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Stephen Colbert appeared on TV on Friday much ashe does five nights a week muggingon The Late Show, cracking pre-written jokes about the latest President Trump spectacle.

I hear when he returns theres a chance hell still be president, Colbert quipped in his monologue.

But the next night, a weekend,hewalked into a roomwith a much smalleraudience and no broadcast schedule and described the professional and emotional exhaustion of trying to performnightly comedy inthe chaos of the Trump era.

Its all so petty and venal, and theres nothing grand about it, he saidin his appearance atthe Vulture Festival a one-on-one conversation before a live crowd ofa few hundred people. Its not Shakespearean at all. Its Veep.

Led through the interviewbyFrank Rich, an executiveproducer of Veep, Colbert recalledthe night of the election as someofthe most bizarre live television Ive ever been a part of.

Election night

Like much of the country, Colbert said, he, his writers and producers had expected Hillary Clinton to win. Theyd gone into a live special on Showtime with a slew of pre-recorded sketches at the ready.

Great stuff, Colbert said: like 20 naked men with Clintons campaign slogan written on their buttocks Were with her.

Instead, as the Hollywood Reporter noted, the audience grew nervouseven before Colbert took the stage, as early election results hinted atTrumps victory. What are you, fing dead inside? an exasperated warm-up comic asked the crowd.

About 20 minutes into the show, Colbert recalled, he hadan off-screen conversation witha producer.

No more jokes, the producer said. Stop with the jokes.

The rest of the night was interruptedby sobs from the crowdand humorless conversations with guests, Colbert recalled in frontof an audience full of Chilean villagers who just pulled into the soccer stadium to see their friends and neighbors executed by the junta. Thats what it felt like.

The last 10 minutes was me making s t up and trying to get to a joke about What do we do now? he said.

Before he wrapped up the night, he said, he observed toa colleague: Weve got our emotional skegs in the water now, and we cant ever take them out again.

The day after election night

That was a Tuesday. They had jokes to write the next morning.

We came to work weak-kneed and watery boweled, and really afraid for the country, Colbert recalled.

He gathered his staffand they briefly reflected on the path ahead.

One of his writers remarked: It felt like people who felt the culture had treated them cruelly decided to respond with cruelty in return by electing this person.

The comedian recalled trying to buck uphis show runners: Well youre forever wondering whether your work has purpose. Dont worry anymore. It does. Because this is terrible. And your job is to make people feel better about it every day.

This heart-to-heartlasted about half an hour, Colbert said. Then we went, okay, thats it. Jokes.

Late-night comedy hosts worked through their disbelief at the outcome of the presidential election by poking fun at President-elect Donald Trump. (The Washington Post)

Country on fire

Since then, thevolatile administration has provided no end of monologues material, and helped boost The Late Show to No. 1 in late-night ratings.

At the Vulture Festival, Rich asked Colbert if a small part of him was secretly glad Trump won.

No, Colbertreplied. We dont approach DonaldTrump as, like, What a wonderful, cheesy gravy meal we have for you today.

He described the country, under Trump, as on fire. The comedian, in this analogy,was a guy who dances next to the fire and says, Lets all admit this is on fire.

It was difficultto keep his balance, Colbert said. He told Rich hed falleninto the flames once: When he called Trump Vladmir Putins c holster this month and ignited a movement to take him off the air.

Keeping up with the latest Trump crisis

But makingThe Late Show hasbecome difficult simply as a matter of logistics, Colbert said.

He described a typical production day: finishing a script at 5 p.m. and sending it off for review, only for the latest Trump crisis to force a rewriteat 5:15.

Or even during taping, as Colbertsaid happened three times thismonth.

Id finished a monologue, he recalled. It went pretty well. It was little overstuffed. I go over to John and he goes: Okay. Were two minutes long and Trump just fired Comey.

So Colbert informed his studio audience that FBI Director James B. Comey had been terminated, he said, and gave his writers 10minutes to write a new bit.

It was another mixture of humor and emotion.

My heart is thumping, my heart is racing, Colbert said in his new monologue that night. A picture of Attorney General Jeff Sessions flashed on the screen. I think he was fired because he couldnt guess the name of Rumpelstiltskin.

Behind-the-scenes gossip

On Saturday, Colbert shareda bit of behind-the-scenes gossip from past interviews like when, he said, Ted Cruz asked him to humanize me.

I said, Dont go to the stump speech and you will be a human being, Colbert recalled. He said, Thats hard. I said, So is being human.

