Written as an expansion of a comment I posted in Usurlafaw’s recent diary, and later expanded on FB.
I've said this many times, and will say it a few more until it happens: the GOP's "hidden" agenda is to use Trump & the Trump Admin as a shield to provide cover for much of their most egregious intentional actions, and then pull the trigger on an impeachment to yank him - as scapegoat - and elevate Pence. They'll then be able to claim that they were serving the nation by impeaching "one of their own" (which Trump isn't, and never has been) while cementing their gallop forward into several more years of wanton destruction, political malfeasance, personal and professional corruption, and flagrant abuse of power. BUT - this is the GOP. Their current "leadership" is a bunch of screwballs - they've managed to convince and connive and connect to enough people and influence to remain in power, but they're the most ridiculous, stupid lot of myopic imbeciles and self-serving nutjobs in our nation.
Their "plan" will only work if we let it. And we don't have to let that happen...at least, not the way they want it to. We can plan for it - they've telegraphed their intentions, often inadvertently, sometimes blatantly; they are certain there's nothing that can be done, and that they've the perfect cover. They're wrong.
The problem with pulling the trigger on Trump is that the GOP may not like where it goes — they’ve intended to use him as the default scapegoat to hide behind while they accomplish the bulk of their dirty work, knowing they’ve got several options for ensuring an impeachment/removal.
Trump and his team know this, too, and you can bet they won’t let it simply happen.
What we have to do is ensure that we can push to expand the impeachment charges so that they include Pence, and — if not include, then certainly impact — the major house and senate leaders of the GOP.
This can be a unique hat-trick. It’d be one-in-a-million, but it can be pulled off — the GOP can, through their exposure and scheming, be assisted with giving their party and their majorities a major self-inflicted sucking wound when they were aiming for a precision wart removal.
Is the above scenario unlikely? Sure — but it is possible, particularly if national security concerns are solid key elements as well as the GOP’s foreknowledge of same.
And the intel agencies are in a unique position to help clean up a frickin’ mess before it becomes an apocalyptic, cataclysmic disaster.