This was written by my daughter, Maggie Brady, as a response to Ezra Klein’s plea for “normalizing” impeachment:
In Ezra Klein’s article, “The Case for Normalizing Impeachment” (December 6, 2017), Klein argues that the United States should normalize impeachment in the case of an unfit president, especially when “leaving one in office could be worse.” Klein uses a variety of opinions from Democratic politicians and writers to further explain why the country needs to normalize impeachment and why we need to impeach President Trump. Klein uses various tweets from President Trump in order to prove his opinion and why it is valid. Directing his audience for the whole American people, particularly the U.S. legislature, Klein uses a firm yet sarcastic tone to entice his audience into implementing his new idea.
In this column, Klein is arguing for the impeachment of President Trump, but knows that the only way to do so is if the legislature begins to normalize impeachment. He believes that the country has “grown too afraid of the consequences of impeachment and too complacent about the consequences of leaving an unfit president in office.” Klein overall wants to answer his burning question stated in the beginning of the article, “Does the American political system have a remedy if we elect the wrong person to be president?” In this article he believes that the answer to his question is yes, but that the remedy has not been implemented correctly for quite some time, and therefore, is not a strong enough remedy. In his article, Klein mentions several times how unfit President Trump is and uses his tweets and the words of many Democratic representatives and writers to support this opinion. Klein is proposing that Americans may have simply made a mistake when voting for President Trump and that the country needs to fix this mistake. However, in this article Klein also touches on the danger of President Trump’s removal. Despite this, Klein works to persuade his audience to further acknowledge what impeachment could do for this “mistake” that the country has made.
Klein’s words do have a persuasive aspect in that they persuade his audience to normalize the idea of impeachment. Klein’s use of firm yet sarcastic diction helps him present impeachment in this article as a remedy to a mistake, rather than a concept that, if implemented, would only make the country worse off. The use of President Trump’s tweets and the commenting of these tweets to back his argument also provides a persuasive element to his article. Klein uses a great deal of logos in his article, using polls from the Military Times, quotes from The New York Times, and quotes from several respected representatives and like minded thinkers, Carl Bernstein, Rep. Brad Sherman, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, to name a few. However these examples of logos are quite biased in that they all follow similar opinions to that of Ezra Klein. A more persuasive argument would be one that used more information from Republican representatives who are for the impeachment of President Trump, and they do exist.
This article, in particular, is what drew me to follow Ezra Klein. His sarcastic diction and examples from other writers enticed me to read his opinion of President Trump and his take on the impeachment process. What I found was a similar view that impeachment should be considered more, but what I found different was over which president.
My question for Ezra Klein is, “What if it was a Democrat as president?” I ask this because almost every source that Klein used to support his opinion were completely biased in that none of these people were ever for President Trump. Furthermore, when Republicans proposed the impeachment of President Obama, the backlash was extremely prominent. Republicans were considered to be “sore losers” for wanting to impeach a President just finishing his first year in office. And personally, although President Obama raised taxes, invaded Libya, and created a healthcare plan that to me, did not help the amount of Americans it was said to help, President Obama still did great things for this country. However, it took him more than a year to complete all of this. If the president “at large” was from “the other side” as Trump, then the idea of impeachment would be completely wrong.
Klein notes in his article from a commentator that “it’s proven to be a partisan tool and nothing more.” Klein argues it should not be partisan, yet his whole argument is quite that. Klein has created a hypocritical statement for his audience, one that may not persuade to normalize his idea of impeachment.
POSTSCRIPT: ADDED BY BRIAN BRADY: Interview with Ezra Klein on MSNBC
Comments 10
Interesting perspective and some valid points. Have you considered that normalizing outrageous behavior seems to be the theme of this presidency. Beyond the tweets, there is the porn star pay off, the “shit hole” comments, the ridicule of McCain’s POW capture, “treasonous” non-clapping, and on and on.
Ultimately, I agree with you that impeachment should not be a partisan tool used lightly, nor should it be used to “correct” voting mistakes. At some point though, one must wonder how low we should let the office of president sink before we as a people say enough.
Bill Clinton was impeached for far less. Rich Nixon for far worse. I don’t think it’s wrong to question where the bar should be.
Nixon was not impeached. He likely would have been, but he resigned first.
Thanks Maggie for an excellent post!
What Ezra is forgetting (as is Michael Cook above), is that many of us in the country actually voted for him. We WANT what he is doing. We may not like HOW he is doing it but, alas..elections have consequences.
What Ezra is presupposing is that the entire country is thinking it made a giant mistake. Many people understand that Presidential terms are indeed 4 years. Impeaching someone because they use a new forms of social media without tact would have gotten LBJ impeached for sure if he were president in a 2018 world. Work towards running a candidate worthy of the office Ezra, rather than trying to tear down the one that is there. Just my .02 And perhaps the thing that we should “normalize” is the Constitution, the rule of law, and equal protection under it…just a thought. 🙂
Great post Maggie. Its amazing how short-sighted journalists and politicians are. Its all partisanship and no principle.
This is a particularly insightful topic .
But why?
Because.
Because Trump got elected.
But how did Trump get elected?
Because.
Because why?
Because the Democratic Party stopped thinking about the fact they were the only ones standing between Trump and the White House and they chose an angry woman instead of a winning candidate who HAPPENS to be a woman.
Answered by Ashley Burleson, age 9.
Very good piece. You nailed this Maggie. I’d like the Democrats to love their country more than their party And their love affair with each other.
Trump, the man with the plan.
The truth is, Trump will not be impeached, unless it is at the hands of Republicans.
Democrats would rather take back control of one or both houses of Congress in the mid terms by running as a check and balance to the unstable, dangerous and offensive acts of Trump. Taking one or both houses would effectively result in a legislative stalemate, and Trump would be effectively neutered, and would have no material success to run on in his final two years before the next election.
By 2020, Republicans would much rather have an incumbent Mike Pence at the top of the ticket, and the ability to say Trump is ancient history and not relevant to the election. That’s your impeachment threat right there.
“I’d like the Democrats to love their country more than their party”
Amen and ditto for the Republicans.
And the Republicans impeached Clinton over what? Republicans spent millions of our money going after the potential Democratic pres. candidate in an unprecedented move that found nothing but it provided non-stop negative news banter. Mission accomplished.
“I’d like the Democrats to love their country more than their party”. Are you kidding me?
Aside from the fact I disagree with you I will admit that your father has a lot to be proud of. You stated your case well without being a jerk. Beware, civility and mutual respect are traits that “true conservatives” acuse RINOS of. Thanks for your perspective.
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“Aside from the fact I disagree with you I will admit that your father has a lot to be proud of.”
Thank you, Paul. He is VERY proud of her.
“You stated your case well without being a jerk. ”
There is a future in civility? 🙂