By now, pretty much everyone knows that the Democrats are trying to decide whether or not to impeach Donald Trump. However, impeachment is only half the game, and while Democrats control the House and can impeach Trump anytime they want, it is up to the Republican controlled Senate to convict him and then remove him from office. And conviction requires a vote of two-thirds of the Senate. Clearly that is extremely unlikely.
I’m on the side of Nancy Pelosi, who thinks that if the Dems impeach Trump and the Senate acquits him, it will probably backfire on them and could get Trump reelected, which would be a complete disaster. On the other hand, if the Dems do nothing, that will also hurt them severely.
However, David Faris has come up with what I think is a brilliant solution. His solution consists of a series of steps.
- Keep holding hearings and investigating Trump and his administration.
- In late August 2020, just before the Republican National Convention, start impeachment proceedings (the normal path to decide whether to impeach). This will reflect poorly on the Republicans during their convention.
- (extra bonus step) Undoubtably, Trump will go on a total rampage, tweeting up a shit storm. That will make Tump and the Republicans look even worse.
- Draw out the impeachment proceedings as long as possible. In fact, until a day or two before the presidential election in November. That’s right, vote to impeach Trump immediately before the election.
There will not be enough time for the Senate to acquit Trump, so Trump cannot say he has been vindicated. In fact, as part of the impeachment proceedings, the House should have gotten ahold of Trump’s tax returns, and plenty of other incriminating evidence from other places, making both Trump and the Republicans who support him look really bad.
How bad? Bad enough that the Democrats could retake the Senate. And if that happens, then it is even possible that the Republicans go ahead and vote to convict Trump in order to distance themselves from him.
Not only do I think this is a good solution, in fact the best solution, I think it just might be the only solution that can save our country’s democracy.
8 Comments
Before you argue against this, please read the article by David Feris.
Pelosi’s position on impeachment is not merely fundamentally flawed, but representative of the decades of Democratic failure that have brought us Bush2, Trump and all of their associated harm.
Having made that clear, Feris proposal is the only one I know of that turns the GOP’s slavish subservience to Trump to a political advantage.
Dare we keep our fingers crossed that Pelosi and the other conservative in control of the Democratic party might see past their jittery nerves enough to move beyond sarcastic claps, withering looks and clever tweets to actually DO something about the ever escalating crime spree being run out of the White House?
I have been frustrated with the Pelosi stance. The man is a walking, talking disaster of a crook and needs to go. But this is a plan I can get behind. The big problem is getting them to follow the plan. Herding Dems is like herding cats.
This entire plan is pathetic and a perfect representation of the hysteria democrats have given into.
Step 1: continue holding hearings and investigations even after the first investigations said they had nothing to go on ? Isn’t this word for word what happened with the whole Benghazi/Clinton debacle, which you yourself condemned here several times ?
Things get even better with step 2: even with no evidence, impeachment proceedings should be started right before the RNC, and somehow this will reflect poorly on the republicans? You are deluded if you think the average voter will not see this as an unjustified attack on Trump.
In a nutshell you are advocating democrats pull a Benghazi on Trump and essentially cheat and lie to damage his chances of being re-elected. What happened to winning on the merit of your own candidate? To being the party of truth and reason? Pathetic.
Glasshouses, let’s ignore your claim that there is no evidence against Trump (because that just isn’t true).
You are equating what Democrats are doing to the repeated Republican investigations into Benghazi. The truth is the unceasing investigations against Hillary Clinton did work. Enough voters decided not to vote for Clinton, which is how we got into this mess with Trump in the first place.
Are you saying that the Dems should not fight back? After all, enough “average voters” somehow fell for Benghazi, Whitewater, etc. etc. so how can you claim that the same voters will magically punish the Dems for investigating Trump, an investigation that has far far more evidence than Benghazi ever had.
However, my biggest worry now is that you are just a troll, and that I’m making a terrible mistake responding to you. Prove me wrong.
No I’m sorry you can’t just discard my “claim”. Even though Mueller didn’t vindicate Trump as he claimed, he also didn’t have enough to indict either, despite having enormous pressure to do so.
I’ll admit that the Benghazi investigation might have swayed a few voters, but saying it’s the cause for Trump getting elected is inaccurate. From the start Clinton was a terrible candidate and despite having the support of the DNC (remember how they cheated Bernie ?) and the mainstream media she still lost, the fault lies with her.
That’s why applying the same strategy to sway voters away from Trump won’t work, and will 100% backlash. The mainstream Media and democrats already have no credibility left in the eyes of anyone but democrats supporters, who don’t need to be swayed in the first place. The rest will see this as another attack by the “lying media”.
It’s not magic, it’s already happening. Just look at the massive ratings drops shows like Rachel Maddow’s Took after the Mueller report. People are not buying the collusion narrative anymore.
And finally no, I am not a troll. I am in fact a long time reader and was extremely sad to see your blog go into hibernation. I’m however very disappointed by the turn it has taken since its return. Whereas it used to be overall centrist the tone is now overwhelmingly to the left. You even fell for the Covington hoax..
This is a strategy worth considering. Timing is everything, and this would explain Pelosi’s restrained position on impeachment. Her comment about rather seeing Trump in prison than impeached is perfect.
She’s telling us he’s a criminal. And he is. He is “Individual One” implicated in a campaign finance felony. Not only did he and his campaign welcome and cooperate with Russian interference, he took numerous steps intended to obstruct the investigation.
Merriam-Webster: Collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose
That cooperation was indeed collusion, but this is not a legal term. Mueller didn’t find sufficient evidence to prove conspiracy with the Russian government.
Mueller never wrote, “No collusion”. Nor did he write, “No obstruction” or “no crime”. In fact he clearly presented evidence of collusion and obstruction.
Justin Amash read the report and bravely sided with our Constitution’s remedy.
It appears one reader’s impression of the Mueller Report is based on Barr’s and Trump’s inaccurate summery, and not on the content of the Report.
Televised impeachment hearings would be valuable in educating these uninformed people.
Not that we could expect any of the Trump base to care. They love for his anger, resentment and vile behavior.
They will never read the Mueller Report, and trust only the Republican’s propaganda and media.
“Lying media”. I assume this does not refer to FOX(R).
The German Nazis used the term “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, in their campaign to destroy journalism.
Someone is obviously toeing his Party line.
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