themselves can hold the President accountable in an election, including the one just nine months from now. Marco Rubio © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I don't know if that's a real request or him just needling the press, knowing you guys were going to get outraged by it. Marco Rubio, responding to a reporter who asked, “Do you think it's okay for president Trump to ask China to launch an investigation of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden?” © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I will not vote to remove the president because doing so would inflict extraordinary and potentially irreparable damage to our already divided nation. Marco Rubio © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I will not vote to remove the president because doing so would inflict extraordinary and potentially irreparable damage to our already divided nation. Marco Rubio © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the United States Constitution's high bar for an impeachable offense Lamar Alexander © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say If you're looking for a circumstance where the President of the United States was threatening the Ukraine with cutting off aid unless they investigated his political opponent, you'd be very disappointed. That does not exist. Lindsey Graham © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say If you want to end the violence, end impeachment. Lindsey Graham, advocating reducing violence by right-wing domestic terrorists by letting their chief inciter go scott free © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I'm not talking to you. You're a liberal hack. Martha McSally, Arizona Republican Senator, to a CNN reporter who asked her, “Should the Senate consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?” © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say In America you can't even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony. But you can impeach a president? I certainly hope not. Lindsey Graham, 6:40 AM – 28 Sep 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Intriguingly, Mr. [Bill] Taylor says in his statement that many people in the administration opposed the [Rudy] Giuliani effort, including some in senior positions at the White House. This matters because it may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it. Impeachment for incompetence would disqualify most of the government, and most presidents at some point or another in office. Wall Street Journal editorial, Oct. 23, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interests of the country to remove a President from office. Marco Rubio © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Nobody is going to consider impeachment if public opinion has concluded that this is an unfair investigation, and that's why public opinion is so important. Rudy Giuliani, commenting on Mueller's investigation © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say The problem the Democrats are gonna have is really simple. Everything they're gonna charge Trump with will be irrelevant to most Americans. You're driving your kids to soccer, you're worried about your mom in the nursing home, and you're thinking about your job, and you're going, This is Washington crap. Newt Gingrich © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this. [Senate Republicans will be] in total coordination with the White House counsel's office and the people representing the president in the well of the Senate. Mitch McConnell, on letting Trump set the rules for his impeachment trial in the Senate © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say This is a lynching, in every sense. This is un-American. Lindsey Graham,, on the impeachment inquiry into Trump © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing  or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us. Dave Ball, Washington County, PA, GOP Chairman, giving the finger to Sen. Pat Toomey for voting to impeach Trump the seocnd time around © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say We go to the people [in 2018] and say the following, Do you want to vote for impeachment? Do you want to impeach a president? You want to have Nancy Pelosi running the House of Representatives? Psst! Forget it! Rudy Giuliani, May 2, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say We still know what records are, right? On the thing you put the needle down on and play it. Bill Castor, Jr., Trump's legal counsel, in his Day 1 remarks during Trump's second impeachment trial © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say What I can tell you about the Trump policy toward Ukraine. It was incoherent. It depends on who you talk to; they seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo. Lindsey Graham, November 6, 2019, rolling out the latest/6th Republican defence of Trump's extortionate call with Ukraine's president, following earlier defences that: 1- there was nothing wrong with the call, 2- there was no quid pro quo, 3- we do quid pro quos all the time, 4- evidence about the call is second-hand, 5- extorting a foreign country for personal and partisan political advantage is not an impeachable offense © 2019 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Yeah, I do think there's a chance of that [impeaching Biden after the 2022 midterms]. And whether it's justified or not, as we talked about when [my podcast] Verdict [With Ted Cruz] launched, the Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him. And one of the real disadvantages of doing that is the more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel, your know, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Ted “Cancún” Cruz, Harvard Law School graduate, solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008, who thinks Trump was impeached over policy disputes and believes in impeaching opponents “whether it's justified or not” © 2022 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You need 67 votes to remove a president, 47 Democrats and 20 Republicans. I see no sign at all of Republicans abandoning the president. The case is very flimsy. The most I hear from some is that his behaviour was inappropriate but not impeachable. John Barrasso, the number three Senate Republican © 2019 Kwiple.com
 
Trumpists say You're going to impeach a president for asking for a favor that didn't happen and – and giving money and it wasn't withheld? I don't know what you would impeach him on. And look, Norah, impeachment is, like, the death penalty for a public official. Nikki Haley to CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell © 2019 Kwiple.com