Key Points: Talk of a potential third impeachment of President Donald Trump during his second term, initially predicted by Steve Bannon in early April, is intensifying ahead of the 2026 midterms.
-While an impeachment resolution introduced by Rep. Shri Thanedar lacks broad Democratic support or a path forward currently, other Democrats like Sen. Jon Ossoff suggest pursuing it if they regain the House.
-Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, acknowledge this possibility and are framing the need to hold the House majority as crucial to preventing another “baseless impeachment,” making it a potential cornerstone of their 2026 campaign strategy.
Trump and a New Impeachment Push
Even before many Democrats were talking about a third impeachment of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon was.
In early April, following the victory by the liberal candidate in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, Bannon took to his show, “The War Room,” and raised the alarm that another Trump impeachment was on the way.
Per Newsweek, Bannon’s logic went as follows: The liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was likely to take up a Democratic challenge to the state’s Congressional district map, which would lead to that challenge winning, and Democrats gaining seats in that state, as well as overall.
“We’re going to lose two congressional seats; that’s just a fact,” Bannon said at the time. And this would make a Democratic majority in the House more likely- along with the prospect that the Democrats would pursue another impeachment of Trump.
“These radical Democrats, it was over $100 million spent, they didn’t put this kind of money in not to take those two seats and those two seats put us right on the cliff, the edge, of them trying to impeach President Trump and it raises the stakes in 2026 even higher and I told you this was going to happen,” Bannon said.
At this point, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) had talked in rallies about wanting to impeach Trump, but no other elected Democrats were making such noises, and no articles of impeachment had yet been introduced. Since then, that’s changed- and some Republicans are using that prospect to their advantage.
GOP vs. Impeachment
Late last month, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) introduced articles of impeachment for Trump, including an actual House resolution. The effort does not have the backing of the House Democratic leadership, nor would it much matter if it did, since the Democrats lack the majority and could not bring the resolution forward, beyond the initial introduction.
While some co-sponsors of the Thanedar resolution have backed away, other Democrats have talked up impeachment, albeit with the caveat that it probably can’t be pursued until after a midterm election in which Democrats re-take the House. Rep. Mikie Sherill (D-NJ), who is running for governor of New Jersey, and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who is running for re-election in 2026, have both taken this position.
Per CNN, Republicans are starting to see fearmongering over impeachment as an issue they could hammer in the 2026 midterms.
“It is a key priority of his, obviously, to keep the House majority, because he knows what would happen if we didn’t,” Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN, following a meeting he had with the president to discuss midterm election strategy. “Democrats have already said they’re gonna try another baseless impeachment. They’ll do their best to grind the agenda to a halt.”
All Hands in Georgia
Part of the GOP strategy in the midterms is candidate recruitment, and they have been pushing hard to get the popular Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to mount a Senate race against Ossoff.
Kemp, who has been elected governor twice, may have clashed with Trump in the past, but he is seen as the strongest possible Republican candidate for that seat. And because Ossoff has talked about impeachment, that subject would likely come up prominently in such a race.
Both Trump himself and top Republican senators, per the CNN report, have met with or spoken with Kemp to try to convince him to make the race.
Also reportedly considering the Senate race is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a much more polarizing figure who has never won statewide in Georgia. An early poll places Greene dead last among potential Senate candidates. Second place in that poll, behind Kemp, is Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a staunch Trump enemy thanks to his role in the infamous phone call in which Trump asked him to help overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.
Greene did comment to CNN about the impeachment question.
“If the Republican campaign message in the midterms is to vote for House Republicans and vote for Republican candidates for Senate to stop the Democrats from impeaching Trump, the American people are not going to care because they’ve seen that show twice, and it didn’t matter,” she said. “It won’t work.”
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter
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