Impeachment

Congressional Democrats have been debating whether the House should impeach Trump. Every informed person of good will is aware that Trump should be impeached by the House, convicted by the Senate, and removed from office, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tamped down the impeachment movement. She advocates waiting until, in the course of further Congressional investigations, the case against Trump seeps more broadly into public consciousness. She and those persuaded by her thinking believe that impeaching Trump at this point could backfire politically. 

     Pelosi’s thinking is undoubtedly formed in part by opinion polls, which show that, although most voters disapprove of Trump, only a minority favor impeaching him at this time. I suspect that these polls may be misleading; that a substantial number of voters who favor holding off on impeachment are doing so not because they think impeachment isn’t warranted, but because they know that the Republican-controlled senate will not convict Trump, and fear, as Pelosi evidently does, that he will gain politically in the process. This view is understandable, but given the abundance of evidence of Trump’s multiple high crimes and misdemeanors, my view is that by not at least opening an impeachment inquiry, Democrats give the impression that there may not be sufficient grounds for impeachment, when in fact they are overwhelming.