Are some folks confusing “Impeach” with “Remove from office”?

Yes, they are. Many. Perhaps even most.

They’re also not relating it to words like unimpeachable, which hold a clue.

We’ll start hearing calls to impeach the next president before he or she ever takes office. It seems to be the new national sport.

Yes, it seems many people are. I remember thinking “impeach” meant “remove from office” when I was a kid (I have vague memories of the Clinton impeachment—I would’ve been about 7). But I know better now.

Well. Bill Clinton was impeached.
So was Nixon. Nixon was removed.

@Dutchess_lll Nixon resigned.

Both impeached presidents (Johnson and Clinton) were freed from criminal charge by the senate and Nixon chose to relinquish the presidency before being impeached and probably did so knowing that he would not be spared this fate. If Trump is impeached for a criminal offense then he may be removed and may even go to jail. I have a feeling this will not happen as I believe Pelosi chooses not to pursue it based on a lack of hard evidence where in this case impeachment would just be political grandstanding.

The word “impeachment” is often used as a shorthand referring to the entire process. Whether you want to say that such a usage is confused/incorrect or merely colloquial/informal is up to you. Some people probably don’t actually know the difference, but a lot of people just aren’t concerned with technicalities when they think the context makes their meaning clear.

For the record, this is not intended as a slight against the question. I love technicalities.

@Jeruba You might be right. The left started calling for impeachment of Trump before he took office. It amazes me that people believe you should impeach someone just because you don’t like them.

@Dutchess_lll Nixon was never impeached and was not removed from office. He resigned before any impeachment proceedings were started. Whether he would have been impeached and removed is a matter of speculation…a question he avoided by resigning.

They are. Just as many people don’t seem to understand the difference between state and federal. Civics education is woefully lacking in this country.

Yes. I would have been one of those until Clinton. Then I understood better.

@Darth_Algar Civics isn’t lacking. Some kids just choose not to learn or remember. Some have far more important things going on in their life than worrying about the difference between state and federal.

I’m not even talking about kids. I’m talking about people my age or older.

Me too, @Darth_Algar. All ages. Sometimes it just floors me that people I went to high school with, who literally had the same English classes I had, can’t put together a coherent sentence. They don’t seem to have the most basic grasp of the rules.

In other words, at some point in Civics class they were paying attention. At another point they weren’t, for what ever reason. Maybe they broke up with their boyfriend just 3 minutes earlier.
Or maybe they had a pep squad meeting that took them out of class at the moment when “Federal v State” was covered.

That’s one way to excuse ignorance I suppose.

@Dutchess_lll and @Darth_Algar: as a government worker, I can assure you that many adults have no clue what their state government does, what their county government does, what their town or city government is responsible for, what the Federal government does, where their taxes go. It’s astounding.

@jca2 ” I can assure you that many most adults have no clue what their state government does”

@jca2 were you as familiar with the working of the the state v the federal government before you became a government worker as you are now?

General education is just that…it’s supposed to give you an idea of the purpose and function of a hundred different things. It’s not supposed to make you an expert in all of them.

@Dutchess_III: I knew that my city was responsible for things like street lights and I knew that some highways were county roads and some are state roads and stuff like that. Somewhat of an education comes not from school but in thinking about taxes, which taxes go to what services.

I didn’t learn about these things from college, I learned from talking to people. Once I started working for the government, of course I learned more.

It’s also funny that there are so many people that want a smaller government but yet they avail themselves of all kinds of governmental services and they enjoy what the government has to offer. I work in a county where taxes are very high but there are a lot of services – services for the poor, for seniors, beautiful parks, etc. I don’t see the logic of “let’s cut services, let’s cut staffing, let’s cut funding” but yet let’s go to the park, let’s bitch about road maintenance, let’s expect a short wait time at County office buildings.

That’s my very point. Somethings they teach in school and somethings we just figure out as a part of life. It’s not a lack on the part of the school systems.

I didn’t say the school system was lacking as far as people not learning where their services come from. @Dutchess_III

@seawulf575 We don’t want him impeached because we don’t like him. We want him gone because he is an idiot. Every single day he says something utterly clueless. Today he tweeted that, “Planes are too complex to fly.”

@Dutchess_III

It doesn’t take an expert to understand that your state DOT isn’t responsible for maintaining the unpaved alleyway behind your house, or that your US Senator has no say over your state taxes. All it takes is a basic rudimentary understanding of the divisions and levels of government. Far too many adults don’t grasp this and don’t care to. They want to vote, but they don’t want to go through the bother of actually understanding what they’re voting on.

All of those things I gradually picked up on as an adult. What the hell do I care about taxes when I’m in Jr. High or High School? It woudn’t mean much to me because it wasn’t relevant to me then.

Why are you hung up on high school/jr high? No one but you has brought that up.

You did, actually, @Darth_Algar . You said, ”Civics education is woefully lacking in this country.” I said it wasn’t. Some kids just don’t learn what is taught.

Education doesn’t stop at high school.

Same things apply. Some people just don’t learn.

reductio ad absurdum much?

You sure are snarky today. Not feeling well @janbb?

I’m just fine, thanks very much. It just had become a ridiculous argument all around.

@Dutchess_lll Unfortunately, impeachment requires a crime and a fairly significant one. Considering a guy an idiot isn’t a crime. Don’t like Trump? Vote for someone else at the next election and you may or may not get your wish of having Trump gone.

@seawulf575: He may or may not have committed a crime. We can’t say he’s not committed a crime while in office.

I know what is required @seawulf575. Time will tell.