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’s spin on his announcement that he is canceling the Obama-created executive-branch DACA program, which protects undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children, is that he wants DACA-eligible individuals to be able to stay in the U.S. but believes that Congress needs to act to give them that right. This means that, at least rhetorically, Trump supports progressive immigration reform, which likely puts a lot of Americans in the novel position of rooting for the Trump administration to get something done.
In related news, this weekend was the first big weekend of college football, and, as inevitably happens, some first-string quarterbacks got injured or threw too many interceptions and were replaced by second-stringers. Now, there is a certain kind of futility unique to some backup quarterbacks: When they play, it becomes apparent—even to the casual observer—that there is no way they are capable of achieving even the most incremental positive football outcome. They move with a sense of purposeless panic; they botch basic tasks like receiving the snap and handing the ball off to running backs; the idea of completing a downfield pass seems like a ludicrous, cruel fantasy. When a quarterback like this is playing for your team, an almost serene sense of hopelessness takes hold.
The point is, that’s the same feeling I now have rooting for the Trump administration to design, shepherd, pass, and sign a piece of major legislation into law.
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.
