Well, to no one's surprise, the Democrats did what they have said they would do for three years. They impeached Trump. After voting out the articles, Pelosi turned around and said she might not send them to the Sentate. Her ostensible reason is that Republicans in the Senate will not give 'a fair trial'. The reaction to all this across the media is intense; I've read almost nothing but impeachment 'news' for days. I have my opinion and thoughts on the reactions.
We are, again, in an unprecedented situation. No officer at any level I could find has been impeached without going to trial. History offers no precedent for how people will react. While impeachment is not a criminal proceeding (unlike the claims on both sides) a criminal analogy is relevant here. Impeachment is the equivalent of a grand jury delivering an indictment. No prosecutor ever has received an indictment and then not prosecuted. Liberals are thus left hanging. How do you report on impeachment when there's no trial? Democrats have been lusting for impeachment for three years, and now, after voting articles out, there's no 'payoff'? It's like reporting on an eagerly awaited fireworks show where the shells failed to explode.
Several outlets are casting this as a historic indictment and a moral victory. Among these are NBC news, who claim Trump will forever have a black asterisk next to his name, and Atlantic, which calls it a stain that will last forever. The Washington Post called it an indelible mark. New York Magazine spun it as an impeachment for one of a host of offenses. As early as December 11, when it was clear Trump would be acquitted in the Senate, Charles Blow wrote in The New York Times about impeachment itself as the goal, not removal from office.
My thought on all of this is it sounds like the press conference for the team that lost the Superbowl because of bad coaching. 'Moral victory', 'historic season', etc, etc are all just bluster. The truth is, as I see it, that the Democrats have defeated and damaged themselves. Do you want to be the person who advertises the biggest fireworks show of the season and then delivers a dud? I don't, and neither do they.
Pelosi surely knew the Senate would not convict, absent overt evidence of criminal interference. She is too astute a politician not to know. When this mess began I offered the opinion that the best the Democrats could do was to impeach but not try the case, or settle for censure. Opinions about a phone call just are not enough, especially when the transcript is promptly released. And in the current toxic political environment the obstruction charge doesn't play as a president who obstructed Congress but as a Republican hounded for three years who refused to bow to a bunch of angry political opponents.
That's how I think this is going to play among Americans, most of whom did not even bother to watch the hearings. The current impeachment hearings drew a fraction of the audience Nixon's hearings drew. Further, Congress has wasted months on impeachment, only to fail to deliver articles for trial. I think this turns into a political bonanza for the Republicans, in several ways.
-Democrats in Republican-leaning districts are already bracing for an onslaught of ads. There may be hell to pay for voting to impeach a president for whom your district voted.
-Democrats ginned up obstruction charges without going through SCOTUS. Claims about the Nixon decision making Congressional subpoenas binding are utter garbage. The Nixon case, about the tapes, established only that legitimate Congressional investigations supersede executive privilege. Trump argued that Congress did not have a legitimate investigative motive. Rather than go to court, as is necessary when there is a dispute between branches of government, the Dems went to impeachment. Not only was this not the correct step, but the legitimacy of the process got tainted by a lack of material witnesses. Instead, we were treated to a succession of legal opinions.
-Congress wasted all kinds of time on a process that delivered nothing.
All in all, I'm bored and annoyed by the whole thing. I don't think Trump has an asterisk next to his name. He won't go down in history as marked forever; he is already that anyway. The Democrats have been threatening and blustering for three years, and the best they could do was two lame charges they won't even take to trial? Oh, how brave, effective and worthwhile you are!
All this political theater is going to be contrasted with a record of solid achievement. Even if you hate Trump the man and politician, the economic and international achievements are undeniable- USMCA, tax reduction, regulatory relief, stock market gains, low unemployment, especially among blacks and hispanics, more jobs than available qualified labor, growth in real wages, growth in take-home pay, negotiaions to get out of Afghanistan and end trade abuse from China. I can't wait to watch how a record like that is spun as 'bad'.
The Democrats have made Trump more, not less electable with their impeachment farce. As foolish as they look not sending the case to the Senate, if it goes to trial, Republicans will call all sorts of witnesses Democrats don't want speaking in public. This is of course what Pelosi wants to prevent, her claims of an 'unfair trial' being just a smoke screen. Except Americans know that too. ALl in all, Dems are screwed no matter what they do. It is always a mistake to try and hit someone in anger.....
