The Democrats who rediscovered the Founders and the Constitution to excuse their impeachment circus have undiscovered it. After voting to impeach the president, Speaker Pelosi says she won’t send the Articles of impeachment to the Senate right away. She’s concerned it won’t get a fair trial.
“We will make our decision as to when we are going to send it when we see what they are doing on the Senate side,” Ms. Pelosi said. “So far, we have not seen anything that looks fair to us.”
Anyone who watched even a moment of the Democrat lead House hearings just snorted coffee out their nose (to borrow a phrase from Jan Schmidt – more on that later today). Messrs. Schiff and Nadler ran their respective operations with such dishonor, indignity, and dare I say unfairness, that this is why we call it a circus.
And so it is.
And here’s my theory. Pelosi knows this is a loser. She could not politically go with censure. The rabid base needed a vote. But the Red District and Swing state Democrats are still at risk. She needs the Senate to bend or break on terms of engagement for a Senate Trial (even though they refused to give House Republicans that option).
If the Senate won’t budge, maybe she holds on to it, and maybe voters forget. If it never gets to the Senate, they can’t acquit nor use it to embarrass Democrats further.
If she holds it long enough, until after an election, they get a Democrat Senate that can, if Trump wins re-election, remove him from office, on day one.
That’s what they’d like to do, but I don’t think it will work.
First, your President and the Republicans will beat them with it daily. They should offer the same deference in the Senate that Democrats gave Republicans in the House. Then talk about their hearings and the rules until the end of days. None of it is good for dems.
Second, they may ask SCOTUS for an opinion and force a move to the Senate for trial, though I’m not clear on if that’s even possible.
Third, Pelosi knows this is a loser. She has to stall. I’m betting on Trump-loving this and using it for optimum advantage.
Forth, McConnell loves the idea of slow-rolling the trial.
An adviser to Mr. McConnell, Josh Holmes, signaled the majority leader was in no rush to try the president for impeachable offenses, writing on Twitter that the maneuver “might be the greatest compliment McConnell has ever received.”
“They are seriously entertaining holding a grenade with the pin pulled rather than facing what happens when they send it over McConnell’s wall,” Mr. Holmes said.
However this goes, I think Trump wins. Democrats are just too unhinged to do anything right concerning him. They are and will continue to be their own worst enemy.