Not many Republicans have agreed to come on since the election, he said. Theyre a little gun shy.

Pissing into the wind

Trump himself hasnt appeared as president, of course, although he did call the comedian a no talent guy in a Time magazine interview this month to Colberts evident delight.

He recalled being informed in a phone call of whatthe president hadsaid and being surprised it took him so long.

Hell attack anyone who talks back about him, Colbert said.

He will not submit himself to any measurement, because any measurement is false. Only his victory only his golden chariot is the only possible depiction of him that is available. And so you know youre pissing into the wind when you do criticism of him, so you have to let that go.

He was just a comedian, he said over and over on Saturday shouting into an Altoid tin and throwing it off an overpass every day.

But at the veryleast, he said, he and his writers had learnedto keep up with the chaos since Election Day.

That feels stable from our end, he said. It doesnt feel so stable as a society.

Zachary Pincus-Roth in New York contributed to this report.

More reading:

Stephen Colberts anti-Trump experiment is starting to work

Colbert finally (and unapologetically) responds to #FireColbert backlash: I would do it again

Stephen Colbert gleefully responds to President Trump calling him a no-talent guy

Originally posted here:
What Stephen Colbert really thinks about Donald Trump - Washington Post

UPDATE with video: Last week in Donald Trump was so nuts that John Oliver was forced to devote virtually all of Last Week Tonight to talking about it.

The last seven days have been absolutely insane so much so that, by Friday night, it may have broken Anderson Cooper, Oliver acknowledged.

Hes of course referring to Coopers Friday show, during which Cooper interrupted Trump surrogate Jeffrey Lord as he defended yet another indefensible Trump statement, saying, If [Trump] took a dump on his desk you would defend him.

And, more importantly, Jeffrey Lord did not immediately answer, No, Oliver laughed.

Walking through the week, Oliver reminded viewers that:

On Monday it was reported Trump revealed highly classified intelligence to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, when they visited the White House the day after Trump sacked FBI Director James Comey. Trump may have revealed to them code-word information, a designation for intel even more secret than Top Secret. This is information you should not even share with your closest friends which, of course, in Trumps case is the caddie he calls Stave even though his name is Doug, a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the ghost of Roger Ailes,Oliver explained.

That Russian news got buried the very next day with the revelation that, after an Oval Office meeting in February, Comey wrote a memo saying Trump had just asked him to shut down his investigation into National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Trump had been warned about Flynns Russia rannygazoo by former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, President Obama, and even Flynn himself, who told Trump he was under investigation before being named NSA.

Then, on Wednesday just four days ago, which is the equivalent of 150 years in 2017 time, Oliver said Donald Trump gave the commencement address at Coast Guard Academy, at which he whined about how mean people were being to him. The speechs best gag: No politician in history has been treated worse, or more unfairly.

As had the Twitter-verse immediately after the speech, Oliver on Sunday night noted President Abraham Lincoln had been murdered by an actor, President William McKinley was shot by an anarchist, and JFK was, of course, murdered by Ted Cruzs father.

Meanwhile, President James Garfield, Oliver informed his viewers, was shot. Then, to find the bullet, Alexander Graham Bell devised a kind of metal detector, which did not work, so doctors tried to fish around in his gut for the bullet with unwashed fingers, which made his infection worse, so he died in horrible pain.

But yeah, Alec Baldwin sometimes does a mean impression of you on TV. So yeah, its basically the same, Oliver snickered at Trump.

Same day Trump delivered that speech, the DOJ appointed a special counsel, former FBI head Robert Mueller, to conduct an independent investigation into the Trump campaigns connections to Russia. That massive development was closely followed by Thursdays news about Comeys mortification at having been singled out by Trump at that televised post-inauguration meeting in the White House and trying to hide in the drapes.

On Friday, as Trump left the country for a nine-day trip, the NYT revealed a White House document said Trump had told the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, during that Oval Office visit, that Comey was a nut job. He also told them, the report said I just fired the head of the FBII faced great pressure because of Russia. Thats taken off.

Its almost difficult to believe your ears when you hear something that sounds so audaciously corrupt, Oliver marveled. But that was not the last of the weeks startling revelations. Turns out, according to press reports, the investigation has identified some current White House official as a significant person of interest.

While some have suggested that could be Jared Kushner, Oliver insisted otherwise, because, while hes technically significant, and legally a person, he in no way qualifies as of interest. He called Kushner the least interesting human on earthHe is the person equivalent of an empty room painted eggshell. Hes like a white bread sandwich where the middle is just a third slice of white bread.

