How Long?
by
, 01-27-2017 at 07:38 PM (2397 Views)
Donald Trump has been president of the United States of America for days, but because of his ignorance of relevant laws and procedures, he has already done several things that could be considered high crimes and misdemeanors adequate for impeachment and removal from office. In addition, he has demonstrated an extreme lack of interest in the real job of the president, which is to enforce the actions of the Congress. In business Trump has been unsuccessful, except when he has declared bankruptcy and gotten off without paying debts, the old cut and run. He is already the least competent president the country has has, and that includes W Bush, so it’s saying a lot.
The questions are: how long Trump will remain president and how he will leave office. The possibilities are resignation, either under threat or voluntary; impeachment and conviction for actions taken as president; Impeachment and conviction for actions taken before election; Removal under the twenty-fifth amendment (incompetence); death by sickness; death by other means; or other.
My personal opinion is that he will resign within the next twelve months, because he will learn that he can’t do what he wants to do. There are a fair number of things that might be the specific triggers to such a resignation. For example, someone might mention to him that it would be treason to try to sell the East Coast to a consortium of Chinese and Russian developers. Other items that would have a similar effect would include selling the U.S. Air Force to Putin, or giving U.S. ICBMs to Kim Jong-Un as birthday presents.
But seriously, I think that Trump will become bored with the presidency. Other people think that he will run afoul of the law and be impeached, and it is possible that his failure to give his business holdings away probably has made him guilty of accepting emoluments from foreign governments. Apparently, his business holdings are so broad that he probably has something to do with several foreign governments, and any payments from them not approved by Congress are violations of the Constitution.
Other people have mentioned other pitfalls that he has created, and one of the more likely one was the suggestion that one of the Indians involved in opposing the DAPL will do him in. That wouldn't be a good idea, but there are some very strong feelings, so it might happen. Others have mentioned the unhappiness of federal employees that might make one go postal. This is not a pleasant thought, but it is within the realms of possibility.
I just read the Twenty-fifth Amendment (https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxxv). It would make a horrid mess, but if the Vice President wanted to make a mess, then, with a cooperative Congress, he could bring the government to a halt. I’m not the only one who has thought of the 25th in this regard; even salon.com, which is pretty sane had this article: http://www.salon.com/2017/01/25/dont...t-impeachment/ , and there are many other search results for ‘25th amendment Trump’, if you are interested. Things rarely happen quickly in Washington, so I don’t expect anything at all until Summer, by which time courts will have ruled on the validity of some of his executive orders, and other actions may be moving forward. And Washington largely closes for the Summer, so there will be something by the end of June, or September will see action against Trump, or something else. I do think that Trump will get sick of being unable to do anything and being insulted by everyone, and sometime in the Autumn he will resign. That will bring on great cheering until the cheerers notice that Pence is starting to get through Congress the bills that Trump suggested. But I’m usually wrong abut political results, so it will be something else.
So, readers, what do you think? How long will Trump serve, and in what way will he leave office?