A week ago I agreed with Speaker Pelosi that Democrats should slow walk impeachment. I’d bought into the worry about what happened with Clinton. He was impeached and after failure to convict his popularity rose. Today I’m with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Trump must be impeached.
But I’ve changed my mind for two primary reasons. First, most Americans have not read the Mueller report and never will. Americans aren’t reading because they are ignorant as some have posted. Sure, some have drunk the Kool-Aid. But most are just too busy to read 448 pages of legalese. Even Lindsey Graham, Republican chair of the committee that held one hearing with William Barr, admitted in his opening statement that didn't read even the redacted version and had no intentions of ever reading it. Then during the hearing Barr showed that he too had not read it. When asked about Manafort giving internal polling data to Russians, Barr was surprised that was in the report and even asked to whom Manafort gave the data. The Senator then started giving Barr the page numbers they were quoting from as the questioning continued. Later Barr admitted that neither he, Rosenstein, nor any of their staff read any of the underlying evidence supporting the report conclusions.
While we can’t expect most people to read the report, they will tune in to watch the nightly news for a review of the day's happenings at the impeachment trial. It will create a low pressure area over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and a category 5 tweet storm from the White House. But weeks of media coverage will give the public a better understanding of what happened than Barr’s 4-page report.
After thinking it over, the comparison to Bill Clinton is not appropriate. Trump will not get stronger like Bill Clinton. Clinton lied about a BJ. People wanted the details but even those of us who disapproved of his behavior could understand why he lied about it. Unlike Trump, most people actually like Clinton.
Trump’s transgressions are far more serious. He lied many times about Russian connections. He paid for sex and covered it up. Trump charities broke the law. He is most likely is guilty of tax evasion. He is obviously guilty of obstruction of justice. He asked his staff to lie under oath. He has a long and ugly history of racial prejudice and discrimination. Etc.
Democrats have the talking points and significant control of events and headlines. A meme I’m seeing posted everywhere is “If the Mueller report supports Trump, why is he hiding it from everyone including Congress?” Donald Jr. has been issued a subpoena by a Republican controlled Senate committee. The story of losing $1 billion plus is not going away and hints at tax evasion. New York State will be giving Democrats Trump’s tax returns. It is going to be a bad year for farmers. Those stories won’t convince those drinking the Kool-Aid to abandon Trump, but they will peel a few away, make others stay home, and help get out the Democratic vote.
Impeach. Don’t look back. Don’t worry that Trump will bounce back. When the stopper is pulled on this dirty corrupt administration, Trump, and hopefully 95% of the Republican party, will spin down the drain.
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