All of these developments are a really big deal, Oliver said, despite the best efforts of Fox News Channel to convince us otherwise, using words like unhinged, insane, lunacy, hysteria, and madness. Jesse Watters even called it a boring scandal though, two days later, even he admitted he was starting to get a little concerned.

Meanwhile, in Washington, some Republican politicians are starting to use the word impeachment in sentences, including two who argued as to which of them should get credit for doing so first. And, White House lawyers are researching what a possible Trump impeachment might look like, Oliver said, adding, I imagine at least part of it would involve thousands of Muslims celebrating in New Jersey.

But, the late-night host warned, removing Trump from office would give us President Mike Pence, who is a hard-line conservative. If Trumps scandals somehow took down Pence as well, we would have President Paul Ryan: Three words I always knew I would have to say, Oliver admitted, but did not expect to have to say so soon, like Remember polar bears and Female Entourage reboot.

More realistically, because Republicans control both houses, Trump probably will continue to be president, which should not surprise anyone, Oliver insisted, Trump having survived declining to disavow David Duke, bullying a Gold Star family, and the Access Hollywood tape. The end of the line, for Trump, seems to have been drawn by M.C. Escher, Oliver acknowledged.

Even Trump seems unhappy hes in office, Oliver observed, recalling that 100-day interview in which POTUS said he loved and missed, his previous life, and how surprised he was that being POTUS is so much harder than developing real estate and hosting Celebrity Apprentice.

Say what you will about Nixon, he at least wanted to be there, Oliver said.

Read more from the original source:
John Oliver: Donald Trump's Last Seven Days Absolutely Insane - Deadline

Here's a new U.S. export: President Donald Trump's exaggerations about his record.

In his speech in Saudi Arabia on Sunday during his first foreign trip as president, Trump claimed to have accomplished record spending on the armed forces, even though Congress has yet to pass a budget that reflects his plans and promises. Trump releases a detailed budget proposal Tuesday after having come up only with an outline before, and nothing is achieved until and unless Congress passes something.

Trump often takes credit for accomplishments that have yet to be realized or that were the work of his predecessor, as he did last week when boasting about a Coast Guard icebreaker that the Obama administration started. But it was his first opportunity to do so abroad.

Trump's foreign trip came as something of a break from the storm over the investigation into his 2016 campaign's relationship with Russia. That episode prompted a number of questionable statements by the president and his aides. Here's a review of claims on various matters over the past week:

Trump : "In just a few months, we have created almost a million new jobs ... and made record investments in our military." speech in Riyadh on Sunday

The Facts : He's getting ahead of developments on military spending, with no budget passed. He also not proposing a record increase in military spending as his remarks might imply.

The 10% increase he called for in his March budget outline has been exceeded three times in recent historythe base military budget went up by 14.3%, in 2002, 11.3% in 2003 and 10.9% in 2008, according to the Pentagon. Looked at another way and deeper into history, military spending consumed 43% of the economy in 1944, during World War II, and 15% in 1952, during the Korean War. It was 3.3% in 2015, says the World Bank.

Trump's claim that almost 1 million jobs have been added is in the ballpark, though it's taken more than a "few months" and Barack Obama was president for most of one of them, January.

Job creation has averaged 185,000 a month from January through April. But that is the same pace of hiring as occurred in 2016, when Obama was president, and slower than in 2014 and 2015, when more than 225,000 jobs a month were added, on average.

Trump : "I'm proud to say that under my administration, as you just heard, we will be building the first new heavy icebreakers the United States has seen in over 40 years." Coast Guard Academy speech Wednesday

The Facts : Trump is claiming credit for something that started under his predecessor. Obama's homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, spoke about modernization of the Coast Guard fleet and design work on a new heavy polar icebreaker a year ago in a speech to graduating Coast Guard cadets.

Trump , on his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey: "I actually thought when I made that decisionand I also got a very, very strong recommendation, as you know, from the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein." news conference Thursday with his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos.

The Facts : The recommendation he cites came after Trump decided to fire Comey, according to Rosenstein and to Trump's own previous statement taking sole ownership of the decision.

