In 2014/5, I was chair of the church council at my congregation. I had to lead the church through the painful and difficult process of firing our pastor. We also requested a professional review in which our denominational representatives met with our pastor over time and determined, ultimately, he was not fit for the job and his credentials were revoked.
It’s taken me some time to regain my balance. The experience was incredibly painful, both personally and for the community.
As I look back, with some emotional distance, I learned few things which I believe are applicable to impeaching the occupant of the Oval Office.
Focus on behaviors. Yes, Donald Trump is an offensive human being but ultimately his behaviors, his words and deeds, which are observable and documented, are what matter. With our pastor, we had to focus tightly on his conduct; what did he do? What is the reason that action was problematic? Why is the solution being proposed the appropriate solution? It’s not about who is good and who is bad; the question is solely focused on observable behaviors. Everything Trump does takes attention off his conduct; keep his conduct the focus of discussion and be prepared to remind people repeatedly about his conduct. Don’t be sucked into the whirling vortex of chaos. Trump is creating chaos; his words and actions create chaos, while the rest of us are trying to deal with the chaos, his underlying incapacity remains hidden from view. He cannot do the job, he is in every way unfit for the office he holds. His tweets, the never-ending personal feuds and nonsense are all mechanisms that keep the rest of us off balance. The irony is that the person creating the chaos may not even be aware of what they’re doing; they’re acting out the chaos they are experiencing. To put it another way, Donald Trump’s recurrent twitter rants are actual expressions of his emotional reality. The chaos he creates around him reflects the chaos he feels inside. We have to keep our balance, recognize what he’s doing and call it out; “this behavior is about creating chaos and confusion; here are the facts we need to focus on.” We have to be disciplined and patient. We should also remember that there are different tipping points for different people. I had an interaction with the pastor one day; someone looking from the outside wouldn’t have seen much beyond a quick conversation, but in that conversation the pastor demonstrated to me his unfitness for office. As I walked out of his office, it hit me with absolute clarity that he was no longer fit for office. It was almost 8 months later before the congregation finally voted to remove him from office. Just because I reached a conclusion, didn’t mean anyone else had. Nancy Pelosi has been engaging this same process; she’s a smart woman, you know she sees Trump for who and what he is. She couldn’t move until it was painfully obvious it was time to move. Successful politics and conflict require discipline and patience. Think back to 2008 and the Democratic primary. Barack Obama and his team devised a strategy to win the nomination. Every time he lost a primary, there was a general freak out everywhere but in Obama headquarters. They were patient, they had a plan and they saw it working. Impeachment requires a similar discipline and patience. We can’t rush the process; let it take the time it takes, that’s the patience part; nor do we drag it out, that’s the discipline part. There will be conflict; prepare for it. As lay leader of the church I had to deliberately enter into conflict with a highly popular and charismatic pastor. I started by being keenly aware aware and honest about what was coming: I was going to have to play church politics and there was going to be conflict; the goal was to remove the pastor from the church and to support the professional review. I knew there would be conflict; rather than let myself get dragged into conflict, I refocused lots of discussion (“yes, this is a painful situation, let’s remember that our pastor’s behaviors created it; they were . . .”). Keep the focus on Trump’s misconduct; don’t get drawn into side arguments and call them out for what they are (“It is irrelevant if Bill Clinton got a blow job we’re talking about Trump abusing the power of his office). Focus on process and explain it over and over again. The Clinton impeachment failed for Republicans because the process was bad. The Starr investigation was nakedly designed to find anything that could be used against Clinton and people saw it for it was. With the church, I explained the process over and over again; in emails, in mailings, in person, in church meetings, in worship, in congregational open forums. Here’s how it works, here’s what is happening, here’s who is involved, here’s who to talk with. If people trust the process, they will trust the outcome. Transparency about how things work is crucial. If something cannot be public (i.e. the whistleblower’s identity) then explain why it must be kept confidential and define confidentiality (i.e. some information cannot be publicly shared, here’s why, confidentiality in this case means the people who need to know, know; they will share what they can without compromising the appropriate confidentiality of the persons involved). We have to hold Democrats accountable for a good process. In Trump’s case, defending the integrity of the process will be complicated by the fact that’s completely unhinged and is going to do everything he can to rile his base and confuse the process. Engage critics and naysayers in the process and hold them accountable to standards of ethical conduct. Don’t be afraid of the critics and naysayers, they can become your most powerful allies. When the process of terminating the pastor began, a small very influential group of church members were opposed. I encouraged them to take central roles in the process — look at the evidence, talk to the people involved, hear what’s going on. They ended up being the key voices calling for the pastor’s termination. Engaging them sympathetically, inviting them to work through their emotions was powerful. Republicans need the same process; if we can give them space to be honest, they’ll see Trump for what he is, grieve they supported him and ultimately favor removing him. Most elected Republicans know he is unfit for office. They need sufficient evidence of wrong doing to be able to say so. If we engage them in the process, they will get the evidence they need. Isolate Trump. This last item is the most difficult. I could put the pastor on paid leave. It kept him out of the church; once the congregation agreed to that course of action, it was a matter of time. We can’t put Trump on leave. Trump has to be isolated through reaching out to his erstwhile allies in Congress and peeling them off. As his circle of defenders shrinks, there will be a moment at which the dam breaks and almost everyone abandons him. At that moment, it’s all over but shouting. If you go back to Nixon, the turning point was the moment that a group of Republican congresspersons visited him and told him he’d lost their support. Trump won’t likely get the courtesy; he’s feared, not popular, among elected Republicans.Remember that Trump is unpopular with most Americans; he is superficially popular with Republicans. In 2016, he received 44% of the vote in the Republican primary. Elected Republicans mostly dislike him but are afraid to cross him. As the facts come out and are explained, I expect his popularity among Republicans to drop. Fox News will turn on him at some point. Then he’s done for.