Friday, July 26, 2019

Democrats Fear the Consequences of Impeachment Too Much to Actually Do Anything

Democrats Fear the Consequences of Impeachment Too Much to Actually Do Anything
Excerpt: The last Washington Post/ABC news poll found 63 percent of registered voters oppose impeachment. That’s higher than Trump’s approval rating, meaning there are a decent number of voters out there who don’t approve of the president but who don’t want to see him impeached, particularly when they’ll get to render their verdict on him in 15 months. Impeachment is a subtle declaration of the Democrats that they do not trust the electorate to come to the right conclusion about Trump. “This guy is a crook, but you people just don’t see it and might be dumb enough to give this guy a second term, so we have to make the decision for you.” If and when impeachment fails in the Senate, the president is likely to come out of the experience believing he’s bullet-proof. You think the Trump White House ignores subpoenas and doesn’t cooperate with Congress now? ... If that’s how 217 House Democrats feel, they ought to go ahead and do that. But they should be ready to accept an increased chance of a second term for Trump as a consequence. If Democrats choose not to impeach, they avoid all of the above risks. But the party’s base will absolutely loathe them for it. (Then again, the Democratic party’s base loathes a lot of things.) And while right-of-center writers aren’t usually supposed to publicly express sympathy to the progressive grassroots, let’s observe that the Democratic base will have a point.

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