To hear some people tell it, House Democrats are like the dog that finally caught the car. Voting to impeach Donald Trump could turn out to be politically suicidal. Essentially because voters turned against Republicans for impeaching Bill Clinton—the GOP lost five seats in the 1998 mid-terms, ending the political career of Speaker Newt Gingrich—conventional wisdom assumes that Democrats will pay a similar price for acting against Trump.
It’s even been suggested that Speaker Pelosi save herself and her party by offering a motion of censure: surrendering to the president’s bullying, and to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s vow to hold a purely perfunctory Senate trial, calling no witnesses and rushing to a party-line acquittal.
In this formulation, Pelosi becomes a political battered wife, fearful that impeachment would only make her antagonist more dangerous and inflame his cult-like supporters. Continue reading