The case AGAINST impeachment is seductive and persuasive. I know many of the arguments and indeed I have made the case against impeachment in the past. However, the Mueller report, even in redacted form, makes it clear that despite the arduous and quite possibly perilous process, the move toward impeachment is regrettably necessary.
If we do this properly, we may well lose the impeachment battle in the enabling Senate but win the war of the 2020 election. We have to fight this fight with brains, balls and honor, but we have to take a stand and fight, and in doing so expose the Republican party as the enabling weasels that they are, and make the case to the 60% of the country that has judged Trump as deplorable that the Dems are strong enough to fight for them and that we deserve their vote in 2020.
The reasons given for avoiding impeachment are logical….”Impeachment will go nowhere in the Republican controlled Senate…. If and when we try and fail impeachment, Trump will claim validation and end up even stronger and will go on to victory in 2020. ..Impeachment will throw a bomb into the 2020 election process and distract the country from addressing important problems... Impeachment will animate and unify Trump’s base and act as a highly motivating factor in getting them to vote in 2020….The country is weary and confused by the non stop scandal and is no longer paying attention and will in fact resent the Democratic party for putting the country through it..”
I do not dispute that any of those arguments are valid, yet the undeniable fact of the matter is that the President of the United States actively cooperated with a hostile foreign power to gain advantage in the 2016 Presidential election, and then engaged in a virtually unprecedented and non stop campaign to obstruct the the investigation and obstruct justice through consistent dishonesty and abuse of power. Full stop. He did it, he lied about it, and he continues to engage in as much abuse of power as he can possibly get away with in order to avoid consequences. Full stop.
The behavior of the Trump and his team have forced the hand of the Democratic party. The analogy of the boiling frog is over used these days, but that is because it is so directly on point. Look where we are- the Mueller report makes it clear that the President is guilty of felony obstruction of justice. The water is boiling people- and those who debate the wisdom of impeachment are debating about whether it is more dangerous to remain in the pot or risk breaking our legs by jumping out of the pot. Nobody wants a broken leg...but slowly boiling to death is far worse.
Pursuing impeachment IS risky… but not impeaching is no safer. At some point, we have decide if we are a nation of law or not, and whether we are willing to fight to remain a nation of law. Fighting this fight successfully requires embracing the fight. not shying away from it or engaging in it halfway. Impeach Trump-and fight it all the way through the enabling Senate. even though we will lose that battle. Hold the Senate trial on live television and let the public watch the arrogantly lying weasels defend themselves. There is more honor in fighting for the right thing and losing than there is in making the calculus that impeachment is too frightening to pursue. Cynically, I would submit that there more progress to be made in the 2020 election by showing that the Dem party is fighting FOR the country rather than against the president than there is to be standing on the sidelines lamenting about what an evil man the President is.
In the words of Tom Petty...”Hey baby- we got no easy way out”. Move forward anyway people- there really is no other choice.