Trump must be impeached, now

This isn’t politics. It’s about whether the Constitution still matters.

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Donald Trump has already been impeached twice. The first time was for abusing his power in Ukraine. The second was for inciting an insurrection on January 6th. Both were serious. Both were historic. And both set the precedent that when a president abuses the power of his office, Congress must act.

Now, in 2025, we are facing something even more fundamental. Trump is waging an open war on the First Amendment.

The framers of the Constitution saw this kind of moment coming. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton wrote that impeachment exists to address “the misconduct of public men,” particularly when those actions represent an abuse or violation of the public trust. The framers did not want a monarch. They did not want a president who could rule unchecked. They designed impeachment as the ultimate safeguard against exactly this type of abuse.

This is not a policy disagreement. It is not a partisan squabble. It is an attack on the foundation of American democracy. The First Amendment protects the right to speak freely, the right to criticize the government, and the right to protest. These are the bedrock freedoms that separate a functioning democracy from an authoritarian regime. If a president can strip those rights away without consequence, then the Constitution is little more than a prop.

Trump is not chipping away at these rights quietly. He is doing it openly and aggressively. Take the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert, two of the loudest critics of Trump in late-night television. They were not forced out because of declining ratings or creative differences. They were removed under political pressure from an administration that made it clear that mocking the president was no longer acceptable. That is not programming. That is censorship.

It does not stop there. Major media companies that have published critical reporting on Trump have been targeted with a wave of lawsuits. These lawsuits are not about correcting factual inaccuracies. They are about intimidation. They are about draining financial resources, creating legal risks, and making it so costly to criticize Trump that silence becomes the only rational choice. This is not the pursuit of justice. It is a campaign of suppression.

And it extends beyond comedy and journalism. Protesters are being silenced too. Permits are denied. Rallies are broken up. Activists are subjected to surveillance and harassment. Think about what this means. If comedians cannot mock the president, if journalists cannot investigate him, and if citizens cannot protest him, then the entire structure of democracy collapses.

This is not theoretical. We have seen this script before in countries where democracy gave way to authoritarianism. First the comedians and journalists are silenced. Then the activists. Then ordinary citizens find themselves unable to speak without fear of reprisal. Once that culture of fear takes hold, it rarely reverses.

This is why impeachment exists. The House of Representatives does not need to invent new rules or stretch to find grounds for action. The standard is clear. Place Trump’s actions side by side with the First Amendment. Measure his suppression of speech against the Constitution. The conclusion is unavoidable. Impeachment is not optional. It is the only appropriate response.

If Congress fails to act, the consequences will be devastating. It will set a precedent that presidents can silence dissent with impunity. It will teach future leaders that there are no consequences for dismantling the First Amendment. Today it is comedians and journalists. Tomorrow it could be anyone who dares to criticize those in power.

Some Republicans will claim that impeachment is not warranted because Trump has not technically broken a specific statute. But this misses the point. The violation is constitutional. When a president undermines the Bill of Rights, that is the high crime. That is the betrayal of public trust. That is why impeachment was written into the Constitution in the first place.

And the hypocrisy is staggering. These same Republicans who spent years railing against so-called “cancel culture” on college campuses are now silent when the President of the United States cancels comedians on national television and bankrupts media outlets for reporting the truth. Apparently free speech matters only when it protects their own interests.

This is not about left or right. It is not about whether you like Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes or agree with a newspaper’s editorial stance. It is about whether America still has a Constitution worth defending.

The House must face this reality. If it fails to act, it will prove that impeachment itself is meaningless, that Congress has abandoned its role as a check on executive power, and that the First Amendment is now optional. And once that line is crossed, democracy itself becomes optional.

Trump’s earlier impeachments were serious, but his assault on free speech may be the most impeachable act yet. Because without the First Amendment, nothing else in the Constitution works.

This is the line. Cross it, and the First Amendment is gone. Cross it, and America stops being a democracy.

Donald Trump must be impeached.

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—David

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