# Impeachment proceedings...will they happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 19, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795 "2019-04-19T23:08:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/21 "2019-04-20T08:56:43Z")
Ironically, it’s Lindsey Graham who said best why Trump should be impeached - although [he said it when he was trying to get Bill Clinton impeached](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdiVn3lQDgU). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/22 "2019-04-20T10:55:56Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Impeachment gets Republicans to take a stand regarding the president in a way that hearings don’t. I strongly suspect that some Republicans–Romney, I’m looking at you–will vote in favor of impeachment, and good for them. > > Those that defend the president’s behavior? Let them run on that record. I’m not sure that would happen. There might not be a Senate trial even given impeachment. There’s a chance the Supreme Court would force a trial, but there’s also a chance they would bow out by declaring it a political matter. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/23 "2019-04-20T11:10:59Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > There’s a chance the Supreme Court would force a trial, but there’s also a chance they would bow out by declaring it a political matter. Even if the Supreme Court did the former, that would still be relatively meaningless, since you can’t hold a senator in contempt of court for their official duties. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/24 "2019-04-20T12:48:34Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > **I’m of the opinion that we should do whatever minimizes the chance of Donald being in office at 12:01pm 1/20/21.** I think there are sound arguments to be made each way. The impeachment hearings in the House would bring up all the dirt that our unethical AG tried to sweep under the rug. We all know that Donald would declare himself a victim, but that’s his standard M.O. It would galvanize the Republican base but we all know Republicans ALWAYS vote, no matter what. But it might invigorate the Democratic base after the certain acquittal in the Senate. My theory is that Democrats only vote when motivated, and acquittal would motivate them. But every day we talk about impeachment, we aren’t talking about health care or student debt or global warming. My bottom line: damned if I know. Given the current “crop” of Republicans impeachment would be a comPLETE waste of time and resources. I’m in total agreement with what is in bold, above, and to that end I would prefer that Dems put ALL their effort into making that happen short of impeaching the Molester-in-Chief. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/25 "2019-04-20T12:54:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Right and wrong? What are we, six? > > Barring absolute evidence of an indisputable crime, impeachment is a political process. The Senate will not convict, rendering it useless. Worse than useless. As a political process it’s deadly poison. Ralph Waldo Emerson — “When you strike at a king, you must kill him.” > > The Democratic Party is moving into a year-long internal battle for a 2020 candidate. That candidate has to defeat Trump. Impeachment will not remove Trump, so the election has to. > > You’re saying you want to take all the attention away from the primaries and move it to a show trial that guaranteed to fail? Obama already warned Dems of a circular firing squad. Listen to him. > > And Pelosi. She knows what I’m talking about. She was never my choice to lead the party, but she seems to be the only adult in the room these days. She understands how fatal a failed impeachment would be and she’s desperately sitting on the idiots who want to destroy the 2020 candidate. > > **Dems should have one and only one thought in their heads for the next 18 months: the defeat of Trump in the 2020 election. Stop playing games.** Why not? After all, according to The absolutely corrupt-to-the-core Turtle (once upon a time): “Uh-uh-uh-our goal is to make President Obama ah one-term president.” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/26 "2019-04-20T12:57:47Z")
Not only that, but democrats don’t win win punishment and negatives on their mind. Two polls I heard yesterday, one from an NBC News pollster and one I saw on CNN. Among independents - which we desperately need to win in 2020 - Russia/Mueller came in between 8th and 10th in terms of importance towards 2020 vote. In the CNN one it was testing at 1%. We need to have a party vision that looks forward. Talk about health care, shrinking family structure, income inequality. For GOD’s sake talk about large corporations paying no taxes. Make the case that the republican party - not just Trump - has been lying to the people and making their lives harder. Then have a vision and a candidate who can sell that they care about these issues and have a plan to ease people’s burdens. Focusing on impeachment will only rile up our opponent’s base and turn off ours. Negative politics does nothing but reduce voter turnout in a time when we need to boost it in the face of efforts to disenfranchise our voters. Let’s not waste the opportunity. Remember, just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean everyone else in the country is. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/27 "2019-04-20T13:05:33Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > There are few, that is true. But they make the difference. Bullshit. _Turnout_ makes the difference. The winning strategy for the Dems is to give their more marginal voters a reason to show up. > [@](#): > > You are right: No one will pay much attention to congressional hearings. An impeachment trial is a congressional hearing, so no one will pay much attention to it either. Nice conflation, but no. In 1974, people paid attention to the House Judiciary Committee debates over impeachment. And back then, people were no more likely to pay attention to normal House hearings than they are today. > [@](#): > > The Tribes have already spoken. What matters, what makes an impression on the namby pamby middle grounders that decide our presidential elections, is tone. Again, no: they don’t decide our elections. > [@](#): > > And a better tone is set with due consideration for but ultimate foregoance of impeachment. People like it when you stand for something. Wishy-washy never sells well. > [@](#): > > Point taken that you want to keep the fickle element of the party faithful on board. That’s why you let those calling for the nuclear option to have full throat. No, we want to end the filibuster because we’ve already seen how well things work with it in place. If 41 Republicans can block pretty much everything, even when the Dems have both houses of Congress and the Presidency, then we don’t have a meaningful democracy. It’s that simple. And that’s a matter of dire importance, given global warming. ---
