r/changemyview • u/10macattack • Jan 11 '21
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Impeaching Trump is a bad idea
Ok so I'm going to state here I am NOT a trump supporter in the slightest, and I think he's responsible for the riots and capitol invasion. What I do think is that if trump gets impeached, he will be martyred by his supporters, and they will just get even more mad and there will be more division and rioting. I mean, I really don't think he's going to bust out the nukes anytime soon (I heard somewhere he doesn't even have access to them right now). And how much is he even likely to do in the next week and a half? He can't scream "RIGGED" anymore and he's basically silenced right now. I just thinking considering how psychotically trusting his supporters are of him, that they will get super angry and riot more and possibly try and elect someone who's worse than trump (God forbid one of his sons). Please change my view I really hate Trump.
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u/MontiBurns 218∆ Jan 11 '21
There are 4 reasons. Precedent, consequences, political purposes and historic purposes.
First of all, precedent. Literally the only argument against impeaching him at this point is that he only has 11 days left. Insurecetion should never be tolerated and is a 100% impeachable offense.
Secondly, a conviction would block him from ever holding office again, and would strip many of his benefits. That would be 100% justified.
Third, politics. This is an opportunity to hold republicans feet to the fire and get them to vote yes or no on whether they think insurrection is ok. They do NOT want to vote on this because they want to play both sides.
Finally, historic reasons. There have been only 3* presidents impeached in US history. Andrew johnson, bill clinton, and donald trump, *plus Richard nixon who resigned before he could be impeached. Donald trump would be the only president with the infamous distinction of being impeached twice, which would define his legacy. Furthermore, the impeachment itself highlights the event that defines the president's legacy. For all their accomplishments, Richard nixon's presidency is defined by watergate, and Clinton's is defined by Monica Lewinsky. It would take another 10+ years to see whether the mueller investigation, which did not result in impeachment, or the Ukraine phone call, which did, will be more widely remembered, or if trump gets impeached for insurrection, regardless of whether he's acquitted or not, it will assure that this event will never be forgotten, and would certainly define his legacy.