- It is not an impeachable offence to call for a bipartisan deal on “Dreamers.”
- It is not an impeachable offence to signal that a bipartisan Congressional deal on “Dreamers” will be vetoed.
- It is not an impeachable offence to insist in rally after rally that a wall is currently being constructed on the Mexican-American border.
- It is not an impeachable offence to insist in rally after rally that a wall is currently being constructed on the Mexican-American border when a Republican-dominated Congress has only authorized repairs to existing fencing.
- It is not an impeachable offence to weaponize your base to attack the media.
- It is not an impeachable offence to weaponize your base to engage in racist slurs.
- It is not an impeachable offence for a sitting president to pardon a heinous felon like Arizonian ex-Sherriff Joe Arpaio.
- It is not an impeachable offence to send a signal to one’s cronies who have been indicted that they can expect a pardon if they “don’t say nuttin.”
- It is not an impeachable offence to have a host of colleagues who worked on your presidential campaign indicted, with many admitting they were guilty (Michael Flynn, Rick Gates)
- It is not an impeachable offence to fire Andrew McCabe from the F.B.I. without a reasonable cause.
- It is not an impeachable offence to single-handedly try to destroy the post WWII economic and security order and to partially succeed.
- It is not an impeachable offence just because the billionaire Tom Steyer says it is.
- It is not an impeachable offence just because Congressman Al Green says some activity is.
- It is not an impeachable offence to have a Secretary of Education who does not believe in public schools.
- It is not an impeachable offence to put Scott Pruitt in charge of protecting the environment when he does not believe that humans are responsible for disrupting the environment.
- It is not an impeachable offence to put someone in charge of protecting the environment who lives “high off the hog” and travels on private jets and requisitioned air force flights at taxpayer expense.
- It is not an impeachable offence to put someone in charge of protecting the environment who practices nepotism.
- It is not an impeachable offence to get rid of a series of first class advisers who try to execute your program – an Axis of Adults – Rex Tillerson, former Secretary of State, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, economic adviser Gary Cohn.
- It is not an impeachable offence to marginalize both Chief of Staff, John F. Kelly and Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis.
- It is not an impeachable offence to get rid of a series of first class advisers because they try to place boundaries around one’s irrationality.
- It is not an impeachable offence to continually belittle your Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not recusing himself even if the law required that he do so.
- It is not an impeachable offence to order White House counsel Donald McGahn to try to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Justice Department investigation into collusion.
- It is not an impeachable offence to insist that it is the duty of the Attorney General to protect the president from the Russian probe.
- It is not an impeachable offence to lie and say a meeting with the Russians was about adoption when it is was later proven that it was not.
- It is not an impeachable offence to help your son draft a letter covering up the reason for meeting with a Russian lawyer who offered to provide dirt on Hilary Clinton.
- It is not an impeachable offence to try to eliminate the Foreign Service by failing to fill ambassadorships and senior positions in the State Department.
- It is not an impeachable offence to induce a host of very experienced and highly professional diplomats to leave public service.
- It is not an impeachable offence to induce your ambassador to Estonia, James D. Melville Jr., to resign because you express the belief that because the majority in a country speak Russian it is ok for Russia to seize a territory like Crimea.
- It is not an impeachable offence to withdraw from environmental treaties even if withdrawal threatens the future of America.
- It is not an impeachable offence to withdraw from trade treaties even if withdrawal threatens the future of America.
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine all the norms around international trade.
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine all the norms concerning how top world leaders relate to one another.
- It is not an impeachable offence to love brinkmanship and confrontation.
- It is not an impeachable offence to baffle and offend almost everyone.
- It is not an impeachable offence to abandon America’s Kurdish allies.
- It is not an impeachable offence to abandon America’s other Syrian allies.
- It is not an impeachable offence to declare triumphantly that North Korea was “no longer a nuclear threat” and that “everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office.”
- It is not an impeachable offence to legitimize a notorious killer and dictator only to have your own intelligence services confirm that Kim Jong Un has echoed earlier reneging practices in concealing its nuclear stockpile and both improving and hiding its production facilities, especially at its secret Kangson underground uranium enrichment site.
- It is not an impeachable offence to declare that you made no concessions to Kim Yong Un when you promised him that you would end your Freedom Guardian military exercises with South Korea.
- It is not an impeachable offence to declare that “I made a deal with him, I shook hands with him, I really believe he means it.”
- It is not an impeachable offence to use up your credits with the Chinese to get them first to join in sanctions and then ease up on sanctions on North Korea.
- It is not an impeachable offence to play footsies with Chinese President Xi Jinping and then slap the Chinese with 34 billion dollars in tariffs.
- It is not an impeachable offence to induce the Chinese to slap duties on 500 items resulting in layoffs at American car manufacturers.
- It is not an impeachable offence to induce the Europeans to slap a 25% duty on bourbon produced in Kentucky which Mitch McConnell represents in the Senate.
- It is not an impeachable offence to induce the Harley-Davidson to shift production abroad when Wisconsin is the home of both the company and Paul Ryan, leader of the House.
- It is not an impeachable offence to shunt the Japanese government to the sidelines.
- It is not an impeachable offence to ignore Africa.
- It is not an impeachable offence to take Australia and New Zealand for granted.
- It is not an impeachable offence to malign your closest allies.
- It is not an impeachable offence to do one’s best to ensure that Mexicans elect a socialist president.
- It is not an impeachable offence to suggest the Findlandization of Europe.