**Author:** ![SOJA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SOJA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SOJA)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/28 "2019-04-20T13:10:47Z")
Depends, can we also annul his fake marriage to Melanie and send that golddigger back home? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/29 "2019-04-20T13:27:15Z")
I hope the Democrats are smart enough to push positive messages, not impeachment. If they do go after the criminal Administration I hope they go after low-hanging fruit like Kushner, or Junior, or criminal Wilbur Ross. They can hold hearings on Trump crimes without actually pushing for impeachment. Wasting time with impeachment will understandably infuriate many swing voters. What’s the point of impeachment anway? Would Pence really be an improvement? And anyway, I don’t think the Senate would convict. Maybe I’m wrong about that though; at least 14 GOP Senators are on record as voting to convict Presidents accused of obstruction, e.g.: > [@Mitch McConnell](#): > > Following his deposition, the president had to decide what to do with his loyal secretary… And, again, the undisputed evidence shows that the president took the path of lies and deceit. > > I am completely and utterly perplexed by those who argue that perjury and obstruction of justice are not high crimes and misdemeanors. > > Senate floor, 12 February 1999 > [@Chuck Grassley](#): > > It is clear to me that the president committed serious crimes when he coached his secretary, Betty Currie, and when he misled his aides … These actions weren’t just outrageous and morally wrong. They were also illegal. They were a direct assault on the integrity of the judicial process. > > ``` > Statement, 12 February 1999 > > ``` > [@Lindsey Graham](#): > > [N]obody because of their position in society has the right to cheat and to get somebody to lie for them, even as the president. That means we’re not a nation of men or kings. We’re a nation of laws, and that’s what this case has always been about to me # He turned the judicial system upside down, every way but loose. He sent his friends to lie for him. He lied for himself. > > ``` > Speaking on the Senate floor while a House impeachment manager, 8 February 1999 > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/30 "2019-04-20T13:36:49Z")
Sure, that’s clever septimus. But not one can seriously expect McConnell, Grassley and Graham to vote to impeach a republican president with the approval ratings among the republican party that Trump has. He’s still floating in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/31 "2019-04-20T14:01:09Z")
> [@XT](#): > > But why? Why does Pelosi think that? Presumably she actually has as much if not more info on this as Warren does, right? If there really is stuff in there, it seems this is the time to strike…no? 😕 Because it has almost no chance of actually removing him from office unless he is deeply unpopular, and if he is that unpopular we are better off with him to run against than giving the GOP the chance to pretend the adults are back in charge. There seems to be very little benefit in impeaching him, almost zero chance of removing him from office even if he impeached, and a significant chance that it would just fire up his base and demoralize ours right near election time. There’s an election in a year and a half, keep investigating him, keep bringing to light his criminal and incompetent behavior then crush the entire GOP in 2020, not just him. That would be the smart thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/32 "2019-04-20T14:07:28Z")
Pelosi’s stated reason so far for keeping impeachment off the table is that it can’t look like a purely partisan exercise. Absent any significant reaction from Republicans, which I don’t expect, then she will still have that reason to hold onto. She also gave herself a little wiggle room by saying we have to see what’s in the Mueller report. I reject the comparison to the Bill Clinton situation and the notion that Trump would somehow get a boost in popularity. Clinton had been re-elected by 8.5% over Dole and got 56% of the votes between the two. I agree that impeachment hearings today would have less penetration than in 98-99 and 73-74. But if the tribes are essentially baked in, **there is nothing to be lost** by reminding Dems and independents constantly between now and 2020 how vile Trump is. The 2020 candidate isn’t going to emerge for another year. Mueller has handed them their articles of impeachment on a silver platter. There’s no reason Dem candidates can’t talk about issues while the House does its thing. What if they don’t impeach him now, and he wins? Pelosi will end up being like Robby Mook. My view is that impeachment looking like a partisan issue is not a good enough excuse in light of the Mueller report. And I don’t buy that it would hurt Dems in the presidential contest in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/33 "2019-04-20T14:51:10Z")
It doesn’t do anything to point out hypocrisy by digging up quotes from the past, or even the present. They don’t care. If impeachment is not successful it would be a disaster. And it won’t, just won’t be successful. Not with the current Republican senate. Senators don’t care about what the nation thinks. It’s not 1974. They only care about getting a majority of voters in their states to vote for them. There are enough states with big enough Republican majority electorates to keep enough Republican senators on board. And Impeachment fails. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/34 "2019-04-20T15:32:07Z")
