Bookies: odds of Donald Trump’s impeachment have skyrocketed over the past two weeks
Do you believe that the people wagering large sums of money on Donald Trump’s impeachment are accurately placing their finger on the pulse of the political landscape. If so, then there’s good news for those of you who are rooting for Trump’s demise. While there has been wide scale sentiment that Trump would ultimately be impeached ever since the day he was named the winner, those odds have now skyrocketed based on his tumultuous first two weeks in office.
Just prior to Donald Trump taking office, the odds of his impeachment were pegged at four to one. But over the past two weeks, those odds have spiked according to online gambling website Paddy Power. The betting odds on Trump getting impeached are now two to one, making it far more likely than before he took office. Even with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Trump’s impeachment will be entirely a factor of how toxically unpopular he becomes, and the point at which House Republicans conclude they must begin impeachment hearings in order to save face and preserve their own chances of reelection in 2018. And these past two weeks have strongly upped the ante.
Several factors have combined to drive Donald Trump’s approval rating down so far that it’s the lowest of any incoming U.S. president in recorded history. Trump’s choice of inept, corrupt, and extremist cabinet nominees has hurt him, as has his elevation of white supremacist Steve Bannon. His chaotic, unpopular and deadly Muslim ban – which delivered none of its promised results – has harmed him. So has his reckless military raid in Yemen, which served no purpose. And Trump’s ongoing deranged tweeting has harmed his approval rating as well.
As we keep pointing out, impeachment hearings have the primary effect of tying up a president in depositions for a year or more, effectively crippling him and his agenda, and are not necessarily about trying to remove him from office. So the theoretical debates about whether Mike Pence would be worse are secondary, because impeachment wouldn’t be about that. Here’s what you need to know about impeachment.
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Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report