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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsShould we impeach if we're certain of a Senate acquittal?
If its looking certain that the Senate will acquit, I think we need to think carefully about Professor Tribes suggestion of impeaching without sending to the senate. Even if he gets acquitted by just 1 vote, that will be a blow to him for a day but the public has shown no evidence of having a long memory of Dotards crimes. Nate has his average approval up to 44% before all this broke even in the wake of map-gate and El Paso, which I thought were his end for sure.
Just saying that Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Schiff need to maneuver carefully if its looking like the senate GOP firewall remains impenetrable. Just thinking of this:
1. Senate Acquits.
2. Trump delivers a triumphant SOTU shortly thereafter.
3. Economy remains strong.
We cannot allow that nightmare scenario to play out under any circumstances. So, lets go all in with the impeachment inquiry but maybe hold off on impeachment if the GOP firewall holds somehow. Sadly, we need those GOP motherfuckers for this to work.
If this goes well for us, I predict it will end in his resignation before we even impeach after the GOP defects en masse.
Fiendish Thingy
(15,651 posts)StarryNite
(9,459 posts)It's the right thing to do. If the Republicans don't do the right thing, it's on them.
hlthe2b
(102,343 posts)Hell, until this morning we didn't even think McConnell would take it up and today he says he has to.
Hell until 3 days ago we did not even have an official impeachment inquiry underway.
Hell as little as a week ago, polls were uniformly AGAINST impeachment. Now, the past few are the opposite.
Time to realize this is fast-moving and we really don't know what pressures a demanding, informed public and a Senate that increasingly finds little reason to back Trump in the face of a clear, well-articulated impeachment investigation, might do.
Regardless of the outcome, DEMS have to stand for something and this could not be ignored or we stand for NOTHING.
maxsolomon
(33,384 posts)Fuck yes.
The GOP didn't pay any price for Impeaching Clinton in 2000. They won the WH, the House, and the Senate.
drray23
(7,637 posts)I did not use to think it was wise. Recent events have convinced me that the backslash will be on the senators who vote against convicting, not on the dems.
Public opinion is now 50 % for impeachment. Give it a couple of weeks and it will be a clear majority just like during Watergate but faster. Modern means of communication coupled with the stupidity of Trump and Giuliani made that rapid pace possible
dchill
(38,518 posts)Bleacher Creature
(11,257 posts)They get to live with it, starting in the 2020 election.
unblock
(52,308 posts)if we act like a republican-controlled senate will be a fair and impartial arbiter of the facts, then of course they will take full advantage of us and acquit no matter what and then we'll look like fools.
but if we want about how donnie has corrupted those around him, that he has gotten others to cover-up his crimes and excuse away his abuse of office and smashing of norms, then senate republicans might have a tougher time just playing the loyalty to party game.
they'll still acquit, but they'll look corrupt doing it and it will set the stage for us retaking the senate in 2020.
NewsCenter28
(1,835 posts)I used to think that the public would remember that he was impeached at election time but Nate showing his approval rating bouncing back up within weeks of El Paso and Map-gate has shaken me. The public seems to have all the memory of a person, no offence, with severe Alzheimers.
I wanted this game so badly but now Im like all in and dont want to do it at all if were going to lose in the end.
The wisest strategy is holding the impeachment and trial smack dab in the middle of election season, not now. I think that is what I had envisioned when I dreamed of impeachment.
Since were doing it in a month or two now, I want total victory or else I cant help but be disappointed.
Penn Voter
(247 posts)The House needs to do its job. It should not consider what the Senate is going to do. I believe the tide is turning anyway.
As far as the economy is concerned. The economy has been good since 2010. Trump inherited a good economy unlike President Obama. When people tell me the economy is good now, I tell them, what is the cost of the continued good economy under Trump? A $1 trillion deficit and hundreds of farm foreclosures. Ask the Midwestern farmer how the economy is for them? Many have taken their own live due to the loss of their family farms! Anyway, the sugar high from the tax cut is ending, the economy is slowing but our budget deficits are growing. Do NOT concede economic issues, Democrats!!
NotASurfer
(2,153 posts)Make sure to shine a bright light on what actually happened and make the case that only those involved in the high crimes could have an interest in acquittal
Make the same point in the Senate trial. Do it right and you condemn a lot of Repubs standing for re-election to their political death
The outcome is not certain but there is an election coming up, never mind what gets tweeted by tiny orange fingers. Win public sentiment and you get a landslide
And without regard to that imagined nightmare, right now the owner of those tiny orange is living his own worst nightmare, outmaneuvered and beaten by a smart, tough woman, something his so-called base will not like
NewsCenter28
(1,835 posts)I have no confidence in them. I can see them demanding his removal during the trial even but then quickly forgetting and ending up voting for him in November 2020 given how the polls have been for him prior to this. No confidence in them at all to do the right thing. None.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,018 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,439 posts)Its not a conviction but a simple majority voting to convict would look really bad going into an election year. Dont need 67 for that to happen. I have no idea if even a single GOP sen woukd defect, FWIW.
regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)...would be if we were certain that not only would no Republicans vote to convict, but that Democrats wouldnt be able to keep a united front, either (say, that Manchin would vote to acquit).
A party-line vote in the Senate would be seen as Republicans protecting their own over the rule of law, and at least a few would pay the price in November 2020, possibly enough to hand us Senate control. And, if we held firm and Republicans didnt, thats a significant impression, particularly if the end result is a majority of the Senate voting to convict. Trump would be pretty much Dead Politician Walking at that point. And, as others have said, who knows? If enough Republicans defect, especially if combined with public opinion shifting dramatically in favor of removal, it might only be a matter of time before the dam bursts and they decide it would look better to put up a show of standing up for the rule of law, and contenting themselves with President Pence as their standard-bearer.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)As a message that we need to unite as Americans.
Even if they impeach without Republican support, it will not hurt the Democratic Party, in my opinion.
At first, my opinion was that we should investigate right up to and past the next election, if necessary. My thoughts were that he couldn't resign and get a pardon from Pence if he had not been impeached or charged?
Bu2t, I think it is very important that they got more fhan 218 votes to carry on impeachment inquiry.
Now, I prefer that he be impeached and convicted by the Senate.
klook
(12,164 posts)Does the rule of law mean anything?
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,362 posts)It'll be like when the Repub house and senate voted time after time to repeal the ACA, just to have BHO veto their effort. Repubs felt good about it, and then blamed Dems.
If the investigation is left to wander, to find corruption in the whole Trump crime family, then yes, go ahead.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)Botany
(70,567 posts)n/t
Autumn
(45,120 posts)sunonmars
(8,656 posts)I think there are a lot of GOP politicians who want Trump destroyed and gone, frankly, They maybe see now what happens when cancer gets a foothold.