Trump

The House will begin public hearings on Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry on Nov. 13, proceedings that will have a significant impact on public opinion, according to Laurence Tribe, constitutional law professor at Harvard University.

Speaking at New York Law School on Nov. 1, Tribe recalled the impact that the impeachment proceedings of president Richard Nixon had on the public.

Though he said comparing those 1974 televised hearings with Trump’s will be like comparing “apples to apple orchards,” according to a report in the New York Law Journal.

Tribe, co-author of “To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment,” believes if the Senate fails to remove Trump from office-- if he’s impeached by the House-- the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard of the US Constitution will be rendered null and void.

In his book, he wrote: “Failing to impeach a president for “high crimes and misdemeanors” may result in irreparable damage to the constitutional system. That is particularly clear when the impeachable offenses at issue undermine democracy or threaten the separation of powers. In such cases, only by removing the president from office can Congress undo the immediate damage and prevent continuing constitutional harm.”

Tribe recalled Benjamin Franklin’s warning that if the US doesn’t allow presidential impeachment, “the only recourse for abuse of power will be assassination.”

While Republicans have been railing against the “secret” impeachment inquiry conducted by Democrats, the public sessions will torpedo the GOP’s claim.

They may also boost the faith of the American people in the inquiry.

A Monmouth University poll released Nov. 5 found that only 24 percent trust the impeachment inquiry as it has been conducted so far. About three-in-ten (29 percent) have a little trust, while 44 percent have no trust at all.

Half the respondents though believe public hearings will hike overall trust in the impeachment inquiry. Another 29 percent say the hearings will have no impact and 17 percent say they will decrease trust.

Monmouth found that a plurality (37 percent) say Trump’s action are clearly grounds for impeachment, while 17 percent believe his behavior should be looked into as possible impeachment offenses.

Sixteen percent say Trump has done nothing wrong and 28 percent say some of his actions may have been improper but do not merit impeachment.

Let’s tune into the Big Show next week.

Civil unrest and political instability are the toughest crisis situations in the global travel market, according to a study from the World Travel & Tourism Council, which studied 90 different crisis events from Feb. 2001 to Aug. 2018

The study measured the duration of the drop in international visitor arrivals and spending from the start of the crisis until visitor arrivals recovered to pre-event levels.

Civil unrest and political instability had the longest average recovery time (22 months). Recovery ranged from 10 to 44.9 months.

The recovery time from an outbreak of disease ranked next at 19.4 months, followed by the 16.2-month average recovery from a natural disaster.

Terrorism cases showed the quickest recovery with an average of 11.5 months, with a range from two to 44.9 months.

Conducted with Global Rescue Cos., the report notes that the vast majority of incidents involving travelers are high-probability low-pact, such as petty theft and minor illness.

It predicts that digital security and resource scarcity will become increasingly important crisis areas in the coming years.