slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

James Snell, International Business Times; 19 hours ago.

How could Donald Trump be impeached?

Donald Trump was a big fan of boasting on the campaign trail. He said he was a great builder – the best in the world. He said he had a secret plan to defeat Isis in 30 days. He said he had a good brain and the best words.

One boast in particular stuck out. Trump said that, if he were in charge, the American people would win so much that winning itself would lose its appeal. He declared that they'd get s**k of it.

Over 100 days into his four-year term as president, and the American people have not yet had a chance to get tired of winning.

The president himself does not seem to be winning all that much these days.

Indeed, ever since he took office, onlookers have predicted disaster. Commentators and political figures have issued constant warnings and predictions that the president may be impeached and barred from office. Such statements have only grown louder and more insistent in recent days.

Several blunders have made Trump's life difficult, including the deeply controversial firing of former FBI director James Comey, the man reviled by many for his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. He was once a man who many had down as a de facto friend of Trump.

Now something else has come out. Comey had apparently written a series of memos based on conversations he had with the president. One of those conversations seems to have concerned the fate of General Mike Flynn, who served very briefly as Trump's national security adviser before being forced out of office.

Flynn had been under investigation by the FBI at the time, and the president is meant to have asked Comey, who was leading the investigation, to either drop it or cut Flynn some slack.

This is not a good look. If true, this allegation points to profoundly unethical conduct on the part of the president.

But he will not be impeached. Not for this, not for the collection of unfortunate connections between Trump's campaign and a foreign power. All that is bundled together under the banner 'Russia' will not do for Trump.

The opposition Trump has faced has been profound.

Establishment Republicans tried to pull the plug on his candidacy for the p**********l nomination of their party when they thought the joke had gone far enough. That did not work.

Many of the 'Never Trump' Republicans tried, in concert with Democrats and many others, to oppose his candidacy by any means in the p**********l e******n proper. That also did not work.

T***p w*n and is now president of the United States; he is invested with a great deal of power, authority and prestige. His opponents could not accept that fact.

Many of these opponents, and many people in general, could not make peace with the fact that Donald Trump had won the e******n.

They could not take it for a number of reasons. They couldn't take his having played the system and winning on e*******l college v**es, but not having won a majority of the popular v**e. They couldn't take his being so different – in style and substance, tone and technicality – from what had come before, so alien in many ways to the currents of recent American political history.

All of this led to the generation of a perverse kind of wishful thinking, a mental process that meant, for the faithful, every mistake or misstep could spell the end of Trump.

He has made mistakes – some of them very serious – and this has fuelled these happy but unsound thoughts. The fact that he was elected stands. And the bare fact of the composition of Congress also stands against this impassioned challenge.

For him to be impeached, Trump would need not only to have done something grossly, publicly illegal (which has not yet been proved and will likely not be, for all sorts of reasons). He would also need to be wildly unpopular – more unpopular than he is and more than he will ever likely be.

Finally, he will have to have stirred up great opposition to him in Congress, which again looks decidedly unlikely.

Both houses of Congress have Republican majorities. And all Republicans have by and large signed up to the Trump project, for better or worse. Republican lawmakers have made peace with Trump's victory and have done all they can to accommodate themselves in his ascent to the highest office in the land.

It will have been uncomfortable for some, even many, of them; but they have done it, at no small cost to their dignity and – in some cases – their sanity.

Practical concerns also predominate. Legislators of all parties are in hock to his v**ers – the sorts of people who like it when Trump shakes things up, rattles a few cages and generally makes life hard for folks in Washington. This is the major issue. There is no getting around it.

There is also another an essential point to contend with: the facts of public relations.

Even if criminality on the president's part were to be proven and even if a large majority of legislators could be prompted to move against Trump, removing a president this early in his term does not look like a last resort. It looks spiteful. It looks opportunistic. It looks anti-democratic.

Many v**ers did not give Trump their support at the b****t, but the impeachment of a newly elected head of state this early in his term gives new life to the absurd idea of a 'deep state' conspiracy aimed at undermining Trump in deference of special interests and entrenched power.

For all these reasons, Trump will not be impeached. Not now – not ever. With that in mind, it seems that he is almost guaranteed to remain in office for a full term, continuing as president until 2020. And even then, even after what will be difficult, bruising years ahead, he is more than likely, as the incumbent, to win another term in office, and to stay on for four more years.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

That's assuming Trump doesn't insult the Saudi King or commit some other "trumpism" while overseas. When public relations are taken to such a low level from day one, and kept low, even lowering it - there comes a breaking point, and even staunch supporters will breath a sigh of relief if he's removed from office.

Had Trump abandoned every single "promise" after taking office, that would have been for his "peeps" to try and deal with, as all of those who did not v**e for him would feel vindicated. Even removing the "Russian connection" from the table, Trump manufactures one crisis after another, unnerving everyone here AND around the world, angering even some of his own people and pushing the GOP lawmakers to exhaustion. When will they tire of excusing his erratic behavior? When will they have enough of taking grief in their own districts? As it is, those running for special e******n are distancing themselves from Trump as much as possible, and those seeking re-e******n next year are developing ulcers. That means, if Trump is still generating such confusion, angst, chaos and anger by Nov. next year, and they lose seats - the few remaining "Trumpites" will be all that stands between him and impeachment.

That's not a very stable foundation at all, and we're quickly approaching the point where removing Trump is the better public relations move.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Some time ago, I decided that time will take care of what is to happen with the Trump administration. Similar to a runaway train, our president will either run the nation off a cliff, into a wall of 'no-more,' or into a future (for better or worse) no one could have dared imagine. For our nation's sake, I hope we not only survive, but flourish as a result of The Trump Experiment.

Ricko Loc: Florida

Slatten-Come on Slat, the man is trying to cure some of America's ills and that involves stepping on
many entrenched toes some of which are corrupt. As a result he is being obstructed at every turn. The
democrats cannot accept their e******n loss and will not take responsibility for choosing the wrong candidate to
represent their party. Not only do I expect us to survive but we will prosper as well. Once the health care and
tax bills become law, we will see infrastructure activity and possibly even part of the wall being built. With a
thriving economy many of our ills will disappear. Our people want good- paying jobs and once those become abundantly available the mood in the country will change from pessimism to optimism. Trump is in the process
of deporting criminal aliens and working to disband the MS13 gangs which I view as positive for the inner cities.
We need to give the man some breathing room and see what a year on the job yields. ironically, the alternative would be have been 8 more years of Obama, more entrenched corruption, and further degradation of the middle
class. This guy is our best hope of regaining our status on the world stage. What do the democrats have to offer
that would be attractive to you? America First !!!

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Really, Ricko What part of my last sentence, "For our nation's sake, I hope we not only survive, but flourish as a result of The Trump Experiment," did you not understand I did not v**e for the man, but I want the country to come out of his term(s) in good shape. I know you understand that I v**ed for Jim Webb.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

theotts

Trumkopf didn't win the popular v**e. His popularity rating has been as high as 50% for under one week, and it's been under 40% for four months.
Partisan hacks may save him from impeachment, but only if they're from safely gerrymandered districts in red states.
I don't think anyone like Ryan will touch it with a ten-foot pole. Your "revolution" is already over.