Hear That? It鈥檚 New Impeachment Talk as Flynn Turns on Trump

This morning鈥檚 bombshell news about former 聽shouldn鈥檛 have surprised too many people. Flynn has always been the key figure (now star witness) in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He was on board early with the Trump campaign and was a public confidant of the president until he was fired just three weeks into the new administration. Flynn was also publicly sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and it quickly emerged that there was plenty of evidence Flynn would turn out to be the Oliver North of this scandal: the tall, quiet man at the center who knows everything.

The freshened taint of scandal makes it tempting to wonder whether President Trump will keep the presidency. I鈥檝e been hesitant to really chomp at the impeachment bit if only because I realized early on that Congress would do nothing until 1) Republicans got their big tax cut for the wealthy, which now , 2) criminal charges were filed against the sitting president, 3) Democrats retake Congress in the 2018 midterms, or 4) all of the above, plus pigs with wings.

But Flynn鈥檚 single guilty plea in exchange for cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller is encouraging 聽again, with U.S. Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, planning to . Flynn, , is expected to testify that Trump鈥檚 transition team and possibly Trump himself directed his contacts with the Russians.

Now we know why Trump was so keen that former 听补苍诲聽should give Flynn a pass. Comey has testified that Trump said he hoped Comey would consider 鈥渓etting Flynn go.鈥�

So is this the start of serious impeachment movement?

Flynn鈥檚 single guilty plea in exchange for cooperating is encouraging impeachment talk again.

Not so fast. Putting aside the record Trump has for on what鈥檚 deemed acceptable behavior for the most politically powerful man in the world (he may well be able to shoot that figurative person on Fifth Avenue and still skate by), whether the Republican-controlled Congress will still do its job and remove him is an open question.

First, they haven鈥檛 gotten that tax cut for the rich yet. And there are still questions about its survivability now that everyone knows the Senate鈥檚 version of the bill would , lead to , give Trump and his family a , and constitute what may be the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy in the nation鈥檚 history. But as they like to say in the tech industry, those aren鈥檛 bugs, those are features, and the signs favor something getting passed soon.

Then there鈥檚 the very nature of impeachment that makes it unlikely right now. On the three occasions when it鈥檚 been brought to bear in the past鈥攁gainst Presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Richard Nixon (who only avoided it by resigning)鈥攖he opposition party had control of Congress. The Democrats don鈥檛. Yet.

Impeachment has become one of those things that is 鈥渏ust not done anymore.鈥�

And the 鈥渉igh crimes and misdemeanors鈥� language of the impeachment clause in the constitution () is always tricky to define. In fact, while impeachment is necessarily a political process, it鈥檚 one that gets the lawyers involved on a micro level, so there are even congressional Democrats who are reluctant to go down that road. (聽concluding that impeachment has become one of those things that is 鈥渏ust not done anymore,鈥� even when the case for doing so has never been clearer.)

There is also the intangible, the World According to Trump. The president and his supporters have manufactured a hermetic seal around their alternate reality and are unwilling to believe anything that isn鈥檛 on Fox News or Breitbart. In this worldview: There are some fine people among the Nazis who killed a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August; the real Russian scandal involves Hillary Clinton in some manner; and all the other news media are conspiring to bring down Trump because they鈥檙e controlled by Barack Obama or George Soros. Maybe ISIS, too. (As I write this, the Fox News website is trying out various angles to spin the news it can鈥檛 ignore. One headline: 鈥淢ainstream media hoping Trump collusion narrative is true?鈥� Another: 鈥淪ecret emails detail FBI鈥檚 hunt for leaker after infamous Lynch-Clinton meeting.鈥�) No matter what happens, the 鈥渁lternative facts鈥� universe will coalesce around some explanation for why Trump is innocent and persecuted. They鈥檙e rallying behind an , after all.

And while it鈥檚 tempting to think that the end of Trump鈥檚 maladministration is nearer than it was before Flynn鈥檚 guilty plea, we should consider what could happen. Vice President Mike Pence is next in line, and if he鈥檚 also implicated, then it鈥檚 House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose economic strategy involves 听补苍诲 ushering in a new Gilded Age.

Trump has an ability to dodge and deflect scandals that have easily ended other powerful political careers. Unnervingly, it works like this: The more he gets backed into a corner, the more irrational he becomes, and the more likely he is to do something rash in order to distract attention. Trump is ratcheting up tensions with Iran and a nuclear-armed North Korea, and鈥攈ello?鈥攚e . It鈥檚 scary to contemplate how the endgame is going to play out.

The damage done in one year to this country聽is going to take years to repair.

Even in the best scenario (Trump is replaced by someone who cares about the well-being of the country and the American people), the damage done in one year to this country鈥攊ts institutions, systems of government, economy, and the civic fabric that has us all still believing we belong here鈥攊s going to take years to repair. Impeaching Trump will just be the first step in a long process of setting things right.

Chris Winters is a senior editor at YES!, where he specializes in covering democracy and the economy. Chris has been a journalist for more than 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the Seattle area. He鈥檚 covered everything from city council meetings to natural disasters, local to national news, and won numerous awards for his work. He is based in Seattle, and speaks English and Hungarian.

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