Ted
We are, again, in an unprecedented situation. No officer at any level I could find has been impeached without going to trial. History offers no precedent for how people will react. While impeachment is not a criminal proceeding (unlike the claims on both sides) a criminal analogy is relevant here. Impeachment is the equivalent of a grand jury delivering an indictment. No prosecutor ever has received an indictment and then not prosecuted. Liberals are thus left hanging. How do you report on impeachment when there's no trial? Democrats have been lusting for impeachment for three years, and now, after voting articles out, there's no 'payoff'? It's like reporting on an eagerly awaited fireworks show where the shells failed to explode.
Several outlets are casting this as a historic indictment and a moral victory. Among these are NBC news, who claim Trump will forever have a black asterisk next to his name, and Atlantic, which calls it a stain that will last forever. The Washington Post called it an indelible mark. New York Magazine spun it as an impeachment for one of a host of offenses. As early as December 11, when it was clear Trump would be acquitted in the Senate, Charles Blow wrote in The New York Times about impeachment itself as the goal, not removal from office.
My thought on all of this is it sounds like the press conference for the team that lost the Superbowl because of bad coaching. 'Moral victory', 'historic season', etc, etc are all just bluster. The truth is, as I see it, that the Democrats have defeated and damaged themselves. Do you want to be the person who advertises the biggest fireworks show of the season and then delivers a dud? I don't, and neither do they.
Pelosi surely knew the Senate would not convict, absent overt evidence of criminal interference. She is too astute a politician not to know. When this mess began I offered the opinion that the best the Democrats could do was to impeach but not try the case, or settle for censure. Opinions about a phone call just are not enough, especially when the transcript is promptly released. And in the current toxic political environment the obstruction charge doesn't play as a president who obstructed Congress but as a Republican hounded for three years who refused to bow to a bunch of angry political opponents.
That's how I think this is going to play among Americans, most of whom did not even bother to watch the hearings. The current impeachment hearings drew a fraction of the audience Nixon's hearings drew. Further, Congress has wasted months on impeachment, only to fail to deliver articles for trial. I think this turns into a political bonanza for the Republicans, in several ways.
-Democrats in Republican-leaning districts are already bracing for an onslaught of ads. There may be hell to pay for voting to impeach a president for whom your district voted.
-Democrats ginned up obstruction charges without going through SCOTUS. Claims about the Nixon decision making Congressional subpoenas binding are utter garbage. The Nixon case, about the tapes, established only that legitimate Congressional investigations supersede executive privilege. Trump argued that Congress did not have a legitimate investigative motive. Rather than go to court, as is necessary when there is a dispute between branches of government, the Dems went to impeachment. Not only was this not the correct step, but the legitimacy of the process got tainted by a lack of material witnesses. Instead, we were treated to a succession of legal opinions.
-Congress wasted all kinds of time on a process that delivered nothing.
All in all, I'm bored and annoyed by the whole thing. I don't think Trump has an asterisk next to his name. He won't go down in history as marked forever; he is already that anyway. The Democrats have been threatening and blustering for three years, and the best they could do was two lame charges they won't even take to trial? Oh, how brave, effective and worthwhile you are!
All this political theater is going to be contrasted with a record of solid achievement. Even if you hate Trump the man and politician, the economic and international achievements are undeniable- USMCA, tax reduction, regulatory relief, stock market gains, low unemployment, especially among blacks and hispanics, more jobs than available qualified labor, growth in real wages, growth in take-home pay, negotiaions to get out of Afghanistan and end trade abuse from China. I can't wait to watch how a record like that is spun as 'bad'.
The Democrats have made Trump more, not less electable with their impeachment farce. As foolish as they look not sending the case to the Senate, if it goes to trial, Republicans will call all sorts of witnesses Democrats don't want speaking in public. This is of course what Pelosi wants to prevent, her claims of an 'unfair trial' being just a smoke screen. Except Americans know that too. ALl in all, Dems are screwed no matter what they do. It is always a mistake to try and hit someone in anger.....
Ted
Democrats and the "impeachment" farce are like the guy who takes a massive dose of Viagra and the date cancels out.
ReplyDeleteWell said - the whole thing also struck me as a farce. With respect to any president's achievements, is it really fair to give credit to/put blame on a president for stock market fluctuations (either boom or bust) or employment/unemployment rates? Those things seem to be driven by factors far beyond any president's control. (If a president could control such things, I would have thought that all of FDR's initiatives during the Great Depression would have pulled the country out of the mire.)
ReplyDeleteWhile many write of the impeachment being a black mark on Trump's name, I suspect he himself will wear it as a badge of honor - and if it helps him get elected in 2020, he'll be laughing about it in a different way than Bill Clinton did about his.
-D-