Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Trump 'wants to be impeached'
Kevin McCullough and Rick Ungar weigh in on some Democrats' push for the impeachment of President Trump.
The public has a short memory. So it hardly surprises me that in the less than six months since the 40 new Democratic representatives were sworn into Congress so many Democrats are questioning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s judgment. But it does annoy me.
One would think that Pelosi could buy at least a year in our good graces, but along comes now-former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report and impeachment fever is catching.
After Mueller’s press conference, the conventional wisdom was that he would offer an impeachment referral to Congress. Mueller did deliver this doozy: "If we had the confidence that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so."
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It would seem impossible to spin that as a positive for the president — though many made a valiant effort! — and Mueller surely intended to highlight that his report was far from an exoneration.
There are now 59 House Democrats and a smattering of presidential candidates including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., calling for Trump to be impeached or for an impeachment inquiry to be launched. Gone are the days of Reps. Al Green and Maxine Waters as outliers in their position. It’s not a majority, but it’s a growing (and noisy) faction and one with not much to lose as the members represent very liberal constituencies.
Take a breath before questioning Pelosi’s strategy here. Taking back the White House is already going to be hard enough without misplaced firing within the tent.
Pelosi has shown great flexibility with party members in the name of winning in the past. She pushed the Democratic National Committee to change position on imposing a pro-choice litmus test for Democratic candidates. She also gave candidates the go-ahead to bash her or even disavow her on the campaign trail. Seats in Democratic control are what matter most.
It follows that if there was ever a time for Democrats to stay in line with Pelosi, it’s now. The stakes are much too high for division that the media is hungry to amplify.
There are two key reasons to rest easy with Pelosi's strategy: polling and public testimony.
We have admittedly seen a slight uptick in public support for Trump’s impeachment or removal from office, but the latest CNN poll still has it at 41 percent, -- up from 36 percent in March. We are still way off from majority support. What’s more, 54 percent said they oppose congressional action against the president. I’d say impeachment is a pretty serious congressional action.
I wasn’t alive when President Nixon was impeached, but I know that public opinion changed over time and that there was very little support for it when the inquiry began. As former Republican Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine argued in an op-ed, "It’s … important to remember that public opinion is not anchored in concrete. It shifts according to the information it finds to be persuasive and free of rank partisanship."
Pelosi isn’t standing in the way of the more information. She’s standing in the way of a hasty decision.
Public testimony is the big wildcard in all this. Nothing beats the impact of an on-camera interview, news conference or testimony. Mueller appearing on-camera for the first time was a great boon to Democrats and one they hope to build on with congressional testimony.
On Wednesday House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said of Mueller testifying: "Let’s just say that I’m confident he’ll come in soon. We want him to testify openly. I think the American people need that. I think, frankly, it’s his duty to the American people. And we’ll make that happen."
That testimony is part of Pelosi’s strategy. Democrats are calling John Dean, Watergate’s star witness and former Nixon White House counsel, to testify on the Mueller report Monday in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Dean will be part of a panel of U.S. attorneys and legal experts and is already on record calling the Mueller report "more damning" than Watergate.
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Get your popcorn. And take a breath before questioning Pelosi’s strategy here. Taking back the White House is already going to be hard enough without misplaced firing within the tent.
If we can win 40 House seats and seven governors’ mansions, we can let Pelosi’s strategy play out. Things may move faster than you’d expect.
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