A Trump Impeachment Effort Goes Terribly Wrong

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Shri’s a crowd

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) thought it was well past time to impeach President Donald Trump, and took matters into his own hands Tuesday by threatening to force a vote on a litany of charges. The 29-page impeachment resolution he drafted detailed Trump’s corruption and abuse of power in his first 100 days in office. But when it became apparent on Wednesday that the resolution would be swiftly tabled by the House, and that an overwhelming majority of his fellow Democrats did not want to vote on impeachment, Thanedar withdrew the resolution… for now.

Thanedar is on an island by wanting a show-vote to impeach Trump. At his press conference on Wednesday announcing the impeachment resolution, he was the only lawmaker present—all but one of his five colleagues who had signed on as cosponsors had withdrawn their support—and he was flanked by fewer than a dozen supporters with mostly homemade signs. Not many reporters were there either to cover the symbolic—and Thanedar acknowledged it was indeed symbolic—impeachment resolution. After all, it is one of the busiest weeks on Capitol Hill this year as various House committees are marking up and negotiating what is poised to be Trump’s signature legislative achievement if it clears all the necessary hurdles sometime later this year.

Thanedar’s decision to bring early impeachment charges echoes similar efforts by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) during Trump’s first term in office. Back in 2017, there wasn’t yet a concrete enough case to impeach Trump, nor were there sufficient votes because of the solid Republican majority. Instead, Democratic leaders bided their time for a clear-cut impeachable offense, then mounted a formal investigation and built a case. They also had the benefit of controlling the House. Now, in 2025, Trump may have committed impeachable offenses, but those other boxes remain unchecked.

And Democrats are busy with issues that have more realistic upsides, such as preserving Medicaid coverage, fighting tax cuts for top earners, and highlighting the White House’s brazen corruption. Many House Democrats appeared bothered when asked about Thanedar’s resolution, clearly preferring to talk about the Republican budget.