President Donald Trump's insistence to the contrary, there was nothing "perfect" about the July 25, 2019, phone conversation that led to his impeachment. Trump abused presidential power in that call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The only kinda, sorta "perfect" element we see, with Trump likely to be acquitted Wednesday by the Republican-controlled Senate, is the timing: As his trial concludes, primary season is underway. Perfect. Because while Trump's misconduct, in our view, didn't rise to the level of impeachment and expulsion from office, he committed wrongdoing by trying to shake down a foreign leader for personal political gain.
HOW TO PUNISH TRUMP
Should Trump be punished? American voters, who have heard the evidence, will determine whether to fire him. If you're curious, voting in the general election starts as early as Sept. 18 in Minnesota, seven-plus months away.
There's a reason we emphasize the role of the American people in impeachment, preferring they render judgment on Trump. Impeachment shouldn't be a strictly partisan exercise, a chess-like effort by members of one party to defeat the other by knocking off its king or, someday, queen. To remove a president from office is one of the gravest actions Congress can undertake. It represents the overturning of an election and, in this scenario, the disruption of another. It ought to be a break-glass-in-case-of-constitutional-emergency response.
Any impeachment and removal should have broad public support. But in Trump's case, Americans are split. Late Tuesday the RealClearPolitics polling average showed a virtual deadlock on the question of impeachment and removal: 47.7% in favor, 48.2% opposed.
Less than a year ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi _ in the context of the Mueller investigation and Trump's previous episode of alleged wrongdoing _ tried to steer Democrats clear of impeachment. Obviously Pelosi's mindset changed, based on Trump's Ukraine gambit and pressure on her from fellow Democrats. But her initial perspective on impeachment endures: "Impeachment is so divisive to the country," she warned, "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."
THE CASE FOR CENSURE
Bipartisanship never has stood a chance in the Trump era. House Democrats impeached him and Senate Republicans defended him. Our hope was that Democrats would pursue a resolution of censure that might attract some Republican support. That way Congress could reassert a common standard of ethical presidential behavior and demonstrate for posterity that there were consequences for Trump's misconduct.
The closest Republicans have gotten to that point have been mild rebukes from several senators. Then on Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Trump-friendly Democrat, made the case on the Senate floor for censure: "Censure would allow this body to unite across party lines, and as an equal branch of government, to formally denounce the president's actions and hold him accountable."
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL SETTLE TRUMP'S FATE
Could Manchin's call now gain momentum among Democrats and draw some Republican support? GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, soon to retire, has criticized Trump's "inappropriate" scheme to coerce Ukraine into announcing an investigation of Trump's political rival Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden. Then Alexander pivoted toward the 2020 campaign and our perspective: "Our founding documents provide for duly elected presidents who serve with 'the consent of the governed,' not at the pleasure of the United States Congress. Let the people decide."
Yes, we realize that GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would see a censure vote as giving Democrats a modest victory. Yet censure would send an enduring statement of principle from Congress. And in the end it's what the voters do that matters.
Trump has nine months to argue that his conduct was defensible and that he deserves a second term. His Democratic opponent will argue the case for new leadership.
Should Trump be removed from office for his misconduct? The American people will decide.
