
Donald Trump was quick to congratulate American University Professor Allan Lichtman when he predicted Trump's election win. But in his upcoming book, Lichtman now predicts that Trump will be impeached.

American University Professor Allan Lichtman achieved a sort of grim fame when he correctly predicted Donald Trump's presidential victory last fall, which also earned him a personal note from Trump saying "‘Professor — Congrats — good call."

But in his new book, "The Case for Impeachment," Lichtman makes another call that Trump might not appreciate so much: "that, after winning the presidency, he would be impeached.”

According to an advance copy reviewed by Politico, Lichtman cites lengthy historical precedents and allegories to Trump, and notes a long list of potentially impeachable offenses:

Lichtman’s list of possible offenses that could get Trump to that point are familiar: charges of treason with Russia, abuse of power and emoluments violations. Lichtman also cites now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, then a senator, who argued that a president could be impeached for offenses committed before he took office. Among those potential offenses, Lichtman lists Trump’s housing violations, charity problems, potential violations of the Cuba embargo and Trump University.


Just since taking office, Trump has racked up even more entries on that list of offenses, including his possibly actionable lies about President Obama and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Two other key factors are the already-high public support for Trump's impeachment, and the prospect of a Democratic wave in 2018 that could put, say, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) in the majority, and the Republicans who protect Trump in the minority.

Of course, even more dramatic developments in the Trump/Russia investigation could speed that process along considerably, giving Republicans political cover to support impeachment, and with Mike Pence waiting in the wings, little incentive to die on Trump's hill.

So far, though, Republicans have shown little interest in holding Trump accountable, and that failure will certainly be something for which they will answer in 2018.