Considering recent events, some may be surprised that American Crime Story season 3’s impeachment story revolves around President Bill Clinton’s, not Donald Trump’s, but there are reasons for this. Impeachment tells the story of and lead-up to President Clinton’s infamous impeachment in 1998, primarily focusing on the perspectives of the women who were key players. Most of the series follows Impeachment producer Monica Lewinsky, who was involved in the Clinton sex scandal, Paula Jones, who notably sued Clinton for sexual harassment in the mid-’90s, and Linda Tripp, Monica’s coworker who leaked phone conversations revealing her relationship with the president.
Up until 1998, a presidential impeachment in America hadn’t occurred for over a century, which makes it even more bizarre that by 2021, two more impeachments had occurred under one president. Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice, both of which he was acquitted for, allowing him to serve the remainder of his term. Approximately 20 years later, Donald Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, yet acquitted both times by the Republican-majority Senate. Trump’s first impeachment was in 2019 for abuse of power, while his second was in January 2021 (a week before his term ended) for incitement of insurrection.
Since the Trump impeachment was far fresher in American minds and featured not one, but two separate trials, some were confused as to why American Crime Story chose to cover Bill Clinton’s 1990s impeachment. The simple reason is that Ryan Murphy announced he would be making an American Crime Story season based on Clinton’s scandal and impeachment before Trump had ever been impeached. Impeachment’s season was officially announced by FX in summer 2019, several months before Trump had been impeached. In fact, it was already known back in 2017 that the fourth season would be covering the Clinton impeachment before the decision was made to move it to American Crime Story season 3.
American Crime Story season 3 is far less about covering the actual impeachment than calling out the themes of sexism and abuse of power that were apparent in the 1998 trial and have hardly been changed today. Not coincidentally, Impeachment’s season was announced after 2017's #MeToo movement, which called out the systemic abuse of power by men involving sexual harassment and assault. It made waves for holding men accountable for harassing women, and American Crime Story's Clinton focus shows how difficult it was (and still is) for women to have their stories heard and addressed while also revealing existing widespread patterns of abuse by those in high positions of power. Impeachment is largely understood as a #MeToo retrospective, showing how the women were the ones who were attacked by the press and the abusers faced few to no consequences.
Even had season 3 already not been set in stone, a season directly covering Trump’s impeachment trial would have been too recent in regard to more objectively addressing themes of power, harassment and societal outcomes. It also would’ve had to focus more on Trump himself, while American Crime Story uses Clinton as a minor character compared to the women like Lewinsky, Jones, and Tripp. Plus, there's the very real issue of Trump fatigue. The American public has already lived through the circus of the past few years and his impeachment story is still fresh; no one cares to see it dramatized already when the criminal controversies swirling around him are arguably still unfolding.
American Crime Story season 3 covering Clinton’s impeachment instead of Trump also keeps up with the series’ trend of tackling notable cases from the 1990s. Season 1 followed the O.J. Simpson murder trial, showing how integral racism in America was to the case and how little the country has progressed. American Crime Story season 2 focused on the murder of Gianni Versace, which detailed the widespread homophobia in America that is also still present today. If American Crime Story covered Trump instead of Clinton, it would be harder to compare how American society has progressed with such issues, and how its outcomes have fundamentally contributed to the current cultural climate.
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September 23, 2021 at 02:52AM
