Several weeks ago, LU contributor published a post titled “Dump Trump to prevent socialism.” pointed out that the Democratic candidates for president lead Donald Trump in most polls, often by large margins. That is true even though the Democrats have adopted radical left-wing positions that are unpopular with independents and would cost them the election if they ran against a more popular Republican. Indeed, the Democrats’ proposed policies would ultimately bankrupt the nation. The Green New Deal, to take one, has an estimated cost of $50-90 trillion (much larger than our entire economy). Other policies they favor also would cost trillions, such as race-based reparations, bailouts, and expansions of welfare to illegal aliens and others.
But Trump is widely hated — 69% of voters say they dislike Trump personally — and he is thus likely to lose to even a radical, dangerous Democrat. To win the 2020 election, Republicans need to find a way to remove him. The obvious solution is to replace him with Vice President Mike Pence. Pence is a good family man with a much lower disapproval rating than Trump. He has a better grasp of public policy, a good track record as governor of Indiana, and a record of civility, commitment to public service, and respect for the rights of dissenters.
One logical way to replace Trump with Pence is for the Senate to remove Trump from office after the House of Representatives impeaches him. Like most twentieth-century presidents (and Obama, Bush, and Clinton), Trump has committed impeachable acts, under the founding fathers’ broad conception of what constitutes an impeachable offense under Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution. (Congress is permitted — but not required — to impeach a president for committing impeachable offenses.)
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The Senate can remove a president from office simply by concluding that he has committed constitutional or statutory violations that are significant, even if they are not crimes punishable by imprisonment. Impeachment also is permitted for misuse or abuse of office, even if it violates no law. The president need only be found guilty by a simple preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. And Trump has engaged in impeachable acts, as legal experts have explained at length, including attorney George Conway, law professor Ilya Somin, and the Cato Institute’s Gene Healy. (Healy has written two books about the presidency).
Due to Trump’s unpopularity, Democrats can propose radical policies with impunity, without fear that it will cost them the general election. Elizabeth Warren is the Democratic frontrunner in some recent polls. She recently endorsed a legislative package by socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that “includes federal rent control, welfare for illegal immigrants and ex-cons.” Although LU and other sites have reported on this, most publications didn’t even cover it. Why? They are covering Trump’s shenanigans instead. Trump constantly diverts attention from the Democrats’ radical and unpopular positions by creating one unnecessary controversy after another, and making one intemperate or unhinged tweet or comment after another.
Trump may be the biggest asset the Democratic Party has. With him in office, the Republicans lost 42 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as hundreds of state and local offices in once-Republican-dominated areas, in the 2018 election. Under Trump, the GOP lost those seats, despite a booming economy and Congress recently having passed a tax cut. The Republicans may keep on losing seats as long as Trump is president.
Leading contenders for the Democratic nomination (such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders) support extreme, economically-destructive policies such as rent control. Economists say rent controls are very harmful. In a 1990 poll, 93% of them agreed that rent control “reduces the quantity and quality of housing available.” Even left-wing economists, such as the Swedish economics professor Assar Lindbeck, often think rent control is stupid. Lindbeck said that “next to bombing, rent control seems in many cases to be the most efficient technique so far known for destroying cities.” Even socialist Vietnam ultimately was forced to admit that the rent controls it had imposed for many years had been a big mistake that harmed the quality and quantity of housing.
A Democratic victory in 2020 will result in a fundamental transformation of American society in the direction of socialism. Socialism continues to gain ground in the Democratic Party. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats now wish America were more socialist, according to a recent poll. Most Democrats have a favorable view of socialism but not capitalism. In June, the California Democratic Convention booed former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D), when he said “Socialism is not the answer.”
