Republicans are turning impeachment into a carnival - and it could cost them

[Judi Lynn]

Geoffrey Kabaservice

These antics may work as a short-term strategy. But they’ll go down poorly with voters the Republican party really needs

Thu 12 Dec 2019 06.15 ESTLast modified on Thu 12 Dec 2019 13.45 EST

House Democrats announced this week that they would bring two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, making him only the fourth president in US history to face such charges. Democratic leaders characterized the occasion as solemn, somber and sad. Republicans, on the other hand, dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a circus and a sham despite the fact that they are themselves the ones trying to reduce it to carnivalesque farce. Even a motion to take a 15-minute bathroom break during this week’s judiciary committee hearings provoked hysterical Republican objections.

The Republican strategy, clearly, is to undermine and delegitimize the impeachment inquiry. Republicans are portraying the inquiry as a hoax and an attempted coup by Democrats desperate to reverse the results of the 2016 election, unrelated to any actual presidential wrongdoing. The White House’s refusal to cooperate with Congress by sending legal representation to the impeachment hearings was explained by Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway as resistance to “colluding with an illegitimate process”.

Why are Republicans taking this approach? Largely because they have no other choice, given the considerable weight of evidence that the president did in fact abuse his power and obstruct Congress, as charged in the impeachment articles.

The poet Carl Sandburg is credited with saying: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.” Republican yelling and table-pounding appear to be having the desired result, as most polls find that public support for impeachment has leveled off since October. Intense partisan tribalism and the influence of rightwing media outlets such as Fox News mean that few Republicans or even independents will probably change their minds about impeachment no matter what evidence comes out of further hearings.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/12/trump-impeachment-republicans-carnival

[Stuart G]

1. Not only .."could it cost them"...IT WILL COST THEM..AND PLENTY..