Which is worse, a statement that is at best intemperate and at worst intolerant or a governmental act that violates the Constitution? I would think the latter is far worse, and quite obviously so.
CNN has the text of Rep. Al Green's impeachment resolution here, making the remarkable claim that the President's recent controversial tweet is an impeachable offense.
Article II, ยง 4 of the Constitution provides, "The President ... shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." There is wide room for disagreement on what constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors," but surely it is clear that an act (or statement) that is not a crime, cannot constitutionally be made a crime, and is an exercise of a constitutional right is not an impeachable offense.
Speech is unprotected and punishable only in few very limited circumstances. Threats, conspiracies to commit crimes, and disclosure of military secrets, for example, can be crimes. Mere expression of an opinion, however repugnant, is not and cannot be a crime.
At bottom, the President was trying to express a view that people who truly, deeply hate this country should emigrate. I have often thought the same thing, but that has nothing to do with whether a person was born here or how many generations his family tree extends in this country. I don't care if your ancestors came on the Mayflower; if you deeply hate the United States of America there are lots of other countries in the world, and surely you can find one you like better that will allow you to move there. There is lots of room for improvement, lots of valid criticism, and lots of latitude for disagreement, but some people have crossed the line into such deep antipathy that they should simply leave.
Regrettably, as has happened so often in the last three years, Mr. Trump couldn't just say that but had to mix his message with a "back where you came from" statement that is justifiably regarded as deeply offensive to immigrants and children of immigrants. (It is not, however, "racist," a term that is hands down the most misused and overused word in America today.) In the process, he foolishly took the spotlight off the nasty civil war within the Democratic Party between (1) the people whose ideas, if adopted, would cause grave harm to the nation and (2) the people whose ideas are so far detached from reality that they seem to be living in an alternate universe.
But that is not a crime and cannot be a crime. Representative Green has acted with reckless disregard of the Constitution by calling for impeachment on the basis of this statement. This is an official governmental act, or at least a formal proposal for a governmental act, as distinguished from a tweet. That is an outrage that is an order of magnitude worse than the outrage he denounces.
