The Atlantic

America Is Too Impeachment Obsessed

Relentless discussion may harm our democracy and inflame partisan dysfunction.
Source: Jim Young / Reuters

Calls to impeach President Donald Trump—and denunciations of those calls—have run rampant in American public discourse since Election Day 2016.  Although support for ending Trump’s tenure has never exceeded 50 percent, it’s no exaggeration to say that talk of impeachment is now a defining feature of our politics. But major implications of that fact remain underappreciated.

Over the past two years, hardly any development in the federal government has escaped the inevitable think piece opining that Trump’s presidency has finally been doomed or saved. By November 2018, the word had already been uttered on cable news . New books and articles on the topic arrive weekly. Commentators including and ’s have championed the cause. Tom Steyer has poured millions of dollars into , and many liberals have rallied to his banner. These calls for Trump’s removal echo widely in #resistance circles—and also on, which gleefully feature this “proof” of a liberal conspiracy.

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