Top members of the House Democratic leadership went to war on Monday, telling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that it was time to initiate impeachment procedures against President Donald Trump. Politico reports that David Cicilline (D-RI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Joe Neguse (D-CO) confronted Pelosi in a closed-door meeting and insisted that articles of impeachment be brought to the House floor. However, Pelosi and her allies – Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Cheri Bustos (D-IL) – held their ground, telling the insurgent Democrats that a fight over impeachment would ensure that voters heard nothing else from the party.
In one exchange that’s been getting a lot of attention, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) exclaimed that while Bill Clinton faced impeachment “over sex,” Democrats were standing idly by while Trump is “raping the country.”
“This is not about politics,” Pelosi reportedly countered. “This is about what’s best for the American people. This isn’t about politics at all. It’s about patriotism. It’s about the strength we need to have to see things through.”
Cohen, however, accused Pelosi of taking a passive stance against the president simply because she’s afraid that impeachment could cost Democrats the House majority.
Jeffries noted that to the extent that Democrats won in 2018, it was not with a message of impeachment.
“We did not run on impeachment,” he said. “We did not run on collusion. So logic suggests that we should carry forward with the agenda that we communicated to the American people.”
On Tuesday, however, after former White House Counsel Don McGahn ignored a subpoena to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, the Democrats’ star media sensation said that she was ready to go through with the removal of President Trump.
“Just as impeaching without cause could be construed as politically motivated, choosing to not impeach when there is an abundance of cause could also be construed similarly,” said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in remarks to reporters.
Asked directly if Democrats should impeach Trump over McGahn’s failure to appear, the freshman lawmaker said, “You know, I trust the speaker is taking a measured approach to ensure that we’re moving everyone forward and, you know, being a speaker is hard, holding this party together is a difficult task. But I personally think so. I think we have to move forward.”
There’s been some speculation that this is exactly the moment that President Trump has been waiting for. Whether or not Democrats can secure an impeachment vote in the House, they will certainly not be able to convict him in the Senate. That failed circus would set the president on a rocket ship into the 2020 elections and make it extremely difficult for Democrats to make a case for their own responsible governing. That goes double for Trump voters they’re hoping to win back in the upper Midwest.
Alas, the natives are restless. Pelosi may not be able to hold them back much longer.
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