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Why Trump will survive impeachment

David Frum, senior editor for The Atlantic and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, on why he thinks the fight for impeachment could be a road to ruin for the Democratic Party and the health of American politics.
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Nancy Pelosi is heading the impeachment proceedings levied against President Trump. (J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)
The Sunday Edition29:31Why Trump will survive impeachment

The road to presidential impeachment in the United States has been full of roadblocks and landmines, but the U.S. House of Representatives was undeterred this week.

The House released its 300-page report about President Donald Trump, concluding that he had strong-armed a foreign power to investigate one of his potential rivals and used U.S. military aid as leverage.

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted the evidence was "overwhelming and uncontested." Trump had abused the powers of his office "for his own personal, political gain." 

U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Watford, U.K. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

Within an hour, the White House fired back. The House inquiry was a sham it said, which failed utterly to produce any evidence of presidential wrongdoing.

Such is the division in America today. Two realities, radically opposed and seemingly irreconcilable. 

To Trump and his supporters, that phone call with Ukrainian president Zelensky was, in the U.S. president's words, "perfect." To Democrats, a perfectly impeachable offence. 

David Frum is a Republican and a staunch critic of Donald Trump's presidency. A former speechwriter for George W. Bush, Frum is now a senior editor at The Atlantic. (Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon)
David Frum argues that impeachment is an imperfect instrument for holding a president to account, particularly in such a toxic political environment. In fact, he argues it may be a trap — not for the Republican president, but for the Democrats.

Frum is a Canadian-American political commentator and one of Trump's most vocal Republican critics. A former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he's currently Senior Editor at The Atlantic magazine.

Frum spoke to The Sunday Edition's guest host Gillian Findlay. 

Click 'listen' above to hear the full interview. 

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