Is Trump’s Foot-in-Mouth Disease an Impeachable Offense?

Donald Trump attempts to spot his approval rating
at a distance, and the back of some guy’s head.
Credit: Marc Nozell

Washington, DC–In the wake of the horrific violence that broke out in Charlottesville, VA between white nationalists and counter-protesters over the weekend, President Trump has offered a shifting response that was widely seen as inappropriate.

Trump’s reaction has been unnerving for many Republicans and has been received poorly by many American voters.

It has also created a new opening for Democrats to criticize the president without appearing unduly partisan. Public opinion polls show that neo-Nazi groups have an abysmal approval rating in the US among Democrats and Republicans, with the ideology scoring even lower than the US Congress–a feat political scientists previously thought to be impossible.

The new political opportunity is now being aggressively seized by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), who has announced plans to submit impeachment articles against President Trump over his response to the tragic events in Charlottesville.*
In a statement explaining his decision, Cohen argued that “President Trump has failed the test of moral leadership.”

During the 2016 election, Cohen backed Secretary Clinton over Trump and fully agrees that he was an imperfect candidate. “He said the majority of Mexican immigrants were drug dealers and racists, openly flirted with the idea of shutting down mosques, and was caught on tape offering some very rape-y dating advice,” Cohen explained, listing some of Trump’s several faults and obliquely referencing the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump averred, “Grab ’em by the p***y”.

“In spite of this,” Cohen’s statement continued, “when Vladimir Putin and the American people voted to make Donald Trump President of United States, they expected him to be more than just a political leader. They expected him to be an upstanding citizen and a role model.”

But after Charlottesville, it’s become clear to Cohen that Trump has failed in this regard and “Americans are adrift without their moral true north”–which traditionally resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Notably, the focus on morality here is not unique to Cohen or even to Democrats. After Trump’s first unsatisfying response on Charlottesville, many politicians and commentators on both sides of aisle called on Trump to use his unique “moral authority” as president to denounce hateful groups.

This suggests that Cohen’s may have legs in the House of Representatives. However, in a comment provided to The Daily Face Palm for this story, Cohen said he hoped it wouldn’t gain enough support to actually pass because as he put it, “That’s how you get Pence.”

*This is a satirical post. Rep. Cohen really is introducing articles of impeachment on the moral grounds suggested. The first quote attributed to Cohen is also entirely real, but the remainder are fictional.