> [@UnwittingAmericans](#): > > I agree that impeachment hearings today would have less penetration than in 98-99 and 73-74. But if the tribes are essentially baked in, **there is nothing to be lost** by reminding Dems and independents constantly between now and 2020 how vile Trump is. The 2020 candidate isn’t going to emerge for another year. Nothing to be lost? How about the 2020 election? As multiple people have said, the route to winning is for the Democrats to present a positive vision for the future. Do not simply attack Trump for being Trump. He has an uncanny 89% approval rating among Republicans in the [latest Gallop poll](https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx). Independents are at 39% and Democrats 6%. You know what’s also uncanny? In the first week of his presidency the numbers were 89;42;13. Two years of Trump being Trump and nothing has changed, except that the new president honeymoon for Democrats wore off quickly. (They were down to 8% the next week.) What will be perceived as a partisan attack on Trump - and trumpeted as such by Fox News and Breitbart and all the right-wing media - will not change minds. It will harden the opposition, allow them to raise enormous amounts of money, and boost turnout. The way to win the election is to give voters a positive candidate who stands for a better America that they can buy into. People have shown they want candidates who offer solutions to our current problems. They want to break out of the political back and forth. The majority of Democrats are not posting about politics on social media. Most of all, they want to find a candidate they really like and can get behind. That means that the media focus has to be on how wonderful the candidates are. Another round of impeachment hearings takes that focus completely away because the coverage will be 24/7. It is not too early to swing the focus away from Trump. Most of the names in the ring are unfamiliar and need time to develop their national personalities. I want to hear nothing but how great these people are for the next year. I want to see them have town halls on Fox News, like Sanders did. I want huge cheering crowds to appear on television screens and facebook videos daily. I want to see the Democrats positive, sunny, smiling, confident, in rosy hues. I want to see Trump’s head explode in frustration. And I want to be positive, sunny, smiling, confident, and triumphant on November 4, 2020. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/35 "2019-04-20T16:14:56Z")
> [@SOJA](#): > > Depends, can we also annul his fake marriage to Melanie and send that golddigger back home? Thank you for that. Those who tout her as “intelligent” and “beautiful” I just want to throttle. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/36 "2019-04-20T16:35:14Z")
An impeachment threat is a great fundraising technique, I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve received over the past couple of days. But, the House isn’t going to do it. Pelosi was around to see the debacle of the Clinton impeachment and how the Republicans were punished in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![UnwittingAmericans](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d9b06d/32.png) [@UnwittingAmericans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwittingAmericans)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/37 "2019-04-20T16:43:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Nothing to be lost? How about the 2020 election? As multiple people have said, the route to winning is for the Democrats to present a positive vision for the future. Do not simply attack Trump for being Trump. He has an uncanny 89% approval rating among Republicans in the [latest Gallop poll](https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx). Independents are at 39% and Democrats 6%. You know what’s also uncanny? In the first week of his presidency the numbers were 89;42;13. Two years of Trump being Trump and nothing has changed, except that the new president honeymoon for Democrats wore off quickly. (They were down to 8% the next week.) > > What will be perceived as a partisan attack on Trump - and trumpeted as such by Fox News and Breitbart and all the right-wing media - will not change minds. It will harden the opposition, allow them to raise enormous amounts of money, and boost turnout. > > The way to win the election is to give voters a positive candidate who stands for a better America that they can buy into. People have shown they want candidates who offer solutions to our current problems. They want to break out of the political back and forth. The majority of Democrats are not posting about politics on social media. Most of all, they want to find a candidate they really like and can get behind. > > That means that the media focus has to be on how wonderful the candidates are. Another round of impeachment hearings takes that focus completely away because the coverage will be 24/7. It is not too early to swing the focus away from Trump. Most of the names in the ring are unfamiliar and need time to develop their national personalities. I want to hear nothing but how great these people are for the next year. I want to see them have town halls on Fox News, like Sanders did. I want huge cheering crowds to appear on television screens and facebook videos daily. I want to see the Democrats positive, sunny, smiling, confident, in rosy hues. I want to see Trump’s head explode in frustration. > > And I want to be positive, sunny, smiling, confident, and triumphant on November 4, 2020. I didn’t say impeaching Trump in the House would win the election. I said it won’t lose it. The 2020 candidates can be everything you say you want, while the House Judiciary does its duty. That’s what I said. I think you are overestimating the effectiveness of sunny platitudes delivered by candidates that don’t have the talent. They taste like cold oatmeal to me. You may also be overestimating the level of discontent in the country as a whole other than with Trump himself. Obama had a solid lead in 2008; the economic meltdown in September clinched it, but the tremors had already been going on for a year at that point. People who are still saying impeachment will be a failure because the Senate won’t convict are missing the purposes of doing it: 1. To call (at least) all of the U.S. persons cited in the Mueller report, read aloud verbatim the parts of the Mueller report that derive from their testimony, and ask them “Is this accurate?” 2. To uphold their duty to sanction a president in the face of overwhelming evidence of misconduct ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/38 "2019-04-20T16:44:29Z")
