Watergate Journalist On How Trumpism Has Impacted Impeachment | The Last Word | MSNBC

Elizabeth Drew, who has covered every modern presidential impeachment, joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss how the Republican Party has changed since Nixon in its approach to impeachment: “What was supposed to be a bicameral process, the House and then the Senate, has really become a political party process, where it’s Democrats versus Republicans. That wasn’t their intention.” Aired on 02/16/2021.
» Subscribe to MSNBC:

About The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell:
Drawing upon his experience as a former chief of staff on the Senate Finance Committee and as an Emmy-winning executive producer and writer of "The West Wing," Lawrence O'Donnell examines the compelling and impactful political stories of the day. O'Donnell convenes diverse panels of guests, including a variety of politicians and cultural voices, to offer unique viewpoints and perspective. In his signature style, O'Donnell highlights the latest news developments and offers his take on the political stories driving the national conversation.

MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, Meet the Press Daily, The Beat with Ari Melber, Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace, Hardball, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and more.

Connect with MSNBC Online
Visit msnbc.com:
Subscribe to MSNBC Newsletter:
Find MSNBC on Facebook:
Follow MSNBC on Twitter:
Follow MSNBC on Instagram:

#WatergateJournalist #PresidentialImpeachment #MSNBC

Watergate Journalist On How Trumpism Has Impacted Impeachment | The Last Word | MSNBC

54 comments

  1. According to the GOP.
    Lying about a legal consensual sexual relationship between two adults IS an impeachable offense, but inciting an insurrection against the legally elected government of the US is not.
    Everyone needs to think about that a little I think.

    1. ​@Foneticz Oh? You don’t think those Capitol stormers were trying to prevent my vote from counting? Why would they just set aside my Biden vote and allow it to count while trying to throw out the other 81,009,467 Biden votes? What makes you think they were going to be so considerate of my one vote? Were they yelling, “Save Constituent A’s vote!” while they were yelling, “Hang Mike Pence!” I don’t believe I heard that audio. Can you link that for me? “Sources” and all that, you know.

      I fully acknowledged that it has been building for more than four years. 2015 was six years ago. Calendars and dates a daunting subject for you?

      In a prior post, you deliberately tried to insinuate that a fascist political party was an example of “socialism”, and now you think anyone will consider you an expert on 1930s Germany? Don’t be so portentous.

    2. @Foneticz You don’t like S R’s spelling? Check you own, then! The word “partizan” is spelled p-a-r-t-i-s-a-n, with an “s”, not a “z”.

    3. @Foneticz Here is another explanation:
      The most common mistake, at least to modern eyes, is the word “choose,” spelled “chuse” several times. This is less a mistake than it is an alternate spelling used at the time. The word is found in the Constitution as both “chuse” and “chusing.”
      https://www.usconstitution.net/constmiss.html#:~:text=The%20Constitution%20was%20written%20in,it%20was%20written%20by%20hand.&text=The%20most%20common%20mistake%2C%20at,spelling%20used%20at%20the%20time.

    4. @Foneticz “Private citizens can’t be impeached after the fact when they’ve already left office.”
      And here you are wrong, Trump was STILL President when he was impeached by the House on the 13th January 2021.
      The Constitution does NOT say that leaving office stops an impeachment process, historical precedent actually says the opposite.
      Finally, the constitution says that the senate will try ALL impeachments. It does not say just the impeachments of those still in office.

    5. @Foneticz, did you not follow the truth in the impeachment trial? Sicknick died of injuries sustained in the insurrection, 2 others committed suicide from the trauma, 1 lost an eye, one several fingers, other hospitalized with head and body trauma from the beatings from the insurrectionists. Maybe you need to read the truth and not propaganda.

  2. There has to be an Amendment to the Constitution to make a real criminal trial for Impeachment with real Juries, and Witnesses, and a real Judge.

    1. Why not just tear up and never revisit the DOJ “recommendation” that a sitting President cannot be indicted? It’s not even a law, for goodness sakes! Get rid of it, and you have a non-partisan arm of the Justice system with the power to hold POTUS accountable for crimes. Even the Supreme Court has now officially decided that a sitting POTUS is NOT above the law.

