The New York Times has published a thought provoking op-ed by a former Bill Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart arguing that not impeaching Donald Trump is the best political move the Democratic Party can make.
Lockhart asserts that grounds for impeachment are present, but views impeachment as an inherently dangerous political process, especially since the likelihood of the Republican majority Senate voting to remove Trump from office is extremely slim. He compares this to the Republican impeachment of Bill Clinton and the damage it did to the Republican Party and Newt Gingrichâs elected-office career.
In Lockhartâs view, keeping Trump in office as the clear leader of the Republican Party, with his narrow appeal to his base, can lead the Democrats to realign national politics around a progressive vision.
Lockhart writes, âBy and large they (Republican officials) donât like him, and they know heâs a long-term problem for the party â but in the short term they know they canât get re-elected without his voters. For Democrats, itâs the dream scenario â as long as he completes his termâŚ. Allowing Mr. Trump to lead the Republican Party, filled with sycophants and weak-willed leaders, into the next election is the greater prize. Democrats have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realign American politicsâŚ. very much like Ronald Reagan did for Republicans in the 1980s.â
The Democrats have fared very well in the post-2016 elections, with the exception of a Senate map in 2018 strongly tilted towards red states (which will not be the case in 2020).
Iâm curious how credible Trumpâs detractors find this reasoning? And for those who support him or conservative politics, are steps needed to avert a progressive realignment and, if so, what should they be?
I agree with Lockhart that impeachment now would be a tactical error â primarily because it would greatly enhance Republican unity and sense of grievance. I believe that if the Republicans do not find a way to engage more young voters and to staunch the flow of women into the Democratic column, they will struggle going forward.
Trump is doing a better job of exposing the modern Republican party for what it is than any amount of reportage and journalism could do.
Impeachment will only make sense if it is successful, and we know there is no depth modern Republicans wonât go to defend Donald Trump.Anything short of a conviction in the Senate will only reinforce the Republican sense of victimhood, which is really all that is left of its identity and what propelled Trump to the head of the party.
Nancy Pelosi is right.
Congressional Republicans have an unlimited appetite for such low standards.
It will have to be the American people that do the job. Congress wonât do it. And theyâll scream like the dickens when theyâre asked to pick up the steaming pile of â â â â in the middle of the living room floor, even though theyâre the ones that left it there.
I find not fault in the OPs logic. Iâve started to see certain cons here even start begging ( or baiting) for impeachment. It can only be because they want congress to erase their mistake.
I was leaning towards impeachment⌠but I am starting to believe he is better if he stays where he is.
This risk is that he has nuclear codes⌠but I trust that there are still people around him that will protect us from him.
I get it that in terms of political strategy the OP has a strong point.
However i cant help but feel that at least trying to impeach is âthe right thing to doâ.
What message is being sent if that effort is not taken?
And take all his apostles in Congress out with him. He clearly needs to go. He is, as John Dean described Nixon, a cancer on the presidency. Actually, heâs a cancer on the whole republic. We need to get all the filth out in 2020. Heâs at the top of the dung heap.
I think youâre being too generous with that idea. If they want impeachment itâs because they know itâll cause upheaval in the country which they will milk to benefit. Nope. The ballot box is where to get him.
Without a clear âhigh crime or misdemeanorâ, impeachment efforts are just a continuation of the current degradation of the legislature from a governing body into a purely party political body.
Yes, I know âemoluments clauseâ, but that is about the clearest that the impeachment argument goes. The rest of the rhetoric is long winded versions of âwe really should have elected someone betterâ.
Even the NYT will not be able to diffuse collusion delusion. You reap, what you sow.
And you have to have solutions to problems, the dems have none⌠Obviously, Obama care failed, if the dem base is all about something else besides Obama care.
I disagree. The media generally does a terrible job exposing what has become of the Republican party, replete with false equivalencies and both-siderism. Trump does a much better job of helping Americans understand what the party has become than the work being doing by the media.
For sure, much of the media reporting on Trump/Russia was on target. But the media treatment of the Republican partyâŚnot so much.
ââTo the public figures who promoted the collusion story, I say: Own it. Just admit you were wrong. It wonât feel good at first. But when the initial sting passes you will find it liberating. And people will respect you for it,â Buskirk wrote in the op-ed published last Thursday.â
It canât be just any ââhigh crime or misdemeanorââ. It has to one so egregious that even Republicans have to vote to convict. And the ethical bar is non-existent that will allow them to vote against Trump
Interesting that so far no one has stepped up either to offer a solution for where the Republicans go from here or even an argument that the Trump Republican Party is going to do just fine.
A majority to impeach could probably be cobbled together in the House, but any motion to remove would fall in the Senate and that would be a victory for Trump. If one knows that gesture will fail, why is that the right thing for the country.
