Congress has seen an unprecedented surge in impeachment resolutions targeting former President Donald Trump, breaking with historical precedent.

Just last week, Representative Shri Thanedar, a Democrat from Michigan, put forward and quickly withdrew an impeachment resolution after facing pushback within Democratic ranks.

His attempt marked the thirteenth such resolution filed by House Democrats since 2016, with Representative Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, promptly submitting the fourteenth shortly thereafter.

This flurry of impeachment activity signals a fundamental shift in how lawmakers wield this constitutional tool. Before now, presidents faced few formal impeachment proposals: President Barack Obama faced none, while previous administrations saw only occasional resolutions introduced.

Former President Joe Biden and members of his administration were the subjects of unusually high numbers of impeachment efforts as well. Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas alone has confronted six separate impeachment proposals, one actually advancing to a Senate trial, meaning he was the second member of the Cabinet in history to face such proceedings.

Behind these resolutions often lie motivations extending well beyond constitutional accountability. “The impeachment language directed at President Trump is political, and there’ll probably be twenty more filed before the end of this Congress” Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, recently predicted.

Representative Daniel Goldman, a Democrat from New York, also believes that impeachment has been weaponized. “The shame of it is that impeachment has lost its ability to be a form of accountability,” he commented.