Shri Thanedar and the Impeachment Saga of Donald J. Trump

Representative Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan), whose name sounds like he comes out of Star Wars movie and whose hair ironically mimics President Donald Trump’s own airy mane, is filing articles of impeachment against the U.S. President.

It seems highly unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House, but what is notable and interesting to me about it all is how the tool of impeachment has become so politicized since the 1990’s. - Clinton’s impeachment included.

After all, “Darth Thanedar” isn’t the only congressman who has articles of impeachment in the works against Trump.

So this isn’t a politically partisan post - I just truly find it worthwhile to ponder exactly where we are at in our country if impeachment is being used primarily as a political weapon.

Is this what the Founders intended?

Probably not.

But could they have easily foreseen it?

Yeah. Of course. In fact, they probably did.

It took a few hundred years to get into full swing, but here we are.

Some will decry it, and maybe deservedly so. But others may defend it as just part of the political process, and thereby seek to legitimize it.

But first, a brief history lesson.

Only three U.S. Presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.

Johnson was impeached because the Republican-led Congress felt he was being too soft on the re-incorporated former Confederate States of America as part of the long process of reconstruction and reconciliation between North and South - so they found a reason to go after him and he narrowly kept his office.

It was well over a hundred years later before Bill Clinton was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, related to his sexual misconduct trials. However, even most Republican voters can admit that the motivating factors behind his impeachment were highly political and partisan.

Fast forward to 2020, and we’ve got Democrats impeaching the (at that time) former President Donald Trump after he had already left office - which raises questions of legality that still haven’t been properly addressed.

And now, in 2025, they want to do it again - at the very least as a token gesture.

They know it will fail - so what do they hope to accomplish?

It’s all politics, of course.

Perhaps there’s name recognition involved, because now we all know the name of “Darth Thanedar.”

And a few weeks ago, I had no idea who Rep. Al Green was until he stood up and was dragged out of the House during Trump’s presidential address and was later censured. Apparently, Green has impeachment articles coming as well.

But are the Democrats really behind all of this?

Is it a waste of time, or could they be doing something more productive?

Is it in line with keeping their base happy? To show how much they disapprove of Trump?

Will they say it is because they are standing on principle?

I don’t know.

But I’m sort of on the fence about how submitting articles of impeachment has become such a thing in recent years - from both parties. Because I remember well plenty of talk about impeaching both Bush and Obama during the previous two decades, as well.

On the one hand, I can see how it could be argued that this is just the political process trying to keep corruptible politicians in line with the law, and so you could take the position that even if this is politically motivated, or of dubious validity, it’s still there to keep our leaders on their toes.

And I’m all for keeping our leaders on their toes. They should answer to us - the people.

On the other hand, I feel like there’s a lot more we could be doing to work together - in a bipartisan way - and make real progress in our nation and in the world.

And I feel like this obstructs that. That it is an unhelpful distraction.

I’ve said this before, but Democrats have two years until they are up for midterm elections. If they have nothing to show for their party except being the “anti-Trump” party, they will keep their base support strong but probably lose independent voters, and thereby tend to lose in the elections.

So I’m not quite seeing how this is smart - except that perhaps this might be a name recognition thing that might serve these politicians individually.

But perhaps harm their party.

And if that’s true - the Democrats really ought to take note of that and act accordingly.