We noted on Monday The Philadelphia Inquirer’s far-left columnist Will Bunch’s skeet telling us that, assuming the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives following the elections this coming November, that President Trump will ‘inevitably’ be impeached. It took longer on Tuesday for Mr Bunch’s column to be published than I had guessed, 11:52 AM EDT, but finally it came out. It was the same laundry list of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ that the denizens of Bluesky always parrot, but really nothing new.

The ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ as the columnist listed them:

• The pardon mess, as described above. Trump’s outrageous abuse of his clemency pen has proved America’s founders made a big mistake in granting such absolute power to just one man. Congressional hearings can and should spur pardon reform, but could also expose evidence that could be used in a Trump impeachment case.

The pardon power is explicitly listed in the Constitution, and Congress cannot simply change it.

• Cryptogate. Presidents used to put their assets in a blind trust, as Jimmy Carter famously did with his peanut farm. Trump, on the other hand, keeps doing deals and has seen his net worth roughly triple to more than $6 billion in just the first year of his second term. There are many tentacles to what I called Cryptogate with this handy guide I published last spring. Trump’s pump-and-dump meme coin launched on inauguration weekend seems a high crime unto itself.

I am amused that Mr Bunch cited an opinion article, his own opinion article, to declare something a “high crime”. But if making money while in public office is a high crime or misdemeanor, the members of Congress, many of whom have become far wealthier while in office themselves, far wealthier than their congressional salaries would support, would be hanging themselves with such a charge.

• War crimes. The war in Iran is illegal, period. The president did not seek congressional approval to start dropping bombs up and down the Persian Gulf as required by both the U.S. Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act. It’s also an illegal, aggressive war under international law. Ditto his regime-change assault on Venezuela, which killed more than 100 people. Ditto his regime’s unending lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, which have no legal basis. Congress can reassert its authority by impeaching Trump.

The distinguished columnist apparently does not understand the War Powers Resolution of 1973 that he claims was violated because the “president did not seek congressional approval to start dropping bombs up and down the Persian Gulf”. As we pointed out here, under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 USC §1541-1550), the President is required to notify the Speaker of the House of Representatives and he President pro tempore of the Senate within 48 hours after “any case in which United States Armed Forces are introduced into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances”, which Mr Trump did. Prior notification is not required under the law.^[1]§1543(a)(3)

• Abuse of power in the justice system. The flip side of Trump’s pardons has been the unprecedented attempt to use the Justice Department to go after the president’s perceived enemies, from former FBI chief James Comey to Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. These investigations, directly urged on by Trump in Truth Social posts, have repeatedly failed to pass muster with judges or grand juries, but that doesn’t erase the stain of such clearly wrongful prosecutions.

Would this be the same Justice Department which pursued mostly working-class people for the January 6^th Capitol kerfuffle, charging the vast majority with four crimes^[2]The standard four charges with which the majority were charged: 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. If there … Continue reading but allowing them to plead down to a single count of Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building, for which most received little or no time in jail, and a fine, using the bullying power of the federal government against people who could not afford to fight the charges.

Would that be the same Department of Justice which was surveilling traditionalist Catholics, based almost entirely on an assessment from the hard-left Southern Poverty Law Center? Would that be the same Department of Justice whose FBI Director, Christopher Wray, lied to Congress about the extent of the program?

Would that be the same Justice Department which constantly went after Mr Trump’s friends and attorneys?

Despite the constant pleas of his base to “Lock her up,” in reference to Hillary Clinton, during his first term, President Trump had no such effort made. The tactic of going after the previous Administration’s people started under President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Whatever aggression is being made to go after Mr Trump’s enemies falls in the category of “What comes around, goes around.”

The columnist actually admitted that it was highly unlikely that there would be the 67 votes in the Senate necessary to actually remove the President from office; he’s actually asking for just more political theater, hoping it damages a President who can’t even run again.

Nothing is more central to that than reestablishing that high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution have consequences — including the stain of impeachment.

This is a laughing out loud moment, because not one, not two, but three failed impeachments against a single President will be no stain at all, and only make a mockery of impeachment itself, a laughable display of failed partisanship because the Democrats hate Mr Trump and his policies. The “stain” of two previous failed impeachments didn’t prevent 77,302,580 Americans from voting Mr Trump back into office! Mr Bunch ought to be smart enough to realize that, but his #TrumpDerangementSyndrome simply overwhelms any good sense he might have.