Should Democrats Impeach Trump Again?

 

Congressional Democrats have opened an investigation into Trump’s response to the Coronavirus. If you ignore the reptilian ethics required to even consider such action, it sort of makes sense, from a political standpoint. Trump has been taking understandably drastic action based on understandably incomplete, highly variable, and very often completely wrong information. His drastic actions have hypothetical benefits but are causing obvious and enormous damages to the economy of the United States and the world. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The stock market is dropping. Even sports and social events have been taken from us. People are hurting. If you’re trying to defeat a popular incumbent with a corrupt, confused, and contrary old white guy, current events may look like a gift from God. Presuming that you’ve been blessed with purely reptilian ethics.

So I sort of understand their investigation, from their standpoint. Once this is all over, in retrospect, surely you can find something that might have been done differently. You have no other cards. So play that one. Fine. In an ethics-free zone, that sort of makes sense. But here’s my question: Should the Democrats impeach President Trump over his handling of the Coronavirus? They attempted their first impeachment of him before he was inaugurated. It was later proven to be nothing more than a desperately partisan witch hunt with no basis in fact. After that, they actually impeached him, and that was later proven to be nothing more than a desperately partisan witch hunt with no basis in fact. Should they do this again?

I think they should. At least, I think that they think that. Their ads could say that he’s been under impeachment during his entire presidency, no president in history has ever had an administration so clouded by controversy, and so on. Facts don’t matter at this point. Joe Biden is your nominee, unless he wanders off before the election. So what else can you do? You’re just trying to paint a picture. If all you have is mud, you sling it. Presuming that you’ve been blessed with purely reptilian ethics.

On the other hand, with a third phony impeachment in just four years, the Democrat party runs the risk of moving past absurdity into, um, whatever it is that is more absurd than absurdity. But I strongly suspect that Congressional Democrats are discussing, in private, what that would look like, exactly. And trying to decide if they care.

I suspect that they probably would care. If they hadn’t been blessed with purely reptilian ethics.


So what say you?  I ask two questions:

  1.  Does it make political sense for Democrats to impeach President Trump again, given that much of America is hurting right now?
  2. Do you think they will?
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  1. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Yes and yes

    • #1
  2. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    They should play to their strength, which is blaming Trump for everything. Now in the middle of a big health crisis is no time to be changing course. So they should keep on doing what they do.  

    • #2
  3. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN
    1. No
    2. Yes

    I hope the House passes another impeachment resolution.

    It will only help Trump.

     

    • #3
  4. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    No to #1, because it wouldn’t be effective enough. People of the left are driven to betray in all circumstances, sure, but there are more effective betrayals available to them at this time.

    Maybe yes, maybe no to #2, because as malevolent as they are, they are stupider still.

    • #4
  5. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    It would be idiotic.  So they might do it.

     

    • #5
  6. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    At the rate Trump is ignoring Pelosi, who really cares what she and her band of merry eunuchs do.

    • #6
  7. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    They may do it, and if they do, it will all but guarantee Trump’s win in 2020.

    • #7
  8. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival
    1. No
    2. Yes
    3. (You didn’t ask. Not my fault) I think that they are going to impeach Trump every 6-10 weeks for the next four years.
    • #8
  9. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    I haven’t been listening to national politicians lately. So I don’t know how many Republicans might join such an effort. Judging by the division of opinions on Ricochet, I expect some Republicans might consider it. 

    Democrats would need some Republicans in the Senate. If they can count on that, it could be a successful coup. 

    It doesn’t matter whether or not the President is acting within his legal authority. With consequences this huge, politicians could find a way to condemn anyone with hypothetical alternatives. “It didn’t have to be this way…” is a persuasive dream. 

    • #9
  10. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Trump needs to be replaced.  It is the only way out of this mess he has stuck us in.  The Democrats / Left / Progressives / Never Trump will not allow us to recover until he is gone.  So he will end up out by hook or by crook.

    • #10
  11. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    I like your turn of phrase. “Reptilian ethics” pretty much captures the House Democrats at this point.

    • #11
  12. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Trump needs to be replaced. It is the only way out of this mess he has stuck us in. The Democrats / Left / Progressives / Never Trump will not allow us to recover until he is gone. So he will end up out by hook or by crook.

    Democrats won’t treat the next Republican President any better.

    But climbing out of an economic hole takes more time than voters are likely to afford any president, of either party. Trump might lose the election anyway. Before the virus, it looked like he was strong to win.

    • #12
  13. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    No.

    No.

    The Washington Post has launched a long attack based on the notion that Trump should have known earlier. They are fumbling for some ideal path that Trump missed that the left retroactively endorsed. I don’t think that will work.

    The fact is that the CDC and WHO were not pushing for drastic action early on and that Trump ordered the travel ban before the health experts recommended it. Democrats were still pushing impeachment and calling Trump racist when he had begun to act.

    I think an ad can be made that the Dems were doing impeachment and taking shots at the actions being undertaken then used the crisis to lard up their per projects and clients. Their actions and the news coverage has been unusually bad even for them.

