The world shifted on Tuesday. After almost a year of House Democrats dithering around, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the initiation of formal impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump during an address that summoned both the storied wisdom of America's founding fathers and the great history of this republic.
Placing this political moment in context, Pelosi reflected on an essay by Thomas Paine perhaps best known for its opening assertion: "These are the times that try men's souls." Within that article, Paine had written, "The time has found us."
"The times have found us today," Pelosi echoed on Tuesday, addressing the gravity of the developments surrounding Trump's actions. "Not to place us ourselves in the same category of greatness as our founders—but to place us in the urgency of protecting and defending our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic—in the words of Ben Franklin, to keep our republic.” Pelosi said Trump had violated both the Constitution and the law.
In the preceding hour, events in the GOP-led Senate had also taken an unusual turn. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had allowed a vote of unanimous consent on a resolution requesting that the whistleblower complaint be sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee, as is required by law. McConnell grumbled about it from the floor but, shockingly, he still allowed it to happen. It was a highly unusual departure from the standard GOP line that everything Democrats want in regard to Trump is a witch hunt.
It's fair to say that, taken together, it was a stunning turn of events—almost as if Democrats making a moral case to the American people set forth a domino effect on the Hill, and Republicans were forced to respond.
And so, Trump was invincible until he wasn't. While it's far from clear how this will all play out, Trump's standing in the White House—his seeming impenetrability—is less certain at the close of Tuesday than it has been at any point in his presidency. Onward.
Watch Pelosi below.
Click here for more coverage of the whistleblower complaint and the impeachment inquiry.