Trump faces demand for impeachment in less than 20 days after inauguration

Argument for impeachment of new U.S. President Donald Trump, who is under controversy for his anti-immigration executive order and making disparaging remarks against a federal judge, has openly emerged primarily from the Democratic Party and progressive civic groups. This has happened in less than 20 days after Trump’s inauguration.

Meeting with reporters on Monday, Democratic House Representative Maxine Waters said, “The biggest hope is to immediately bring Trump to impeachment,” adding, “I am not demanding his impeachment, but Trump has brought it upon himself.” He thus indicated that not only Trump’s anti-immigration executive order but also his effort to form amicable diplomatic relations with Russia, one of the U.S.’ main enemies, run counter to constitutional values that Trump should follow as the U.S. president. Senator Joaquín Castro, an ethnic Hispanic, also told an interview with online media outlet Buzzfeed on February 1, “If President Trump instructs the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to disregard (some) judges’ decision (to halt immigration ban), the Congress should start the process to seek no-confidence and impeachment.”

Some progressive civic groups are outright making moves to seek Trump’s impeachment in earnest. Free Speech for People, a grassroots civic group, opened a website dubbed "Impeach Trump Now" and is collecting signatures from citizens. The civic group has also devised guidelines for specific actions including fundraising to stage an impeachment campaign, visits to congressmen for residents’ constituencies, spread of the drive to seek impeachment through the media including broadcasters and newspapers, and is urging citizens to take part.

However, the Democratic Party’s leadership is still not active in discussions about impeachment. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made it clear on Monday that “Donald Trump is not consistent strategically, and has been managing (state administration) in an incompetent and reckless way, but they cannot be the causes for impeachment.”

Pelosi made the remarks based on her judgment that an attempt to impeach the president without the necessary legal requirements could backfire in a circumstance where there are a significant number of people in the so-called "Shy Trump" group including working class whites and where the GOP is controlling both the House and the Senate. In a survey conducted of 725 voters on January 30-31 by Public Policy Polling, 40 percent of the respondents said they support Trump’s impeachment. Respondents who opposed his impeachment accounted for 48 percent, which is larger than the other group.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com