HORIST: Are Democrats dying on the altar of impeachment?

Impeachment of President Trump is still one of the two biggest stories in the daily news reports.  It has been temporarily overshadowed by the taking down of Qasem Soleimani – terrorism’s most prominent leader.

Democrats are proffering the ridiculous narrative that the killing of Soleimani was to distract news coverage away from the impeachment – which has not been generating any actual news during the congressional recess.  In addition, the probable(?) impeachment trial of Trump is not about to be overshadowed by any event.  It is just more political spin.

The real danger for impeachment-obsessed Democrats is that the entire matter may be crumbling on its own.  Let’s step back a few days to recall the impeachment by the majority … but not all … of House Democrats.

There were a number of talking points presented by Democrats.

1. Until the actual impeachment hearings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others were correctly arguing that any impeachment and forced removal of a President of the United States – which has never been done – MUST BE bipartisan. Of course, that is when they expected to pick up a few disgruntled Republicans.

Well … that did not happen. Not one Republican voted in support of impeaching Trump.  However, there was an element of bipartisanship because four Democrats voted against impeachment or just “present” – which was a way of opposing the impeachment without actually doing so.  In one case, a Democrat was so opposed to impeachment that he will cross the aisle to be a Republican in the future.

2. Democrats and their media panels of parroting pundits assured the American people that once the case against Trump was presented in testimony, we would be clamoring for impeachment and removal. Well, they took their best shot, came up with two Articles of Impeachment – but failed to change public opinion.  In fact, Trump picked up a point or two of support AFTER the Articles of Impeachment were passed.

3. Democrats complained that they did not hear from all the witnesses they desired – or got all the documents they demanded. They could have gone to the Supreme Court to try to compel witnesses to appear and documents to be provided – as is the traditional procedure when there is a dispute over the powers of the President and the Congress.  But they did not.  Instead,  Pelosi & Co. assured us that they had MORE THAN ENOUGH to make the case against Trump.  They did not need all those other witnesses or documents.

4. The reason the Democrats did not want to wait on the courts or take more time in their deliberations was that Trump had to be removed as quickly as possible because he was continuing his alleged abusive behavior and would corruptly influence the 2020 General Election. Moving quickly was critical to prevent the fall of the Republic  (Okay, they did not exactly put it that way, but to hear them squealing, you might have thought so.)

5. Since it has been widely believed that the Republican-controlled Senate has no intention of removing Trump from office, all the urgency talk was nothing more than political blabbering. It did not … and does not … matter how fast or slow the House proceeded, the only chance to remove him from office is the upcoming election.

6. To make matters worse, Democrats undermined their own claims of urgency by deciding to withhold the Articles of Impeachment from the Senate until Senate Majority Leader agreed to call all the witnesses and obtain all the documents that Pelosi, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said were unnecessary. It was an unintended admission that the House did not have the compelling case they claimed.

7. In another action, the House Democrats also conceded the inadequacy of their case. Schiff and Nadler said that they would continue to investigate in hopes of finding other “evidence” to build their case against Trump.  They even hinted at passing additional Articles of Impeachment.  That is a strange position for people who assured America that they already had all they needed.

8. A few of the more radical Democrats have now even proposed starting the impeachment process all over again should Trump be re-elected. One should not be surprised that the nutty left never respects the will of the voters unless they win.  Such impeachment obsession, however, just further undermines the credibility of the entire process.

9. Ironically, the House Democrats – who claimed that the Supreme Court has no role in the impeachment process despite being the third co-equal brand of our federal government – now see themselves as the rule-maker for the Senate trial. Such flagrant political posturing and inappropriate intrusion into Senate authority do not reflect well on House Democrats – especially Pelosi.

10. In every other impeachment effort, the process resulted from a certifiable judicial crime. This is the first time that Articles of Impeachment were passed without an underlying crime – just a political interpretation of an abuse of power.  While Democrats controlled the flow of information in the House, this weakness will be prominently noted in any Senate trial.

11.  Central to the Abuse of Power charge is to prove that President Trump wanted the Bidens investigated solely for political advantage should the senior Biden become the nominee of the Democratic Party – something that was then and is not assured even now. On the other hand, if Hunter Biden was part of or privy to the corruption going on around him for five years, Trump has justification to incorporate them in the larger anti-corruption effort in Ukraine.  The Biden issue has NOT been debunked as Democrats claim – and we are very likely to hear a lot more about the father and son activities in the coming months whether they are witnesses at the Trump trial or not.

12. Democrats could well be running up against an increasingly more popular President – or less unpopular if you prefer. Looks like the economy will continue to move in a positive direction between now and November.  The new trade deal with Canada and Mexico is a done deal.  An initial trade agreement has been signed between the United States and China – ending some of the reciprocal tariffs.  Attempting to sell the killing of Soleimani as a bad thing is likely to backfire on Democrats.  Trump has gotten NATO allies to cover more of their fair share of the defense costs.

13. Finally, there is the issue of “impeachment fatigue.” It would appear from some of the polls that the American public is getting weary of the Democrats’ agenda that consists of impeachment, impeachment and … impeachment.  There is a growing give-it-up sentiment. No doubt, the Democrat base will continue to clamor for Trump’s head and the Republicans will remain supportive of their President.  However, it is the leaners and the independents who will decide the 2020 election – especially in those so-called battleground states.

Impeachment will dominate the news until, during and for a short time after the Senate Trial.  But as the means to defeat Trump in the 2020 election – which is what the whole damn thing was about in the first place – it may actually give Trump a boost.

So, there ‘tis.