**Exapno** , I think your perspective assumes no changes from 2016. I could not disagree more, based on returns in 2018 for the mid-term election. The landscape has changed a lot, and 2018 tells us that. Democrats will be foolish to play 2020 like it was 2016. Many people voted for Trump because 1) he was an unknown, untested quantity; 2) he had a lot of people bamboozled into believing he was what he portrayed himself as in his Apprentice incarnation; 3) they weren’t that dialed in to day-to-day politics and were restless for a change. Now they know what their vote got them, and they’re pretty alarmed. We now know he’s a lying, petty, malevolent, incompetent Russian-compromised boob. That is going to make a difference to a number of people in 2020. And Trump didn’t win by a landslide-like margin. Sure, he has an 89% approval rating among Republicans – a party that has shrunk notably since 2016. Fewer people now identify as Republicans. What the 89% approval rating reflects is a high approval rating among the nut jobs who haven’t seen through the Emperor Has No Clothes act and never will, irrespective of actual facts. They are beyond our reach. Yes, Democrats must continue to talk about real solutions to the big problems we face. Democratic candidates must focus on these issues more than impeachment. But the Democratic party as a whole would ignore the corruption of the Trump administration at its peril. You can’t assume moral high ground if you’re afraid to talk about it. Many voters like binary choices, and there is no more fundamental binary choice than between right and wrong. That’s what got them to the polls in 2018. We need to keep those voters. The impeachment process takes a long time. It can be slow-walked. If House Dems are smart, they will conduct impeachment proceedings in a way that makes it too late for the matter to reach a vote in the Senate. “Gosh, we just couldn’t get it done in time – voters will have to cast the ultimate vote!” Can you think of a better reality tv show than that? Face it. Few citizens will read a 450-page report. But they will be glued to their tee vees for the Impeachment Proceedings Reality Show. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed since Watergate. Personally, I will appreciate the poetic justice. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/39 "2019-04-20T16:58:43Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Democrats will be foolish to play 2020 like it was 2016. Many people voted for Trump because 1) he was an unknown, untested quantity; 2) he had a lot of people bamboozled into believing he was what he portrayed himself as in his Apprentice incarnation; 3) they weren’t that dialed in to day-to-day politics and were restless for a change. Now they know what their vote got them, and they’re pretty alarmed. We now know he’s a lying, petty, malevolent, incompetent Russian-compromised boob. That is going to make a difference to a number of people in 2020. And Trump didn’t win by a landslide-like margin. I’d like to believe this is true, and it might be. What concerns me is that his approval numbers haven’t really changed much since the beginning. Like the man himself, his approval numbers seem to be impervious to facts. I think one of the reasons for this is the tremendous influence of right-wing media like Fox News. The way they’re shilling for him is just mind-boggling. While legitimate media have been commenting on the many, many damaging aspects of the Mueller report, for instance, Fox has either been reporting fantastical Trumpian interpretations of it or meta-reporting on how “the left” is reporting on it! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795/40 "2019-04-20T17:03:15Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Right and wrong? What are we, six? > > Barring absolute evidence of an indisputable crime, impeachment is a political process. The Senate will not convict, rendering it useless. Worse than useless. As a political process it’s deadly poison. Ralph Waldo Emerson — “When you strike at a king, you must kill him.” > > The Democratic Party is moving into a year-long internal battle for a 2020 candidate. That candidate has to defeat Trump. Impeachment will not remove Trump, so the election has to. > > You’re saying you want to take all the attention away from the primaries and move it to a show trial that guaranteed to fail? Obama already warned Dems of a circular firing squad. Listen to him. > > And Pelosi. She knows what I’m talking about. She was never my choice to lead the party, but she seems to be the only adult in the room these days. She understands how fatal a failed impeachment would be and she’s desperately sitting on the idiots who want to destroy the 2020 candidate. > > Dems should have one and only one thought in their heads for the next 18 months: the defeat of Trump in the 2020 election. Stop playing games. I agree with all of this and I think impeachment will be counterproductive towards the goal of a Trump defeat in 2020. However, I think there are too many democrats in the House that want it that will make it inevitable. Random representative cares more about how tough they look to their base at home in their 2020 election than what is best for an overall strategy for the party. Pelosi can only hold it off for so long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeachment-proceedings-will-they-happen/832795.md?page=3)