- It is not an impeachable offence to make common cause with anti-immigrant political leaders in Hungary, Poland Slovakia and even France.
- It is not an impeachable offence to suggest to Emmanuel Macron that France consider withdrawing from the EU.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say that the EU was only set up to take advantage of the U.S.
- It is not an impeachable offence to withdraw from a denuclearization treaty with Iran.
- It is not an impeachable offence to withdraw from such a treaty and then hand Syria over to the Russians and Iranians.
- It is not an impeachable offence to insist you have been “tougher on Russia” than your predecessor.
- It is not an impeachable offence to agree to let Erdoğan of Turkey take over part of Syria.
- It is not an impeachable offence to ignore Africa.
- It is not an impeachable offence to reverse the normalization process with Cuba.
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine American cooperation with Mexico on drug and people trafficking, on security and disease control.
- It is not an impeachable offence to give the government of Venezuela ammunition to retain power.
- It is not an impeachable offence to break trade treaties that will end up hurting American farmers.
- It is not an impeachable offence to push Mexican famers to once again grow crops to replace American imports.
- It is not an impeachable offence to break trade treaties that will hurt Heinz ketchup.
- It is not an impeachable offence to take over an anti-deficit party and run up a ten trillion dollar deficit over ten years.
- It is not an impeachable offence to try to obstruct justice, though perhaps succeeding may be.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say the Russian probe is a Democratic witch hunt when those on charge, Rosenstein and Mueller, are not Democrats but Republicans.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say the Russian probe is a Democratic witch hunt.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say the Russian probe is a witch hunt even though in the last two months of last year, the president’s first national security adviser and most trusted traveling companion pleaded guilty to federal charges.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say the Russian probe is a witch hunt even though a number of other senior officials connected with the presidential campaign have pleaded guilty or have been indicted.
- It is not an impeachable offence to repeatedly threaten to fire Rob Rosenstein who oversees the Robert S. Mueller III Russian probe.
- It is not an impeachable offence to get elected with Russian help.
- It is not an impeachable offence to question the consensus judgment of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the election.
- It is not an impeachable offence to demand James Comey’s loyalty.
- It is not an impeachable offence to demand Comey’s loyalty and, when it was not forthcoming, to fire him.
- It is not an impeachable offence to write in the first draft of a letter firing Comey that it was because of his involvement in the Russian probe.
- It is not an impeachable offence to then fire Comey for misconduct in the Hilary probe.
- It is not an impeachable offence to then publicly admit that Comey was fired because of leading the Russian probe.
- It is not an impeachable offence if virtually no Republicans in Congress will currently impeach.
- It is not an impeachable offence if very few Republicans will impeach even if there is a Democratic majority for impeachment.
- It is not an impeachable offence to say the Russian probe is a Democratic witch hunt when both Rosenstein and Mueller are Republicans.
- It is not an impeachable offence if virtually no Republicans will currently impeach.
- It may not be an impeachable offence to breach the foreign-emolument clause of the constitution and make money off foreigners because you are president.
- It may not be an impeachable offence to breach the domestic-emolument clause and make money off your own government (the Secret Service, for example, staying at Mar-a-Lago) when you are president.
- No offence is impeachable without great political cost if only one party supports impeachment.
- It is certainly an impeachable offence if there is a serious breach of trust by the president.
- It is certainly an impeachable offence if there is a usurpation of power by the president.
- It is certainly an impeachable offence if a president abuses his constitutional duties.
- No offence is impeachable even if Bob Mueller indicts the president for criminal activity.
- It is not an impeachable offence unless one can be found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours and one cannot be found guilty if one cannot be tried on such charges in a court of law.
- It is not an impeachable offence when overwhelmingly Republicans oppose trying the President for such a crime.
- It is not an impeachable offence to choose as the president you most admire, Andrew Jackson, who was responsible for the Trail of Tears and the ethnic cleansing of the Cherokee.
- It is not an impeachable offence to choose as the president you most admire, Andrew Jackson, who held that judges could only serve “during good behaviour.”
- It is not an impeachable offence, as Donald Trump has demonstrated, to abuse public trust as Alexander Hamilton claimed.
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine democracy by fostering factionalism and helping constitute a sizeable electorate with a “malign common motive” guided by “some common impulse of passion/interest inimical to the rights of other citizens.”
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine democratic representation through use of the census contrary to the claim of James Madison.
- It is not an impeachable offence to undermine the three non-political pillars of democracy – civility, fostering a common identity and boosting economic security – by uncouth behaviour, stimulating cultural resentments and weakening the American economic position in the world.
- It is not an impeachable offence when one man controls the legislative and judicial branches of government as well as the seat of executive power.
- It is not an impeachable offence to allow passions to override a bureaucracy, established procedures and the deliberative process all essential to responsible republican government.
- It is not an impeachable offence to make the “common good” subordinate to clashing interests.
- It is not an impeachable offence to rely on populism to convert legislative representatives to toadies, contrary to James Madison’s belief that elected representatives should not only listen to constituents but rely on their own knowledge and ideas and look to one another to ensure policies are well crafted.
- It is not an impeachable offence to convert a checks and balances political system to one in which a single individual rules.
- It is not an impeachable offence to injure society through divisiveness, also as Alexander Hamilton believed and as Al Green claimed in his impeachment resolution in Congress.
- It is not an impeachable offence to claim to make America great again as you shrink the American presence in the world and hollow out its long- established institutions.
- None of the above alone may result in be impeachment but perhaps the cumulative total may.
With the help of Alex Zisman
Howard Adelman 