How the opposition Trump from office
A president can be removed if enough lawmakers decide he or she has committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours”.
No President has ever been ejected from office this way but there is a clear process.
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee would be expected to consider whether there are grounds for impeachment. If a simple majority vote for impeachment is won in the House it would then be up to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to oversee a trial in the Senate.
Members of the House would act as prosecutors, the President would have defence lawyers, and the Senators would be the jury. If two-thirds of Senators found Mr Trump guilty he would be removed and Mike Pence would become President.
It is highly unlikely this would happen when 240 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives in Chief was about to lead the US into a colossal conflict. If the Democrats take control of Congress in 2018 many in the party might relish a bid to oust Mr Trump.
Commenting on the likelihood of Mr Trump not seeing out his term in office, the New Yorker’s Mr Osnos commented: “In 228 years, only one President has resigned; two have been impeached, though neither was ultimately removed from office; eight have died. But nothing about Trump is normal.”
3. Mass resignations and a boycott of the White House.
The concept of “public service” carries great honour in the United States. Leaving a lucrative job in the private sector to serve a President is seen as a way of serving your country.
However, the Trump administration has failed to appoint people to key staff positions. By this time, President Obama had made 433 nominations and secured 310 confirmations; President Trump has nominated 277 people but had just 124 confirmed.
There is widespread concern at how understaffing may be affecting the running of government. If qualified people refuse to serve under Mr Trump and others express no confidence in his leadership by resigning he will be hugely weakened.
A resignation by the likes of Vice President Mike Pence and other cabinet members would be an earthquake for the administration and force Mr Trump to consider his own position.
The President has already failed to get his healthcare legislation passed and Republican critics seem increasingly unafraid to publicise their differences with him. This diminishment of his stature will make it harder for him to turn his agenda into reality.
Civil society could also play a major role in encouraging America to look to a post-Trump future. The Boy Scouts of America apologised for his speech last month to 40,000 of their members; if the invitations to speak at such events dry up, if celebrities and heroes turn down the chance to receive honours at the White House, and if experts and industry leaders decline to serve on his commissions, Mr Trump will lose the grandeur and the crucial clout which traditionally accompanies the role of head of state. 4. A primary challenge. Mr Trump’s foes want him gone long before 2020 but one way for his own party to deny him a second four-year term would be for Republicans to hand the presidential nomination to someone else.
Ronald Reagan made an epic attempt at snatching the 1976 nomination from President Gerald Ford and the first President George Bush had to deal with a challenge from former Nixon aide Pat Buchanan.
Pundits are having great fun coming up with the names of Republicans who could stand against Mr Trump. On the right of the party there is Ted Cruz, who was vilified by Mr Trump during the last primaries; John Kasich articulates a much more moderate Republicanism, and then there are rising stars in the party such as Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.
Mr Sasse is the author of The Vanishing American Adult. The publicity for the book warns that unless there is a new maturity in the nation’s culture then America may fall “prey to populist demagogues”.
Was he thinking of anyone in particular?