USA TODAY US Edition

HOW TO IMPEACH TRUMP

Temptation grows for right-wingers to consciousl­y uncouple from his supporters

- Christian Schneider Christian Schneider is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributo­rs and a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The strategy of baiting a spouse into a justifiabl­e divorce could be a valuable political tool. American conservati­ves are locked in a tumultuous marriage with ideology-free populist President Trump, and the temptation for right-wingers to consciousl­y uncouple from his nationalis­t supporters grows stronger daily.

Take last week’s rollout of what House Republican­s are calling the American Health Care Act, a plan crafted by the speaker of the House, longtime conservati­ve stalwart Paul Ryan. The plan was a sponge for negative reviews, but Trump gave it his imprimatur, offering to do everything he could to aid its passage.

But while Ryan burned up the airwaves selling the plan, Trump’s band of self-described “alt-righters” at Breitbart were working to undermine the speaker as soon as the health care plan dropped. The site, formerly headed by Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, has had it in for Ryan for years: In December 2015, Bannon wrote to one of his reporters that his goal was to have Ryan “gone by spring.” IDES OF MARCH After the AHCA announceme­nt last week, Breitbart leaked the audio of an October Ryan conference call in which he said he was “not going to defend Donald Trump — not now, not in the future.” The website said the recording “calls into question whether Speaker Ryan ... really understand­s how Trump won and how to win in general.”

Yet Ryan’s comments had already been reported — so the fact that Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle thought they were somehow suddenly newsworthy during the health care debate is the only noteworthy part of the story. In essence, Ryan negotiated a lessthan-conservati­ve deal with Trump, took heat for it, then found himself under attack by Trump’s acolytes for his efforts.

On Wednesday, the Ides of March, Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord said on CNN that he thinks the White House should ignore the “Ryan plan” and instead let Obamacare “crash.”

This knife between Ryan’s shoulder blades isn’t the first blow struck by the alt-righters, and it certainly won’t be the final one. Look forward to similar battles on the administra­tion’s upcoming $1 trillion infrastruc­ture plan and efforts to negotiate trade deals that isolate America from world markets.

No doubt a new generation of Republican­s is going to grow up thinking these are things conservati­ves stand for.

But what if Republican­s could use trickery to stop this drift towards populism? How hard would it be to bait Trump into some sort of impeachabl­e offense that they could use as an excuse to throw him overboard? Conservati­ves, think of it: You’re only one late-night, ill-advised Trump tweet away from President Pence. CALLING ROSIE AND MERYL Granted, impeachmen­t is a tough thing to drag a country through. But lefties are already using the “I-word.” Why not throw another side dish onto the plate that conservati­ves will enjoy, too?

Things have gotten so bad, one poll released last week showed that 62% of Democrats would rather see Mike Pence as president than Donald Trump. Liberals would rather see a predictabl­e Christian conservati­ve running the country than a man who thinks network reporters are mean to him because they are overtaken by their menstrual cycles.

For conservati­ves, how difficult could it really be to entrap Trump in some impeachabl­e offense?

For beginners, just have Rosie O’Donnell tweet, “I bet he doesn’t even know the nuclear codes!” Then watch him angrily tweet them back.

Or talk Meryl Streep into calling Trump late at night and, while doing a Vladimir Putin impersonat­ion, talk Trump into invading Mexico for its maraca reserves. (This is especially inspired because it would serve dual purposes: Show Trump she’s a great actor and bring America to the brink of nuclear war.)

Better yet, Ryan could write a skit for Saturday Night Live full of jokes about how little money Trump has made over the past three decades, prompting the narcissist in chief to immediatel­y tweet all his tax returns. When we see the amount penciled in on the “tax deduction for treasonous foreign dealings” line, we’ve got him!

Perhaps this all seems like a long shot. But given the president’s pattern of behavior, can anyone rule anything out? Without action now, Trump is going to set conservati­sm back to the preGoldwat­er era of the 1950s.

The divorce needs to happen now. And to be clear, Mr. President, it’s not us. It’s definitely you.

 ?? THOMAS LOHNES, GETTY IMAGES ?? A carnival float featuring President Trump in a parade in Mainz, Germany, last month.
THOMAS LOHNES, GETTY IMAGES A carnival float featuring President Trump in a parade in Mainz, Germany, last month.

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