In an interview with NBC two days after the May 9 Comey dismissal, Trump said he had been planning to fire Comey for months, and linked it with the FBI's Russia investigation. "In fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'"

On Thursday, Rosenstein told senators in a closed-door briefing that he had been informed of Trump's decision to fire Comey before he wrote his memo providing a rationale for that act, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Trump : "Even my enemies have said there is no collusion." Thursday news conference

The Facts : Democrats have not absolved Trump on whether his campaign and Russian officials coordinated efforts last year to disadvantage his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Several have said they have not seen evidence of collusion, but that's not to say they are satisfied it did not happen.

Trump has cited James Clapper, the director of national intelligence until Trump took office Jan. 20, among others, as being "convinced" there was no collusion.

Clapper said this past week that while a report he issued in January did not uncover collusion, he did not know at the time that the FBI was digging deeply into "potential political collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians" and he was unaware of what the bureau might have found. The FBI inquiry continues, as do congressional investigations and, now, one by the special counsel.

Trump : "Obamacare is collapsing. It's dead. It's gone. There's nothing to compare anything to because we don't have health care in this country. You just look at what's happening. Aetna just pulled out. Other insurance companies are pulling out. We don't have health care. Obamacare is a fallacy. It's gone." Thursday news conference

The Facts : He's venting and not to be taken literally. Obama's health care law remains in effect and people are using it. As of last count 12.2 million signed up for private health plans through HealthCare.gov and state markets that offer federally subsidized coverage. Separately another estimated 12 million were made eligible for Medicaid through the law's expansion of that program. It's true that many people who buy their own health insurance are facing another year of big premium increases and shrinking choices.

Trump worked with House Republicans to pass a bill that would roll back much of the health law and the Senate is considering the legislation.

Trump , speaking of the MS-13 gang presence in the U.S.: "A horrible, horrible large group of gangs that have been let into our country over a fairly short period of time. ... They've literally taken over towns and cities of the United States." Thursday news conference.

The Facts : His depiction of the gang as a foreign one "let into" the U.S. is not accurate.

The gang actually began in Los Angeles, according to a fact sheet from Trump's own Justice Department, and "spread quickly across the country." And it started not recently, but in the 1980s, according to that same fact sheet.

The department indirectly credits the Obama administration, in its early years, with helping to rein in the group, largely made up of first-generation Salvadoran-Americans and Salvadoran nationals. It said: "Through the combined efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement, great progress was made diminishing or severely (disrupting) the gang within certain targeted areas of the U.S. by 2009 and 2010."

The U.S. carried out record deportations during the Obama administration and, on MS-13 specifically, took the unprecedented action of labeling the street gang a transnational criminal organization and announcing a freeze on its U.S. assets. Such actions were not enough to bring down the group and the Trump administration says it will do more.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: "I believe that a goal of 3% GDP or higher economic growth is achievable if we make historic reforms to both taxes and regulation." Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing Thursday

The Facts : Several quarters or a year of 3% growth may be possible, but few economists expect the changes Mnuchin has proposed would result in sustained growth at that pace. That's because the U.S. economy is facing long-term constraints. As baby boomers retire, fewer people are working. As well, workers' productivity is growing at historically weak levels. An economy can only grow as fast as the size and productivity of its workforce. If Trump's policies reduce immigration, the U.S. workforce would grow even more slowly.

Trump's goal of cutting corporate taxes could encourage companies to spend more on computers and machinery, making employees more productive, accelerating growth and lifting wages. Liberal economists argue that corporate profits are already high and any tax cut probably would go to shareholders instead of equipment.

Trump : "I won't talk about how much I saved you on the F-35 fighter jet. I won't even talk about it." Coast Guard Academy speech

The Facts : He shouldn't. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for cost savings that began before his presidency on this jet. Pentagon officials took steps before the election to reduce costs on the Lockheed ( lmt ) contract and announced savings Dec. 19, a month before Trump was sworn in.

Nikki Haley , ambassador to the U.N.: "I believe the Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that that is how, you know, we've always seen it and that's how we should pursue it ... we've always thought the Western Wall was part of Israel." interview on Christian Broadcasting Network on Wednesday

The Facts : That's a misstatement of U.S. policy and diplomatic history. The wall is in the Old City, a part of east Jerusalem, which the U.S. and most of the world consider to be occupied territory. So the U.S. position is that the wall is part of Jerusalem, not specifically Israel. Since Israel's founding, the U.S. has maintained that no state has sovereignty over Jerusalem and its ultimate status must be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. That stance has not changed.

In addition to misstating U.S. policy, Haley stepped outside diplomatic norms in asserting a personal view at variance with that policythat the Western Wall is or should be considered part of Israel.

