The Democratic Partys most strident Trump critics are once again attempting to weaponize impeachment, this time with a sprawling, symbolic attack that underscores just how unhinged the Far Left has become in its obsession with the president.
According to The Gateway Pundit, retiring Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen introduced an unprecedented 26 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, the largest single batch of impeachment charges ever filed against a sitting American president. Cohen, who is leaving Congress and therefore insulated from voter backlash, framed his move as a moral crusade, calling Trump the most impeachable President our country has ever endured and branding the Republican House majority sycophantic and derelict.
In a statement dripping with partisan contempt, Cohen declared, Trump is clearly the most impeachable President our country has ever endured. His continued presence in office is a danger to our democracy, language that reflects the Lefts ongoing refusal to accept Trumps legitimacy or the policy mandate he received from millions of voters.
Cohen went further, castigating Republicans for refusing to indulge yet another impeachment spectacle and casting himself as a lone constitutional savior. That the sycophantic Republican majority in Congress is derelict in its duty does not mean that I must abandon my responsibilities. I took an independent oath to support and defend the Constitution. That commitment compels me to introduce this resolution today. When historians write about this period, and our constituents ask who stood up to President Trumps lawlessness, this resolution is the answer. For conservatives, this kind of rhetoric is less about constitutional fidelity and more about political theater, a last-ditch attempt by a lame-duck lawmaker to curry favor with the activist base and liberal media.
In reality, the House remains firmly in Republican hands, and Cohen himself has conceded that his resolution has no chance of advancing in the current Congress. He is effectively drafting a wish list for a future Democrat majority and rebranding it as statesmanship, hoping a more radical House down the line might dust off his document and use it as a blueprint. The sheer breadth of the proposed charges underscores how impeachment has been downgraded from a grave constitutional remedy to a partisan catch-all for policy disagreements and ideological grievances.
The articles sweep across an enormous range of executive and administrative actions that, in prior eras, would have been debated through normal legislative and electoral channels. Cohen accuses Trump of waging war on Iran without congressional approval and ordering alleged extrajudicial killings in international waters near Venezuela, claims that ignore the long bipartisan history of presidents exercising robust commander-in-chief authority. He also charges Trump with personally profiting from the presidency in violation of the Constitutions emoluments clauses, a favorite talking point of the Left that has repeatedly failed to gain traction in court or with the broader public.
Cohens filing further targets core elements of Trumps conservative agenda, including immigration enforcement, the birthright citizenship executive order, tariffs, military deployments in U.S. cities, and restrictions on White House press access, according to Cohens office. In other words, standard policy disputes and executive decisionsmany of them popular with Republican voters and consistent with long-standing presidential powersare being repackaged as impeachable offenses. The congressman made clear he is banking on a more compliant future Congress to act on his manifesto, saying, I sincerely believe that the 120th Congress will better live up to its duties as co-equal branch of government and a check on the executive. I hope this resolution paves the way to accountability. We cannot tolerate this kind lawlessness and corruption.
The 26 articles themselves read less like a legal indictment and more like a progressive activists dream list of complaints against a conservative president. They begin with sweeping, subjective claims such as ARTICLE I: UNDERMINING DEMOCRACYSOWING DOUBT IN ELECTIONS and quickly escalate into foreign policy and national security territory with ARTICLE II: ABUSE OF POWERWAGING WAR ON IRAN WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL and ARTICLE III: ABUSE OF POWEREXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS OF VENEZUELA. Cohen even seeks to criminalize Trumps efforts to restore law and order at home, alleging in ARTICLE IV: ABUSE OF POWERDEPLOYING MILITARY FORCES AGAINST UNITED STATES CITIES that the presidents response to domestic unrest is itself an impeachable act.
The list continues by attacking Trumps efforts to secure the border and reform citizenship policy, with ARTICLE V: VIOLATION OF OATHTHE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER. It then veers into pure partisan territory with ARTICLE VI: ABUSE OF POWERCANCELING FEDERAL GRANTS TO PUNISH STATES FOR THEIR VOTES and ARTICLE VII: ABUSE OF POWERIMP0SING LOYALTY TESTS ON THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, casting routine executive branch personnel and funding decisions as constitutional crises. Even long-standing debates over the scope of federal power are recast as impeachable, as seen in ARTICLE VIII: DISREGARD OF COURTSTHE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT AND THE CASE OF KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA and ARTICLE IX: VIOLATION OF OATHCRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT AT CECOT.