    2. Watching from London,this was a total farce,the outcome was known before it started,America is a global embarrassment

  3. The Republicans DO NOT UPHOLD THEIR OATH TO PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION Either , They Would Rather Walk Party Lines !

    1. Neither side upholds their oath to the constitution. Both sides manipulate the words then pass laws that go against that benefit them and hurt law abiding Americans. Power and money is all they want

  4. For those of us watching around the world it seems the ‘impeachment and conviction’ of a President all depends on who holds the power in the Senate rather than if a President is actually ‘guilty’ or not. It’s purely political therefore a failed system and makes no sense, in fact it’s farcical. Trump has exposed America’s so-called famed democracy and constitution, it’s deeply flawed on so many levels!

  5. Maybe electing a reality TV host who dodged the draft,
    is a compulsive liar,
    and cheats at golf
    was a bad idea.

    1. YOU DIDN’T MENTION THAT HE WAS A FAILURE AS A STUDENT, HUSBAND, FATHER, BUSINESSMAN AND IN ESSENCE A DEBIT ON THE BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE.

    2. the people didnt elect him it was electoral college and Russia. he wouldve never won if he didnt call up his vodka daddy to help

    3. @Alex You should read the damning article in The Atlantic as to why the Electoral College had to vote him in. If you wnat the link, I’d be happy to provide it

    1. America is capitalism + democracy. Despite the equal representation, America also rewards those that strive for dominance and privilege, and put winning above all else. Thats what the GOP is doing. Just competing for minority rule and privilege, as this is what their donors pay for. (Its also the same mindset that got their puppeteering campaign donors wealthy.)

    2. Mitch Mc Connell gives the hot potato to the department of justice. He ‘d better swallow the hot patato himself, than he would be a héro and perhaps will speak fluently! Mitch could have done justice but he was a huge coward and wasn’ t brave enough! The majority of the senat has plaid criminal Trump guilty. Further on criminal and civil charges are waiting for him! Let ‘s prosecute criminal Trump!

    3. @Jason Faulkner I worked on the Street, and watched in horror as virtually all of the remaining safeguards were stripped out of regulations that would have softened the tech bubble bursting, and lessened the damage incurred in 2008. I called Capitalism Gone Wild, as it seemed most akin to drunk college girls flashing their boobs, and thinking there would be no consequences. Ugh. And the system is terribly broken. The rich and powerful, regardless of which side of the aisle they are on, will continue to pull the levers of power, unless there is serious campaign finance reform.

    4. @Lewis Beshers That’s one of the best analogies I’ve heard for that situation. Too true.
      I’ll have to borrow. ✌️😎

  6. Like I said on another video – So the Senate didn’t evolve the way the Founders foresaw, yet the GOP constantly falls back on being Originalists?

  7. America is too frightened of itself to re-write a constitution for the modern-day. It will never work if they think they can continue this way. Things are bound to fall apart with the centre unable to hold in the not too distant future.

  8. So, is Kentucky going to censure McConnell for delivering a scathing speech against Trump, or will he be left alone simply because he didn’t vote to convict Trump? Probably will be left alone. What a joke the Republican party is becoming.

  9. The United States is a failed state for acquitting treasonous Trump. Your street cred in the world stage is gone.

    1. Try living here while you watch the people in charge let a mass-murderer wannabe-dictator go free (to the residence he’s not actually allowed to live in but is somehow there anyways).

    2. There is no world stage in “MAGA”. He wasn’t about making America great again on the world stage. It was always about America and eff off to everybody else. If America is gonna be great again, it needs to realise it’s not the only country in the world. You wanna focus on a pipeline (Trump’s idea) when the rest of the world is looking for renewable energy in its next step? Or are you gonna go one better than the rest of us? This Pandemic has shownt that you guys are so far out of touch with the modern world.

  10. Shows that the Impeachment and emolument clauses were essentially Gentleman agreements at a time when no political parties were around.

  11. Every talking head that has said “impeachment is a political process” should be slapped in the face and removed from air because they created and spread this ignorance. Impeachment is a Constitutional process that is meant to protect the country from corrupt leadership.

    1. Perhaps they should say impeachment has BECOME a political process, as that’s what the verdict comes down to – supporting your party.

  12. Morality in this country, especially under the republican party, has certainly become something that doesn’t seem to exist. What happened to honor, courage, decency.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.