Read more:
Fact Checking President Trump's Statements on His First Foreign Trip - Fortune

Learn the laws, steps and votes needed in the Presidential impeachment process. An earlier version of this video incorrectly identified one of the presidents who was impeached. USA TODAY

President Trump shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the White House, May 10, 2017.(Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry Photo via AP)

Donald Trump is doing an excellent impression of a president who desperately wishes to be impeached. Congress should grant that wish, or figure out an evenquicker way to bring this tragicomedyto its inevitable end. If there arent enough smoking guns quite yet, just wait a day or two. They're coming at usfaster thanrounds from a Kalashnikov on full auto.

Could Trump'ssignals be any more clear?He's not even having fun. "No politician in history,and I say this with great surety,has been treated worse or more unfairly," Trump said at the Coast Guard Academy commencement. That was just a few hoursbefore Deputy Attorney General RodRosenstein named former FBI directorRobert Mueller as a special counselto oversee the FBI's Russia investigation, and a day before Trump tweeted that"this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!"

Suffice it to say the job is only going to get less fun.

Given all we know about Trump himself the disturbingreal time glimpses into his mind viaTwitter;his Tourette-like tendency to blurt out exactly what most presidents would know they shouldnt;his relentless ignorance of policy, government and our nation's founding principles we shouldnt be shocked by recent developments.

No one but a person hunting for an escape hatchwould admitin a national TVinterview that he was thinking about the made-up Russia storywhen he fired FBI Director James Comey; would ask Comey tostop investigatingformer national security adviser Mike Flynn's contacts withRussia, possibly violating his oath of office; andwould askComey to pledge loyalty to him, even thoughFBI directors have 10-year terms precisely so they canoperate independently of presidents.

Only a president eyeing the door would summon the ghost ofRichard Nixonbyfiring Comey and then tweeting: James Comey better hope that there areno tapes of our conversationsbefore he starts leaking to the press! Only someone intent on getting ousted would fireComey over Russia and thenthe very next daymeet withtop Russian officialsinthe Oval Office under a painting of George Washington, let theirphotographer in while barring the U.S. press, share with them highlyclassified information about ISIS, describeComey to them as a "nut job," and confide that firing him took the pressure off.(Each part of thatsentence begs belief.)

Special counsel Robert Mueller is bad news for Donald Trump and Russia

Roger Ailes is dead but the conservative bubble lives on

The latest tough stuff, from Trump's perspective, is the foreign tourhe's on."Mr. Trump, a confirmed homebody, has expressed dread about the trip," The New York Times reported before he left Friday.

And who can blame him?The itinerary started with SaudiArabia, a hotbed of, you know, the kind of people he's trying to keep out of the USA, followed by Israel,reportedly the source of the top-secret Islamic State of Iraq and Syrianintelligence that Trump spilled to the Russians. Trump will be in Rome to see Pope Francis, who has indicatedthat Trump is not one of his favorites. The president hasnever had much nice to say about NATO, its member nations or their leaders, but he'll be in Brussels to meet with them,too.

Not fun! No wonder Trump decamps nearly every weekend to his own golf clubs and resorts and luxury digs. Why does he hate Washington? Has he ever even laid eyes onCamp David?

The presidentneeds an exit strategythat makes him look like a winner. He doesnt deserve one;in fact, he may well turn out to deserve impeachment. But that would make him a loser and he'dfight it to the end, and the end would be a long time coming.

What would entice him to leave soon? Trump is not going to turn into a world-classphilanthropist(a course I once envisioned for Mitt Romney). And Trumpwon't become head of a university (been there, done that, and it wasnt pretty).Nor can I see him growing a beard (Al Gore), promoting Viagra (Bob Dole) or taking up painting (George W. Bush). And Id be shocked if Trumpdecided to devote his post-presidency to, say, fighting gerrymandering or poverty (Barack Obama).

POLICING THE USA:Alook atrace, justice, media

Trump is a Republican wrecking ball

Only one suitable option comes to mind: Somebody sellthis man a TV network. He seemed to be musing aboutTrump TVbefore a comet struck Earth and he won the presidency. Its been done think Gore and Current TV. Trump TV would, of course, be much more yuge and would never, not ever, dare to morph into Al-Jazeera America or anything with a name like that.

Trump could brag about its large size and amazingly great American greatness. He could hire as many beautiful women as he wanted,present whatever content he wanted, star inas many shows as he wanted,and do it all right from Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower. Hed never have to leave home.

