Reasonable minds can disagree over the wisdom of an impeachment effort against , President Trump’s defense secretary. As I said yesterday, while the effort is legitimate — the Constitution did not limit Congress to impeaching the president; the Framers made the remedy available against other executive and judicial officers — it undermines the purpose of the unitary executive, which is to make the president accountable for all executive misconduct. The Hegseth impeachment is proceeding on the irreconcilable premises that Hegseth, by duly implementing Trump’s use-of-force directives (rather than resigning, one supposes), is responsible for them, but that no action needs to be taken against the president who ordered Hegseth to use force in a manner alleged to be impeachable.
Moreover, the chance that Hegseth will be convicted and removed is low, so the exercise risks being seen as a political stunt that erodes the gravity of impeachment.
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