@prashanthamine
Mumbai: With barely 11 days left for US President Donald Trump’s presidency to end, Democrats who have gained majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are gunning for the second impeachment of Trump barely a year later. Democrats led by Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have mounted pressure on Republican Vice President Mike Pence to invoke provisions of the 25th amendment to the US Constitution and remove Trump from office on grounds that he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”.
The Democrats have raised their hackles so much that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has even gone to the extent of calling on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to know about the precautions available to prevent “unstable president” from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.
Although the critics are doubtful whether Vice President Mike Pence will invoke the provision of section 4 of the 25th amendment that allows the Vice President and majority of his cabinet to declare the President as “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President”.
After what happened on January 6 at the Capitol Hill, sensing the political implications of it many Republicans have now jumped the ship and are in favour of the second impeachment of Trump. It may be recalled that Trump was impeached on December 18, 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of the Congress amidst charges that he had sought Ukrainian authorities to interfere in his November 2020 US Presidential elections. That impeachment was ratified on February 5, 2020.
Also Read: Disgraced Trump set to demit office, plunges Capitol Hill in unruly chaos
What has raised eyebrows and left many fuming is that US President Donald Trump is seeking legal opinion on whether he could “self-pardon” after what happened on January 6. The Trumps were reportedly watching the events unfolding at the Capitol Hill from their safe confines of a tent. The Democrats are now collecting all of these incidents for articles for the second impeachment of Trump.
If that happens, Trump could be the only US president in 232 years of US history to have been impeached twice in one term. Critics further argue that by past precedents, succeeding US Presidents have issued Pardons for acts by their predecessors and not the incumbent pardoning himself.
In an attempt to brazen it out, US President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend the Inauguration (Swearing-in) of President elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on January 20. Critics point out that former vice president and his then Democrat rival Hillary Clinton had indeed attended Trump’s Inauguration in 2017.
Whether or not the Democrats manage to impeach Trump again or not or let him go is not clear, but one thing is quite clear is that Donald Trump joins a list of 8 former US Presidents who have left behind a tarnished legacy.
Most infamous legacy has been that of former Republican president late Richard M Nixon who was the 37th President of the United States of America (USA) from 1969 to 1974. Although he secured a second term in office in 1972, the Watergate scandal forced him to resign on August 9, 1974, barely two years into his second term in office.
On June 17, 1972 Federal agents broke into the Democrat party headquarters at Watergate building in Washington DC. Nixon initially did try to cover it up, but the testimony of his Counsel John Dean and Nixon’s private secretary Rose Mary Woods nailed it.
But it was the leaks of the White House tapes of the scandal by the notorious anonymous “Deep Throat” who was later identified as Mark Felt, then associate director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who leaked them to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The rest was history. The name Deep Throat was given from a quite popular porn movie of that time.
Nixon saved himself from the ignominy of facing the impeachment and resigned before he could be impeached. Two years later, his successor US President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974. Nixon did try to make an attempt at entering public life again, but the bitter hostile public opinion against him prevented him from doing so till his death in April 1994.
Although the Presidency of 35th US President, John F Kennedy (Democrat) was not that tarnished and invokes nostalgia following his brutal assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas. But his many affairs with Hollywood stars, most famously with Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich is still talked about even today.
Others in the list included – Danish journalist Inga M Arvad, actress Gene Tierney, Gunilla von Post, Judith Campbell, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Mimi Alford (Mimi Beardsley, White House Intern). The affair with Marilyn Monroe became such a hotly debated topic that an alarmed then FBI Director J Edgar Hoover personally asked then US Attorney General and younger brother of JFK, Robert F Kennedy to tell his elder brother and the US President to stay away from Marilyn Monroe!
The third most controversial Presidency was that of Bill Clinton (Democrat) who was the 42nd President from 1993 to 2001. He was the second US President after Andrew Johnson to be impeached on December 19, 1998. He is known for his torrid affair with White House Intern Monica Lewinsky.
The other lesser known US Presidents whose legacy is tagged as tarnished or controversial date back from the 1800’s to JFK in 1961.
Andrew Jackson (Democratic) was the 7th US President from 1829 to 1837. His inauguration was most embarrassing from the administration. Andrew Jackson had invited one and all for his Inauguration dinner. Most of the people who attended the party later stole belongings of the White House, some even cut pieces of curtains as souvenirs.
James Buchanan (Democrat) was the 15th President of the USA from 1857 to 1861. He was known for his controversial encouragement to Southerners (Southern States) to leave the Union much to the anger of the Unionists.
He was followed by another controversial US President late Andrew Johnson (Democratic) who was elevated to be the 17th US president after the assassination of the 16th President Abraham Lincoln. He became the first US president to be impeached in February 1868 for firing one Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Like Trump, 152 years ago Johnson too refused to attend the inauguration of his Republican successor Ulysses S Grant. The hate was mutual among the two.
Warren G Harding (Republican) who was the 29th US President from 1921 to 1923 was known more for his scandals than anything else. He was accused of bribery over sale of licenses to drill for oil in public open spaces.
If one were to go by the party-wise breakup of the past US Presidents who have had tainted or controversial legacies, then Democrats with 5 of their Presidents top the list, with 3 Republican Presidents. From the first US president George Washington in 1789, to the 45th US President Donald J Trump (2017-2021) none has been so controversial and hated alike like Trump has been. The fact that world leaders have condemned what happened on January 6 is testimony of the fact that Trump leaves behind a tainted legacy and a scarred, divided USA.
