I am no exception here. Even just the publicly available evidence is overwhelming and decisive on impeachment. Unfortunately, we will not have an unbiased jury here on conviction. I must plainly say that any reticence on the part of the Democratic Party leaders in being willing to bring impeachment charges is an act of pure, unadulterated moral cowardice. If an individual candidate is afraid of being linked to support for impeachment because their congressional district went for thing, then they are not worthy of the moment. The serious crimes that thing committed include (1) interference in a federal election (2) conspiracy to interfere in a federal election (3) violation of campaign finance law stating a candidate may not receive a contribution from a foreign national or a foreign government (this is an in kind contribution) (4) obstruction of justice (5) computer crimes (6) receiving stolen goods …. These are all serious felonies.
I understand that there is a high bar for impeachment for a very good reason: in theory, this is the person who received the most votes out of any elected official. This is absolutely not due to partisan views. Perhaps this is what separates most progressives and Democrats from tribalist republicans: most Republicans still voted for roy moore (Doug Jones got the most votes, but most of his votes were from Democrats, esp African American women, our base ! ). A person with the character of thing and/or Moore could not win a statewide election or a Congressional seat in a Democratic primary. Nevertheless, the simple fact of the matter is that without Russian support, Trump would not have won enough electoral college votes to skate into the White House and he lost the popular vote by 3 million to a brilliant, accomplished and experienced female candidate. The crimes he committed are serious and they were committed during the time he was a candidate or when he was already in office. They were not known or not yet consummated ; therefore, the American voters did not have a chance to process this and use this information in determining their vote. The president of the United States is not above the law. A country that would countenance such an idea is not a liberal democracy; rather, such a country would be a banana republic run by a dictator. The United States cannot become such a country.
The only opposition party that has the ability to defeat the republican party which is protecting thing from the consequences for his crimes is the Democratic Party. Therefore, the leaders of our party must strengthen themselves. They are uniquely in a position of power at this important moment. They must prove themselves worthy of the moment. They must rise to meet it.
I understand if a candidate in a Trump congressional district states that they will look at the evidence even though we have enough publicly available evidence to convict in a normal jury trial. I do not understand the leadership of our party pushing back against impeachment, especially not in this current environment. I understand that we need 2/3 of the US Senate to convict him. The public is where they were with Nixon at a similar point in time. With Manafort in jail, 19 indictments, 3 people pleading guilty, as the rest of Trump’s circle is brought down legally and the evidence against he himself and his people becomes more public knowledge and the consequences politically for Republicans trying to win reelection become more dire, more Republicans will support impeachment. Republicans now will only do what is in their best interests for their personal political lives. Right now, that means that they will protect Trump. They are afraid of losing the trump base and they know that they will be unlikely to get Democrats to vote for them to replace the lost votes. Eventually, however, they will see that the danger to themselves for continuing to support trump is greater than the danger of opposing him. They will also see that the danger to the party is immense and growing. As more evidence of serious crimes committed by people close to Trump becomes more well known by voters and as we approach the November elections, more Republicans are likely to turn against him. So, even though now, it does not look like the votes are there, when Mueller presents his recommendations and evidence for the charges to be brought against him and the public pressure increases because of increased knowledge of the evidence of the crimes committed, then the votes may be there later.
I cannot, therefore, appreciate this :
"I do not think that impeachment is a policy agenda," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said at a CNN town hall in May. Pelosi's counterpart in the Senate, New York's Sen. Chuck Schumer, has likewise said he'll wait for a "thorough investigation" before entertaining any impeachment talk.
"We need to get all the facts and then we'll come to conclusions," he said.
"Impeachment is, to me, divisive," Pelosi added back in May,
Despite:
Pelosi can easily remember the impeachment effort against Clinton, which royally backfired on Republicans since he survived a trial in the Senate and maintained his approval rating, which was over 70% at the time of his impeachment.
Trump's approval rating is much lower -- 39% -- in that new CNN poll