I do not know about the rest of the media, but some on MSNBC — Andrea Mitchell out with her pomp pomps — are really pushing the narrative that it is Democrats who are in a political bind with the Mueller Report. According to the narrative, people like me are howling at Democrats like hounds from Hell to impeach Trump now that the Mueller Report is out. However, hell hounds such as myself do not make up a majority of the Democratic voting base, especially in the all important early primary and caucus states for 2020.
That last part is very true considering I’m stuck in Kentucky, but I digress.
The stalwart Democratic leadership and the moderates in the party know if Trump is impeached by the House that he will be acquitted in the U.S. Senate. Therefore, this is a waste of time, especially since it bumps up against a general election campaign. Also, when Republicans failed to oust Bill Clinton, they paid a price. Furthermore, Democratic voters do not care about the Russia probe. They only want to hear about policy prescriptions for healthcare, the economy, and the environment. This is all part and parcel of the Democrats in a bind narrative.
The way out of this bind is for Democrats to not impeach Trump.
Problems with this narrative:
- Democrats cannot push multiple topics at one time is an underlying assumption. The Media LOVES this assumption and treats it as an axiom. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House have been passing legislation on a variety of issues, unlike the Republican run U.S. Senate.
- Did Republicans really suffer political damage from impeaching Bill Clinton? They kept the House and U.S. Senate until 2006. And they used the impeachment of Clinton to push the Clinton Scandal fatigue narrative. This made Al Gore put distance between himself and Bill Clinton during the 2000 Election. It has been argued that if Clinton had been out on the stump for Gore, maybe we wouldn’t have lost Arkansas to the Republicans. And maybe Clinton could have helped out with TN. If Democrats had kept those states, Gore would have been president.
- I admit that Democratic voters care more about policy issues than the Mueller Report. I’m unemployed and have no health care, again. Yeah, I want to hear what someone will do for me, and I know that many others are in a similar situation. But even with all my problems, I still do not think that it is a binary choice between policy vs impeachment. And I am reminded of what those who went through Watergate had to do. Then,a lot of Americans were worried about stagflation, but Democrats plowed ahead and educated the public about Nixon’s crimes. It’s one reason why his approval ratings went down and had to resign. The Mueller Report just got out. It has been a relatively secret proceeding until now. Are Democrats supposed to just shrug their shoulders because an out of sight investigation did not pierce through all the media noise in one day?
- Finally, Democrats and the rest of the political establishment have not held anyone accountable, except for Bill Clinton. Nixon was pardoned by his friend Ford. Democrats did not want to go after Reagan on Iran-Contra because he was ending his second term and was a “old man.” W. was never held accountable for the Iraq War. And guess what? This chain of events has given rise to Trump.
My counter argument is Democrats should follow the evidence and vote for impeachment on obstruction of justice. Mueller laid out all the evidence. And if Trump is impeached, yes, Republicans in the Senate will protect Trump. But this puts the onus on Republican senators. Democrats can put the Republicans on the defensive, and Democrats need to do something to focus attention on how awful the Republican dominated U.S. Senate is.
Won’t this stir up the Republican base? Yes, and I do not care. Those lunatics are going to come out and vote for Trump no matter what. Trump riding high the base will show up. Trump in danger the base will show up. What makes a difference is that Democrats get their base out to vote.
Maybe Democrats fighting the good fight and standing for principles might engage Democratic voters and some others?