Tom Nichols, a Russian expert and professor at theNaval War College, says it's dangerousthat a raw feed of Trumps thoughts, emotions and reactions to stress is available to foreign intelligence analysts worldwide on Twitter. For better or worse, all of that isalso available to we, the people. And to me themessage, amplified by countless interviews, newsconferences and leaks from panicked associates, is clear: "Get me out of here."

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY and author ofThe Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock. Follow her on Twitter:@JillDLawrence

You can read diverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers on theOpinion front page, on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our dailyOpinion newsletter. To submit a letter, comment or column, check oursubmission guidelines.

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Read more from the original source:
Donald Trump to America: Please impeach me - USA TODAY

And it had nothing to do with the Russia investigation.

Donald Trump at a joint news conference with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos at the White House, May 18, 2017. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)

President Donald Trump committed an impeachable offense this week, but you likely havent heard about it on cable news.

It didnt involve firing the director of the FBI, or conspiring with the attorney general to facilitate the firing that even some Republicans saw as a potential obstruction of justice, or bragging to the Russians about how pressure was taken off by that firing, or any of the other evidences of presidential maladministration that scream out for an accountability moment.

Those developments may have gotten the impeachment clock ticking, but there was anothereventnothing to do with Russiathat should have set off the alarm: Donald Trumps refusal to respect the requirements that the U.S. Constitution places on presidents when it comes to matters of war and peace.

Trump is disregarding the Constitution's most serious requirements regarding war and peace.

On Wednesday, US forces carried out more unauthorizedairstrikes on pro-government forces in Syria. Though the Constitution explicitlystates that the legislative branch, not the executive, has the power to initiate new military actions, Trump has steered the United States deeper into the Syrian conflict.

After initial reports that US official had confirmed that the US-led Coalition hit Assad regime forces with air strikes in southern Syria today,Congressman Ted Lieu, a former active duty officer in the US Air Force who currently serves as a Colonel in the Reserves, an expert in military law had the perfect responseon twitter:

The congressman later issued astatement:

For the second time in as many months, the US military has conducted airstrikes against pro-Assad forces in Syria. The Trump Administration does not have congressional authorization to carry out military strikes against the Assad regime. Furthermore, the situation that led to todays strike is precisely why I warned against getting further entangled in the Syrian civil war without a clear strategy. President Trump needs to explain his plan for Syria to Congress and the American people.

Lieu isntalone. After Trump ordered military strikes on Syria in April, Congressional Progressive Caucusmember Ral Grijalva, Keith Ellison,and Mark Pocan released this statement:

In the absence of an imminent threat to the United States, the president must seek Congressional authorization prior to any act of war. Trump failed to seek, much less gain, Congressional authorization. If President Trump believes that US military actions should be utilized against the Assad regime, he should immediately call the House and Senate back into session to debate and vote on the use of military force.These unauthorized attacks could pull the United States into a regional war and escalate this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Even Republican Congressman Justin Amashsaid in April that: Airstrikes are an act of war. Atrocities in Syria cannot justify departure from Constitution, which vests in Congress power to commence war. Republican Senator Rand Paul called on Trump tocome to Congress for a proper debate.

THE STAKES ARE HIGHER NOW THAN EVER. GET THE NATION IN YOUR INBOX.

Trump did not answer the call.

Rather, the commander-in-chief is presiding over the unauthorized expansion of U.S. military involvement in Syriaanddisregarding the Constitutions most serious dictates regarding war and peace.

The commentariat can and will debate when a presidents refusal to seek congressional authorization for military action becomes impeachable. (There will even be attempts by the apologists for presidential overreach to make convoluted claims about how past authorizations of the use of military force somehow apply to every new conflict.) But, in Trumps case, there is no evidence to suggest that he will respect the requirements of the Constitution. As such, an article of impeachment is justified.

Of course, impeachment is a political process rather than a legal one. It requires a level of respect for the Constitution that is rarely displayed by leaders of the House or the Senateespecially ones likePaul Ryanand Mitch McConnell. But political processes evolve when popular pressure risesand it is worth noting that public support for impeachment is higher among voters than on Capitol Hill. Indeed, the new Public Policy Polling survey finds 48 percent of Americans want Trump impeached while just 41 percent oppose impeachment. Theres no reason to think he wont keep providing justifications.

Read more:
Donald Trump Committed Another Impeachable Offense This Week - The Nation.