Cohens crusade extends into budgetary and administrative policy with ARTICLE X: VIOLATION OF OATHUNLAWFUL WITHHOLDING OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS AND DISMANTLING OF CONGRESSIONALLY ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS and ARTICLE XI: ABUSE OF POWEROBSTRUCTING THE LAWFUL APPOINTMENT OF UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS. He further alleges in ARTICLE XII: ABUSE OF POWERDEFYING COURT ORDERS IN IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT that Trumps aggressive border policies amount to defiance of the judiciary. In a move that will alarm many conservatives, Cohen even treats long-sought conservative reforms as impeachable, including ARTICLE XIII: ABOLISHING A CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED AGENCYTHE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, a goal widely supported on the Right as a way to return control of education to states and parents.
The resolution also attacks Trumps efforts to rein in the unelected bureaucracy, with ARTICLE XIV: VIOLATION OF OATHUNLAWFUL MASS TERMINATION OF INSPECTORS GENERAL WITHOUT STATUTORY NOTICE TO CONGRESS. It then targets Trumps use of economic leverage and trade policy in ARTICLE XV: UNLAWFULLY AND UNILATERALLY TAXING UNITED STATES CITIZENS THROUGH EMERGENCY POWERS TARIFFS, despite the fact that presidents of both parties have long used tariff authority. Cohen even labels as ABUSE OF POWER the administrations scrutiny of prominent Trump antagonists in ARTICLE XVI: ABUSE OF POWERPOLITICAL PROSECUTIONS OF COMEY, JAMES, AND SCHIFF, suggesting that any investigation touching powerful Democrats is inherently illegitimate.
Financial settlements and the pardon power, both squarely within the executives traditional purview, are likewise recast as impeachable in ARTICLE XVII: ABUSE OF POWERTHE IRS SETTLEMENT AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE JUDGMENT FUND and ARTICLE XVIII: ABUSE OF POWERTHE CORRUPT USE OF THE PARDON POWER. Cohen then pivots to media issues, accusing Trump of ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESS in ARTICLE XIX: ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESSBANISHING REPORTERS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE FOR DISFAVORED COVERAGE and ARTICLE XX: ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESSCOERCING CBS AND ABC TO CHANGE EDITORIAL CONTENT, effectively arguing that a Republican president pushing back on hostile coverage is grounds for removal from office. For conservatives, this is yet another example of how the Left seeks to shield its media allies from any accountability or criticism.
The resolution also ventures into the realm of legal advocacy and higher education, with ARTICLE XXI: VIOLATION OF OATHFREE SPEECH AND RETALIATORY EXECUTIVE ORDERS AGAINST LAW FIRMS and ARTICLE XXII: VIOLATION OF OATHFREE SPEECH AND COERCING UNIVERSITIES THROUGH WITHHELD FEDERAL FUNDS, treating policy leverage over taxpayer dollars as a constitutional offense. Cohen then turns to the physical footprint of the presidency in ARTICLE XXIII: ABUSE OF POWERDEMOLISHING THE WHITE HOUSE EAST WING WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL and budgetary control in ARTICLE XXIV: VIOLATION OF OATHTHE ILLEGAL IMPOUNDMENT OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS. The final two counts, ARTICLE XXV: ABUSE OF POWERSELF-AGGRANDIZEMENT THROUGH THE RENAMING OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, SEIZURE OF CULTURAL AND CIVIC PROPERTY, AND PERSONAL APPROPRIATION OF NATIONAL CURRENCY and ARTICLE XXVI: EMOLUMENTS VIOLATIONSPROFITING PERSONALLY AND DIRECTLY FROM THE PRESIDENCY, encapsulate the Lefts narrative that Trumps entire tenure was an exercise in personal enrichment and vanity.
Cohens move comes just nine days after the House overwhelmingly rejected yet another impeachment gambit from outgoing Democrat Rep. Al Green of Texas. According to Fox News, the House voted 232147 to table Greens resolution, with 18 Democrats joining Republicans to kill it and Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar voting present. Greens latest effort targeted Trumps immigration crackdown, a policy area where the president remains firmly aligned with conservative voters who demand secure borders and the rule of law. Cohens version is essentially Greens failure, inflated to 26 counts, underscoring how impeachment has become the Lefts preferred substitute for winning arguments, passing legislation, or persuading the American people.
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