Steyer pressures Congress to impeach

[struggle4progress]

12. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Once upon a time, a president of the United States branded his political opponents traitors, pardoned his friends, ignored the will of Congress, inflamed racial tensions, and coarsened political discourse. His opponents deemed him vain, vulgar, incompetent, erratic and a danger to democracy. An influential member of the U.S. House of Representatives declared, “If we could succeed in an impeachment, it would be a blessing probably, but it is perfectly evident that with the Senate constituted as it is, we cannot affect an impeachment.” And yet, he warned, impractical politicians “are determined to push the insane scheme of making the attempt and setting the country in a ferment.”

This president, of course, was Andrew Johnson ...

... The president’s political instincts were terrible ... His penchant for martyrdom, a tendency to listen “only to news that justified what he already thought,” and a refusal to reach out to moderates .. allowed him to conclude that he was “deeply unappreciated, wholly persecuted and denied the respect he rightfully deserved” ...

The impeachment of Johnson .. “had not succeeded but it had worked.” It demonstrated that the president can — and should — be held accountable for his actions, and reduced him to a shadow (who “did not cast a long shadow”); that a system of checks and balances could work, “without waging war, even right after one” ...

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2019/05/26/Impeachers-Trial-Andrew-Johnson-Dream-Just-Nation-review/stories/201905260013