{"id":9521,"date":"2018-08-30T10:43:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T17:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=9521"},"modified":"2018-08-30T10:43:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T17:43:19","slug":"dont-just-impeach-trump-annul-his-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/08\/30\/dont-just-impeach-trump-annul-his-presidency\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Just Impeach Trump. Annul His Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"field-wrapper-attribution\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-date field--type-datestamp field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\"><span class=\"pb-timestamp\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">August 28, 2018\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by <a href=\"http:\/\/robertreich.org\/post\/177349093095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RobertReich.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-subtitle field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div>\n<h4>Annulment would repeal all of it \u2013 recognizing\u00a0that such appointments, orders, rules, and records were made without constitutional authority<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-authors\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix inline-fields\">\n<div class=\"grouping-prefix\">by\u00a0<span class=\"pb-byline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/robert-reich\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Reich<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"shr_canvas2\" class=\"shareaholic-canvas shareaholic-ui shareaholic-resolved-canvas ng-scope\" data-app-id=\"6840209\" data-app-id-name=\"views_article_above_content\" data-app=\"share_buttons\" data-title=\"Don\u2019t Just Impeach Trump. Annul His Presidency\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2018\/08\/28\/dont-just-impeach-trump-annul-his-presidency\" data-summary=\"\">\n<div class=\"ng-scope shareaholic-share_buttons\" translate=\"no\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-container shareaholic-ui shr-no-print shareaholic-flat shareaholic- shareaholic-block shareaholic-horizontal  shareaholic-mini\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-wrapper shareaholic-ui\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-animation-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-buttons-heading shareaholic-custom\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"ng-scope\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"shareaholic-share-button-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-article-img field--type-image field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"caption-processed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/cd_large\/public\/views-article\/trump_7.jpeg?itok=6C7E3TxP\" alt=\"&quot;A malignant bullying megalomaniac who lies like most people breathe, and who\u2019s able to suck the oxygen out of every news cycle, might well pulverize any Democratic opponent.&quot; (Photo: AFP\/Timothy A. Clary)\" width=\"955\" height=\"500\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-main-caption field--type-text-long field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p><em>&#8220;A malignant bullying megalomaniac who lies like most people breathe, and who\u2019s able to suck the oxygen out of every news cycle, might well pulverize any Democratic opponent.&#8221; (Photo: AFP\/Timothy A. Clary)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The only way I see the end of Trump is if there\u2019s overwhelming evidence he rigged the 2016 election. In which case impeachment isn\u2019t an adequate remedy. His presidency should be annulled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">\n<p>Let me explain.<\/p>\n<p>Many people are convinced we\u2019re already witnessing the beginning of the end of Trump.<\/p>\n<p>In their view, bombshell admissions from Trump insiders with immunity from prosecution, combined with whatever evidence Robert Mueller uncovers about Trump\u2019s obstruction of justice and his aide\u2019s collusion with the Russians, will all tip the scales.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats will take back the House and begin an impeachment, and the evidence of impeachable offenses will put enough pressure on Republican senators to send Trump packing.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t believe this for a moment.<\/p>\n<p>First, the Senate has never in history convicted a president of impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>Second, even if Democrats flip the House in November, Republicans will almost certainly remain in control of the Senate \u2013 and so far they\u2019ve displayed the integrity of lizards.<\/p>\n<p>Third, Fox News and the rest of the right-wing sleaze media will continue to distort and cover up whatever the evidence shows \u2013 convincing 35 to 40 percent of Americans, along with most Republicans, that Trump is the innocent victim of a plot to remove him.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Trump himself will never voluntarily resign, as did Nixon. He\u2019ll lie and claim a conspiracy to unseat him.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s proven himself a superb conman, an entertainer-demagogue capable of sowing so much confusion and instigating so much hate and paranoia that he has already survived outrages that would have broken any garden-variety loathsome president \u2013 Helsinki, Charlottesville, children locked in cages at the border, firings and cover-ups, racist slurs, clear corruption.<\/p>\n<p>In all likelihood, we\u2019ll have him for another two and a half years.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t bet on him losing in 2020, either. A malignant bullying megalomaniac who lies like most people breathe, and who\u2019s able to suck the oxygen out of every news cycle, might well pulverize any Democratic opponent.<\/p>\n<p>Even if he loses in 2020, we\u2019ll be fortunate if he concedes without being literally carried out of the Oval Office amid the stirrings of civil insurgency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pullquote\">In other words, Trump\u2019s presidency is not authorized under the United States Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and let me remind you that even if he\u2019s impeached, we\u2019d still have his loathsome administration \u2013 Pence on down.<\/p>\n<p>But lest you fall into a miasma of gloom, there\u2019s another scenario \u2013 unlikely, but entirely possible.<\/p>\n<p>Suppose, just suppose, Robert Mueller finds overwhelming and indisputable evidence that Trump conspired with Putin to rig the 2016 election, and the rigging determined the election\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Trump\u2019s presidency is not authorized under the United States Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Suppose these findings are so compelling that even Trump loyalists desert him, the Republican Party decides it has had enough, and Fox News calls for his impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>What then?\u00a0Impeachment isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n<p>Impeachment would remedy Trump\u2019s \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors.\u201d But impeachment would not remedy Trump\u2019s unconstitutional presidency because it would leave in place his vice president, White House staff and Cabinet, as well as all the executive orders he issued and all the legislation he signed, and the official record of his presidency.<\/p>\n<p>The only response to an unconstitutional presidency is to annul it. Annulment would repeal all of it \u2013 recognizing\u00a0that such appointments, orders, rules, and records were made without constitutional authority.<\/p>\n<p>The Constitution does not specifically provide for annulment of an unconstitutional presidency. But read as a whole, the Constitution leads to the logical conclusion that annulment is the appropriate remedy for one.<\/p>\n<p>After all, the Supreme Court declares legislation that doesn\u2019t comport with the Constitution to be null and void, as if it had never been passed.<\/p>\n<p>It would logically follow that the Court could declare all legislation and executive actions of a presidency unauthorized by the Constitution to be null and void, as if Trump had never been elected. (Clearly, any Trump appointee to the Court would have to recuse himself from any such decision.)<\/p>\n<p>The Constitution also gives Congress and the states the power to amend the Constitution, thereby annulling or altering whatever provisions came before. Here, too, it would logically follow that Congress and the states could, through amendment, annul a presidency they determine to be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>After the Trump administration was annulled, the Speaker of the House (third in the order of presidential succession) would take over the presidency until a special election.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve said, my betting is Trump remains president at least through 2020 \u2013 absent compelling and indisputable evidence he rigged the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>But if such evidence comes forth, impeachment isn\u2019t an adequate remedy because even if Trump is removed, his presidency \u2013 all that he and his administration did when he occupied office \u2013 would be constitutionally illegitimate.<\/p>\n<p>It should be annulled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"field-wrapper-copyright-cond\" class=\"field-wrapper content-container clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-copyright field--type-text field--label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item even\">This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 28, 2018\u00a0by RobertReich.org Annulment would repeal all of it \u2013 recognizing\u00a0that such appointments, orders, rules, and records were made without constitutional authority by\u00a0Robert Reich &#8220;A malignant bullying megalomaniac who lies like most people breathe, and who\u2019s able to suck the oxygen out of every news cycle, might well pulverize&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/08\/30\/dont-just-impeach-trump-annul-his-presidency\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9521"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9522,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9521\/revisions\/9522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}