The Self-Impeachment of Donald Trump

“He’s not worth it. He’ll self-impeach.”

Forget everything else.

Forget the history of this man. The lawsuits, his associations with unsavory elements, his need to be the center of attention, his racism, xenophobia and pandering. Forget all that. Forget the rallies, the chants, the investigations, Wayne Barrett, Jimmy Breslin, the failed casinos, his stunts, the USFL, the wives, the affairs, the ‘University,’ the phone call — forget all that, for a moment.

This is about his character. Same as with Nixon, Clinton and Andrew Johnson. None of these men should have been president. But they were and history recorded their actions. With the exception of Clinton, who was impeached on specious circumstances and Johnson, who came the closest to being removed, surviving by one vote, because he wasn’t Lincoln.

And then there’s Nixon. Everything always comes back to Nixon. Old Tanned, Rested & Ready. A man ‘so crooked his servants had to screw his pants on,’ per Hunter S. Thompson. A man who that old vampire himself, Henry Kissinger, once said “Imagine how great a man he could have been if only someone would have loved him.”

One could say the same about Trump. Distant mother, always feeling alone, in a loveless marriage, feelings of persecution, never backing down from a fight, bragging about his accomplishments, dismissive of his failures. Pandering to the worst instincts of humanity. The comparison is there.