Gay. Republican. President?

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It's hard not to write about the laws of impeachment without invoking the current POTUS, Mr Donald J. Trump. A former reality-star with no governing experience, Trump has set foreign relations into a panic with his rage-fueled Tweeting habit. In almost every public moment since the election (and before it) — from his talk about grabbing women by the genitals to mocking a disabled reporter to suggesting the 2017 Puerto Rico hurricane wasn't a "real" disaster — he's offended the majority of Americans. But with a House and Senate both solidly inhabited by the Republicans (for now), today's politicians are having a hard time getting the ball rolling on impeachment. Cass Sunstein walks us through how it could come to be. And it's a lot easier than you might think. Cass Sunstein’s research is cited in The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals about Our Power to Change Others byTali Sharot.

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CASS SUNSTEIN

Cass Sunstein is an legal scholar, known for his work in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and law and behavioral economics, who was the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. For 27 years, Sunstein taught at the University of Chicago Law School, where he continues to teach as the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor. Sunstein is currently Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Cass Sunstein: Impeachment it turns out was a very central part of the Constitution of the United States meaning it’s obscure, people don’t know about it, but it probably was necessary for the Constitution actually to be ratified by the American people. You can see the impeachment clause, and I’m going to explain its content in a moment, but you can see it as part of the American Revolution itself in the sense that the revolt against a king who was a leader who had authority over 'We the People' was incomplete if we didn’t have a mechanism by which we could get rid of our leaders, including the president, which was a way of ensuring we didn’t have anything like a monarchy.


Now the way impeachment worked is that in the early American colonies before America was America we started impeaching people who were following orders from the king. And what that meant was that an abusive authority would be called out by some legislative assembly and in the initial phase what would happen would be there would just be a vote that the person had abused authority and then if the thing fell to completion, and this goes back to England, there would be a trial. And in the trial the person would be convicted of the offense for which impeachment was had and if convicted the person would be removed from office. So to bring this back to the American structure as it developed after the Revolution and after the Constitution came into place, and this was thought through with such care in Philadelphia when the Constitution was debated, the idea was that if there is a high crime and misdemeanor, and we can talk a bit about what that means, or if there’s treason or bribery then the House of Representatives by majority vote can impeach the President, the Vice President, Supreme Court justices, members of the cabinet. And what that means is there’s a kind of official judgment that the person has done something very, very bad and after that the proceeding moves to the Senate, which is acting like a court and which decides whether to convict, which means to remove the person from office. The House makes the impeachment vote by a majority vote. That doesn’t mean anyone has to leave office. It then goes to the Senate, which if it votes by a 2/3 majority to convict on the ground on which the let’s say President was impeached then the person is, as they say about baseballs that are hit very hard... the President is gone. 


Yes. Because the word 'high crimes and misdemeanors' seems to mean kind of felonies, high crimes and misdemeanors, the normal current reader would think oh is there a crime? If you go back to the 18th century it’s actually a lot more inspiring than that and kind of fitting with a system that’s committed to self-government. So if there’s a crime, let’s call it jaywalking or shoplifting or not paying your income taxes, that’s not a high crime or misdemeanor in the constitutional sense. What is meant by high crime and misdemeanor is an abuse of official auth...

[Phoenix-ecoo]

I’m not really sure what you would consider far right, i’m paleoconservative Republican, but I don’t give a shit if you’re gay. I don’t give a shit if you’re black or a woman. If I think your policy is good then you’re good president In my eyes, but I don’t think being gay is something to ride on in a presidency. I’m not so much in favor of left on social issues, so I probably wouldn’t support you myself.

[thebeany]

Now I'm gay but I'm also a realist so I respond 'in America, you must be joking'. In some states you can still legally discriminate and fire someone just for being gay. Gay marriage is only legal in a handful of states. Also since the majority of Americans are Christians some would see this as a 'Holy Battle" (similar to Gay Marriage). I can see why Harvey Milk had a tough time gaining support even from Gay people, it's a futile exercise.

[AthenaReichnyc]

I support a gay president but if you are liberal on social issues does that mean you are conservative on fiscal issues? But how can you be support social issues if you can't put your money where your mouth? I am gay myself but would rather see a liberal democrat who is straight rather than a conservative president who is gay. However, I support you as a fellow human being and it will be interesting to follow your race. I would just question your alliance with the republican party.

[williamflinchum]

An Abomination to our Lord! He can repent from his demons and be saved! He won, t win!! Clay

[BillyBlues]

i am gay. the sin of sodom was inhospitality and rape. read your bible. judge not lest ye be judged. i love myself and my family loves me. i will pray for you

[Azurerosa]

I'd vote for a socially liberal Republican long before I'd vote for a socially conservative one. Not sure where I'd stand on him personally until I know more about his position on a wide variety of things however.