Assuming:
- Trump’s self-destruction is imminent.
- Trump is increasingly rendering himself politically paralyzed and impotent.
- he cannot be charged with a crime while remaining President.
- his involuntary removal from office can only be accomplished through impeachment.
- Trump’s impeachment and removal from office would pass the presidency to Pence.
- Pence would be much more capable of accomplishing conservative agendas than Trump.
- An impotent Trump can wreak less havoc on our nation than a productive Pence.
- GOP legislators are afraid to challenge or abandon Trump, or his extremist base.
- enough GOP legislators are worried about reelection that majority votes are increasingly difficult to accomplish.
- the longer Trump remains President, and alienates his party (and the rest of the world), the more GOP legislators will want to rid themselves of him.
- the longer GOP legislators remain committed to Trump, the more likely they are to be voted out in 2018 and 2020.
I therefore hope that Trump’s impeachment does not occur until 2019, or after. In fact, I believe Democrats should actually oppose it until they have taken back the House, the Senate, or both. Meanwhile, a crippled Congress and effete executive branch will be less malicious than a Pence presidency and a recovering GOP legislature.