I should take my temperature. I’m in agreement with what Max Boot says in his most recent Washington Post column:
While evidence of Trump’s wrongdoing is copious, the case is not yet solid enough to compel impeachment. Trump has engaged in a clear pattern of obstruction of justice, beginning with his attempts to extract a loyalty oath from Comey and get him to go easy on fired national security adviser Michael Flynn. When Comey didn’t comply, he was canned. Trump then admitted on TV that he had acted to stop the investigation of the “Russia thing†(even if he now denies it). All of Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department and the FBI — and his disgraceful demands that they prosecute his political enemies — strengthen the case. So do Trump’s aborted attempts to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
There is also growing evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin that the president sought to cover up — for instance, by claiming that his campaign high command was meeting with an admitted Russian “informant†to discuss “the adoption of Russian children†rather than dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump’s flouting of ethical norms — his refusal to release his tax returns, divest himself of his business holdings, or stop doing business with partners closely linked to foreign regimes — could add additional articles of impeachment. Even greater misconduct may be uncovered via the investigation into Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
But it would be unwise for Democrats to proceed with impeachment unless Mueller issues a damning report. As long as the special counsel is still investigating, Democrats need to hold off, lest they play into Trump’s hands by appearing to be blatantly political. But if Mueller does find serious wrongdoing by the president, then politics should no longer matter. All members of Congress who take seriously their oaths to “support and defend the Constitution†will then be obligated to proceed with impeachment.
The emphasis is mine. However, that temporary lapse into good judgment doesn’t prevent him from going off the rails:
Rep. Waters (D-Calif.) has indeed been saying that Trump should either resign or be impeached, but that is not the message coming from Democratic Party leaders.
Maxine Waters has been calling for Trump’s impeachment practically since his inauguration and, heavens forfend, she is part of the Democratic Party leadership. She’s Minority Chief Deputy Whip, a leadership position. She’s also a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Embarrassingly, she’s not a back-bencher. She’s basically the voice of The Resistance in Congress, a proxy for the top leaders. She gives them plausible deniability.
Mr. Boot also fails to understand impeachment. It is an inherently political act. “The politics of impeachment” is a redundancy.
The dangers are far worse than Mr. Boot paints them. Should the Democrats eke out a narrow majority in the House and proceed to impeach Trump, the risk is far greater than “playing into Trump’s hands”. Trump’s supporters will not accept an impeachment on meager evidence of an underlying crime produced by 50%+1 of the House.
I think that the Democrats really want payback for the Clinton impeachment, and I suspect there will be a lot more cause by the time they get through investigating Trump, especially if they get into his finances. That said, I don’t think his base will believe anything bad about him, no matter what the findings or who finds them. I think we have to hope that the Dems will be more mature and thoughtful than were the Republicans and forego impeachment for the sake of the country as it does seem likely that the Trump supporters go ballistic if he were to be impeached. Of course if we are counting on the Dem leaders to put the needs of the country first, we are in trouble.
Steve
I think an impeachment trial would be …. quite absorbing. Figure half a dozen poverty-stricken Democratic senators will become multi-centi-millionaires (or even billionaires!) before casting their votes, thanks to the generosity of anonymous-but-of-course-disinterested civic benefactors. And maybe half a dozen senators from both parties will be tragically slain in unexplained traffic accidents and home burglaries which somehow went wrong.
It’ll certainly take our minds off ephemeral things like North Korea and Syria and Russia and trade agreements. I can’t imagine anything which would more unite Americans except maybe Ivanka and Jerod getting pregnant.
Mr. Boot, please provide just one factoid of proof of collusion between Trump and Russia. Go ahead, give it your best shot.
And I used to read his columns and think he was a very sensible guy.
And I’m a man who got sick to his stomach having to vote for our current President. Who I still consider to be a very shifty rotten dishonest businessman who I would never give credit terms to. He was just better (and still is better) than the alternative.