Another day another hearing. Monday’s circus, in which the lawyers from the previous hearings were interviewed for their… opinions? quickly turned into a shit show where Republicans continuously objected, maligned the process, and generally just walked over Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler. Tuesday, Democrats officially brought two Articles of impeachment against the President: abuse of power, and obstruction of Congress. This seems like weak sauce, given all that we’ve been through for these past three years. It seems shocking that some Democrats fought bitterly to keep these articles down to two, when Donald Trump has been breaking the law since before he got into office. Now I find myself surprisingly agreeing with constitutional scholar and witness for the Republicans, the factually challenged Professor Jonathan Turley. What’s the rush, Democrats? Turley was certainly wrong in stating that this is the fastest impeachment process in history. In fact he was completely wrong, it has become the longest impeachment proceeding we’ve ever had, and it’s still not finished. But a scholar as witness-who-gets-his-facts-completely-wrong is just par for the course for the Republicans. In terms of the calendar, Democrats are taking their time, but sometimes appearance matters. Professor Turley is not the only one asking why Democrats seem to be in such a rush. Tuesday morning, Adam Schiff responded directly to this question admirably. It is true the Trump and the Republicans’ modus operandi is to bring their objections to court and upon losing, appeal, go to another court, rinse, wash, repeat, until hopefully their case gets to the Supreme Court which they’ve stacked in their favor. If Democrats waited for every issue to plod its way through the courts, yes, the clock would run out and Trump could very well be reelected because no decisions ever came to completion. But that assumes playing by the rules, strictly, and almost to a fault. It’s clear the other side hasn’t even looked at the rulebook, and it’s time that Democrats considered goals as opposed to the step-by-step process.
Now, no one is suggesting Democrats tell “white lies”, or break or ignore rules. We’re supposed to be the smart ones; we’re supposed to be the ones who are playing chess while the other team is playing checkers. And yet somehow we seem to continue to be surprised at the depth that our Republican opponents are willing to sink to, as if somehow they won’t go any deeper than some imaginary red line. Yet they do. Again and again. So what Democrats need to do, is use their brains, the one thing where they have a complete advantage over most Republicans. Thinking several moves ahead and not ignoring warning signs of disaster is the best way to win. Let’s not fool ourselves, we know what’s going to happen. Once impeachment is official, the case goes to the Senate as a trial. We already know that Mitch McConnell would love to make this trial as short as possible. In fact, if he could just pound his gavel once and say “there we did it”, he would. Precedent, as well as common sense, should tell us that Senate is not going to vote Donald Trump out of office. He will be acquitted, in which case he will go on to do exactly what Adam Schiff said: he will try to break the law again; he will try to rig the election, again.
If we know what’s going to happen., we should take advantage of that knowledge. No, we can’t wait for Don McGahn to be cleared to testify. Or Mick Mulvaney, or Rick Perry, or Mike Pompeo… etc. That doesn’t mean the Democrats shouldn’t go through the process of appealing to the courts and making news headlines with their attempts to get these people to testify. Think this through to the end. If Donald Trump isn’t going to be removed from office, then what real damage does impeachment do? Republicans already know because they’ve been complaining about it all throughout the impeachment hearings. What it does is poison the voting public’s minds and remind them of all the dirty shit Trump has pulled since he’s been in office. Rudy Giuliani fully admitted on television during the building of the Mueller report, that they were appealing not to the courts but to the court of public opinion. Nancy Pelosi appeared to be playing the same game when people were begging her to impeach Trump based on the Mueller Report results, and she refused, stating that the public was not ”there yet”. That seems to be a case of not following the responsibilities of the law, but playing this as a political game. She understands that if the public isn’t in favor of impeachment, the whole thing could blow up in Democrats’ faces. So why not play that game now? Impeach whenever is most convenient, claiming that your “patience is at an end”. Democrats have every excuse to let things drag on and on and strike when the opposition is off guard.. Let Trump stew in the ongoing question of Will They or Won’t They actually impeach. Republicans’ argument in the hearings so far has been that Democrats don’t have enough first hand witnesses. Turley’s argument was they don’t have enough material to work with to make a convincing case. So, fine! Try to get those witnesses, drag things out as long as possible with the news stories being: Democrats are doing their best to get to the truth and the White House is blocking them, or perhaps we should say: obstructing them.
Most importantly, the continuing story of impeachment should repeatedly remind potential voters just how many times Donald Trump has skirted around, or completely subverted the law. Democrats should use these hearings to bring up time and time again Trump’s other crimes and misdemeanors. Especially the ones that drew criticism from both sides of the aisle: Charlottesville, Helsinki, kids in cages, abandoning the Kurds, longest Government shutdown in history, and then Trump appropriating Congressional funds for his Wall after he lost that battle. Last week, Republicans entered into evidence a tweet by Melania Trump because a constitutional scholar dared to use Barron Trump’s name in an ill-advised joke. Perhaps Democrats should enter into evidence the latest Washington Post tally of Trump’s lies while in office. Currently that number stands at over 13,000. Sure, the GOP will try to explain away every single one of them, but why not make them work a little harder for this?
As I write this, Democrats are about to air the mark-up of the articles of impeachment. It seems clear they’ve made their decision; and Adam Schiff’s explanation of why we shouldn’t delay is a passionate one, even if it was delivered devoid of actual passion. Schiff and company have asked the question how can we let Trump continue to cheat, and lie, and scam, but we need to ask: What is the strategy when the Senate inevitably lets him off? Where do we go from here? How do we convince the American voters that four more years of this administration is going to be so much worse?
