The Slatest

Today’s Impeach-O-Meter: Most Americans Already Know Trump Is Not Great

Eating dinner in the Eiffel Tower, as Trump did on Thursday, is perhaps the only undeniably good thing he has done as president. If you were in France and could do anything you wanted, wouldn’t it be “eat a baguette in the Eiffel Tower”? Hats off.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

In the tradition of the Clintonometer and the Trump Apocalypse Watch, the Impeach-O-Meter is a wildly subjective and speculative daily estimate of the likelihood that Donald Trump leaves office before his term ends, whether by being impeached (and convicted) or by resigning under threat of same.

Donald Trump Jr.’s admission that he, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner met last June with a woman who they believed to be offering them Russisan government support has eliminated whatever was left of the Trump administration’s credibility in re: the Russia scandal. It’s also in itself evidence of bad judgment—and not to get all Internet Patriot-y on you, but it’s pretty dang disloyal to the United States! Pretty darn disloyal, folks.

The thing is, HuffPost/YouGov has done some polling on the subject, and a wide majority of Americans more or less agree with the above take …

… But the catch is that it doesn’t change anyone’s mind as to whether Trump’s relationship wtih Russia is a problem.

Trump’s approval rating, meanwhile, has held at 39 percent or so for two months. And so while I do think this week’s Fredo Fiasco is significant news, I am going to bow to numerical reality and lower the meter to reflect the fact that the polling plunge that is a necessary condition for impeachment is not taking place. Consider this a devaluation of our currency, as it were.

Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo. Photos by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images, Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images, and Peter Parks-Pool/Getty Images.

Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo. Photos by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images, Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images, and Peter Parks-Pool/Getty Images.