Impeachment is a symptom of runaway presidential power, not the answer

Since Trump took office, Democrats have clearly been looking for evidence of impeachable misconduct. The fact that they actually seem to have found something is Trump’s fault—and totally predictable. But impeachment is not a way of limiting the powers of the president.

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It’s a substitute for limiting those powers.

If Congress really wanted to rein in the presidency, for example, it could take back the power given to it in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.” As it is, Congress has abdicated power over tariffs to the executive, and Donald Trump has been gleefully imposing them to prosecute his disastrous trade war. The effect is that the president has unilaterally imposed tens of billions of dollars in new taxes on the American people, usurping the role of Congress. Members of Congress could remove his authorization to do so, if they wanted.

One of the craziest parts of this impeachment push is that Democrats show no signs of wanting to limit presidential power on any issue. In fact, their own presidential candidates have been competing over who can promise to do more by executive order on day one of his or her administration, from banning guns to breaking up Facebook. What Democrats are saying is that they want a super-all-powerful president—just not this guy.

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