OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – Regardless of where you might fall on the political spectrum, it’s a historic week in politics: the fourth time a sitting president has ever had articles of impeachment filed against him.
“There was a move in about 1801-802 by the [Thomas] Jefferson Administration used this to rid the bureaucracy and the judiciary of allies of the Federalists,” UW-Oshkosh Political Science Professor David Seimers told WTAQ Tuesday. “Since then, it’s been a rare tool, only used when one set of people believes very strongly that there has been some sort of malfeasance in office by a high ranking official.”
Impeachment has historically been a partisan effort. It’s even set up to be that way.
“Half of the House of Representatives can decide to impeach, which is just basically an accusation against a public official,” explained Seimers. “The Jefferson Administration’s attempt to purge the judiciary of Federalists was partisan. As was, certainly, the Johnson Impeachment back in 1868.”
One stretch of history produced an outlier to this trend. While President Richard Nixon was technically never actually impeached, the process had begun at a time when partisan lines were not as thick as they are today.
“In the time between 1960 and 1990, there was a lot of overlap between the two parties. There were conservative Democrats and pretty liberal Republicans,” said Seimers. “Many Republicans could see themselves voting for impeachment and removal.”
Nixon resigned from office before formal articles of impeachment could be voted on.
Seimers says his students are watching the proceedings.
“It’s a good window to illustrate some of the concepts we go over,” Seimers said. “Separation of powers, the growth in power and scope of the US Presidency, the fragmentation of Congress, narrowcasting of the media.”
Narrowcasting meaning the tendency for people to seek out news and information sources that they personally agree with–a trend sociologists refer to as confirmation bias.
“One of the things that’s happening now is that people who are liberal probably select CNN or MSNBC and people who are conservative select Fox News,” Seimers explains. “These stations cater to their audience…we seek out information to conforms to our previous thoughts.”
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives announced impeachment charges against President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
