r/politics • u/RB_Reich Robert Reich • Sep 26 '19

Let’s talk about impeachment! I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, author, professor, and co-founder of Inequality Media. AMA. AMA-Finished

I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor for President Clinton and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. I also co-founded Inequality Media in 2014.

Earlier this year, we made a video on the impeachment process: The Impeachment Process Explained

Please have a look and subscribe to our channel for weekly videos. (My colleagues are telling me I should say, “Smash that subscribe button,” but that sounds rather violent to me.)

Let’s talk about impeachment, the primaries, or anything else you want to discuss.

Proof: https://i.imgur.com/tiGP0tL.jpg

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51

u/Iamien Indiana Sep 26 '19

If impeachment occurs, does that limit the PoTUS' powers at all?

113

u/RB_Reich Robert Reich Sep 26 '19

If he's impeached, but not convicted (the most likely outcome), his powers are not affected at all. Yet he's put on notice by this impeachment that America is watching him, that a line has been drawn, that he cannot merely do whatever he wants in order to be reelected.

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u/monalisafrank Sep 26 '19

Maybe a normal president. I don't think this is how Trump operates. If he is impeached but not convicted, I think what we'll get is an over the top narrative of "I WAS SET UP BUT THEY DIDN'T WIN! THEY LIED! THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING!" and that will energize his base, confuse uninformed voters, and make Dems more pessimistic than they were before...

8

u/FSMFan_2pt0 Alabama Sep 26 '19

Precisely what he did with the Mueller report, so yeah.

7

u/lowlydanger Sep 26 '19

I hate to agree, but I do. And that fucking sucks.

11

u/havok_ Sep 26 '19

God I hate how likely this sounds

2

u/SetupGuy Sep 27 '19

Likely? This is absolutely what's going to happen and anyone who believes Trump over literally any other source is fucked.

17

u/emmett22 Sep 26 '19

"that he cannot merely do whatever he wants in order to be reelected" I would say if he is not convicted, this statement becomes untrue.

3

u/theferrit32 North Carolina Sep 26 '19

Yeah if the GOP legislators fail to hold him accountable and he is allowed to get away with whatever crimes or acts against the nation while in office, it seems like he actually can do whatever he wants and is literally above the law.

1

u/I-seddit Sep 27 '19

"that a line has been drawn"
Not necessarily, after all - if he's not convicted, he'll know he's protected by the Senate and that's no line at all.

1

u/haltingpoint Sep 27 '19

Could this then be a nail in the coffin for him being re-elected, and immediately once the new President takes over, he is indicted on states charges?

1

u/maz-o Sep 27 '19

So in other words absolutely nothing will happen yet again. Gotcha.