In today’s political arena — where politics are so drastically polarized there is little room for common ground and compromise — an impeachment may not mean the same for President Donald Trump as it did for Andrew Johnson or Bill Clinton. Today, impeachment is just another way for one party to wreak havoc on the other while the rest of America watches, and in the majority of cases, continues to keep their views aligned with their party.

What Syracuse students need to remember when voting is to use their own judgment and views on impeachment to determine their own political opinion. Only by using individual judgment can someone overcome the strong bias that comes with our current political climate.

A presidential impeachment does not mean that the president is necessarily removed from office. First charges must be brought up against him or her and found to be true. Next, the hearing is moved to the House Of Representatives, where there must be a majority vote to impeach the president. This is where the official impeachment happens, but the president is not removed from office yet. The trial then moves to the Senate, where there must be another majority vote to remove the president from office.

The problem with impeachment is that the offenses that are considered impeachable are very broad and open for interpretation. Bribery and treason are both impeachable offenses, but these are fairly easy to define and agree upon. However, the third offense, other high crimes and misdemeanors, is a very vague and ambiguous statement. The writers of the Constitution did this on purpose; that way politicians after them could use their discretion and desire for the good of the American public to guide their determinations of what was considered grounds for impeachment.

Sean O’Keefe, a Syracuse University professor and senior research associate at the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, said that the trouble with this impeachment, similar to the Clinton impeachment, “is whether or not the action, the determination of the behavior, rises to the level of an impeachable offense that calls for impeachment and removal from office.” Problems arise from this question of what falls under an impeachable offense because of how polarized politics are.

Unfortunately, politics have become so one-sided that it is very difficult for the millions of people who want a moderate solution or compromise for these issues to be heard. This problem is especially prominent in the impeachment and potential removal from office of Trump.

Margaret Thompson, a history professor at SU, said that because of how drastic parties are, neither side feels that this impeachment is fair or being run how it should be and the American people can see this.

“I think what I see is aggressive partisanship and most people, regardless of what happens, are going to come away thinking that the system didn’t work,” she said.

Both sides agree that they do not think the other has the American people’s best interests at heart. Some believe that every political move is a scheme to further their party’s agenda and many Republicans feel that this impeachment is another way for Democrats to undermine the opposing party.

When each side feels so adamantly that they are right about impeachment, it is hard for citizens to judge who is right and what their own opinion is. This leads many people to stick with their party’s ideas regarding Trump and their opinion of him prior to his impeachment.

Unfortunately, in today’s political climate, impeachment means very little for the upcoming election. If Trump is not removed from office, which is highly likely based on a partisan vote in the House of Representatives, then he will try to use what he considers an unfair and corrupt attempt to remove him from office to his advantage. Although Trump will forever be known as the third president to be impeached, he may soon be known as the first president to be reelected following impeachment.

Skylar Swart is a freshman political science major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at saswart@syr.edu. She can be followed on Twitter at @SkylarSwart.

Published on January 15, 2020 at 10:18 pm