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Letter: Another alternative for the president: congressional censure

(Paul Sancya | The Associated Press) In this March 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. Political nerds, start your streaming devices. You’ve got a big Saturday night of programming ahead. President Donald Trump rolls out his “complete and total exoneration” tour in battleground Wisconsin, his first campaign rally since the release of the Mueller report and an early look at his 2020 re-election strategy.

The Democrats are torn between wanting, not wanting and waiting for impeachment. Republicans criticize them for taking any stand.

The general consensus is that the only choices are impeach, charge after leaving office or do nothing. A very important fourth alternative has been totally ignored: congressional censure.

The last such censure I am aware of (there probably have been others) was of Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1954. Censure of a congressman strips them of participation in any committee work, which pretty well strips them of any influence in Congress. It also causes public humiliation.

POTUS can also be censured. There may be no penalties except public humiliation, as a president has never been censured, but it would be an alternative some Republicans could live with.

Impeachment is a political action which will never fly, but censure is a political action which might very well get off the ground.

Errol Remington, Salt Lake City

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