    If we are headed back to work with masks on in a two weeks, the Dems will then say that an indefinite shutdown was needed to avoid minority deaths and I think that is a hard sell.

     

    • #13
  14. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Question 1:

    Does it make electoral sense?  It might make sense to them.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  

    If the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is as life and death a situation they seem to believe it is, then Pelosi and (that other guy’s whose name is not coming to me right now) should have called the White House and said “Look, our differences aside, what can we do to help?  What do you need from Congress?  Let’s get it done!”  That would have been a winning strategy for them.  They look petty to me.  And maybe they look petty to the middle 20-odd percent that will decide the election.

    Question 2:

    Will they try?  Of course they will.  They think that impeachment is a winning strategy.  They think constantly pointing out his perceived failures is what works.  But, that’s what politics have been for a long time:  sling mud, see what sticks.  

     

    • #14
  15. Arthur Beare Member
    Arthur Beare
    @ArthurBeare

    Doc, why are you slandering reptiles?

    • #15
  16. Jules PA Inactive
    Jules PA
    @JulesPA

    The Dems should continue showing their true colors, in case anyone sane missed the previous foolishness. 

    • #16
  17. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Dr. Bastiat: If they hadn’t been blessed with purely reptilian ethics.

    I don’t understand this constant denigrating of reptiles.

    • #17
  18. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    If it was left up to Adam Schiff, I’d say yes, since I’d imagine he’s already practicing his opening statement at the next House impeachment hearing, as well as fantasizing in his mind going back to the glory day of multiple Sunday morning talk show appearances. But the rest of the Democrats’ leadership saw Trump’s poll numbers went up during the impeachment trial in January, and they’re not going to do that again, at least prior to Nov. 3.

    After Nov. 3, if Trump wins, is a different story, and especially if he scores another narrow win that leaves them seething in anger, but where the Democrats also maintain control of the House.  Once you re-set the clock to the 2022 midterms, then it’s possible the Democrats will try to roll out a COVID-19 impeachment just to placate their base (and where if the virus stages a comeback next winter, they’ll use that as a pretext, even though all the medical people right now are already saying the virus is likely to stage a comeback next winter).

    • #18
  19. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Trump needs to be replaced. It is the only way out of this mess he has stuck us in. The Democrats / Left / Progressives / Never Trump will not allow us to recover until he is gone. So he will end up out by hook or by crook.

    Democrats won’t treat the next Republican President any better.

    But climbing out of an economic hole takes more time than voters are likely to afford any president, of either party. Trump might lose the election anyway. Before the virus, it looked like he was strong to win.

    There will not be another Republican President after Trump.  He is the GOPs last hurrah.  Maybe way down the road but most of us will not be alive to see it.   

    • #19
  20. Pete EE Member
    Pete EE
    @PeteEE

    If the Trump line is “Democrats were focussed on a phony impeachment while I was careful not to let it distract me”, a third impeachment is not going to play well electorally. 

    If, OTOH, the plan is to make a fuss that prevents the Durham report from landing, shouting about impeachment and investigation might help among the easily fooled. 

    • #20
  21. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

     #1- No. The public was sick of the last attempt already. It demonstrably lost them public support. 

    #2- Yes. They are so blinded by and dedicated to their ideology that even political success is taking a back seat  to it. Impeachment successful and otherwise is red meat to the deranged fanatics, grifters and möchte-oh-so-gern Gestapo who make up their base, so they will go with that and hope that the strength of their base will give them the victories they need in strongly D areas, the rest of the country be damned. They have the  press on their side and they think this advantage will keep them in control of the parts of the country that matter to them- and they are probably right. I don’t see any of the Blue Bastions of the New Jacobins going even slightly red this time out. The weakly blue or strongly purple states, I can see Trump sweeping especially if they try another round  of impeachment this summer. 

    • #21
  22. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Trump needs to be replaced. It is the only way out of this mess he has stuck us in. The Democrats / Left / Progressives / Never Trump will not allow us to recover until he is gone. So he will end up out by hook or by crook.

    Democrats won’t treat the next Republican President any better.

    But climbing out of an economic hole takes more time than voters are likely to afford any president, of either party. Trump might lose the election anyway. Before the virus, it looked like he was strong to win.

    Unless the Dems find a way to replace their non compos mentis candidate, he is still strong to win. If the administration handles the next few weeks well, it could be a landslide. 

    • #22
  23. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    I believe Nancy Pelosi has replaced Hillary Clinton as the most despised woman in America.  She personally has nothing to lose, but if she goes forward with Impeachment 2.0 (Trump’s Performance During the Chinese Flu Epidemic), she is setting her party up for a drubbing in November.  People got tired of seeing “Impeachment” in every headline, and now they’re getting tired of seeing “Coronavirus” as well.  Putting the two together after this virus epidemic blows over will rain hellfire on her and her party . . .

    • #23
  24. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    If they do, Republicans have an easy campaign theme – “The Democrats are not prepared to govern. They are more interested in blaming than in solving.”

    • #24
  25. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    If they do, Republicans have an easy campaign theme – “The Democrats are not prepared to govern. They are more interested in blaming than in solving.”

    The ads write themselves almost. 

    • #25
  26. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    It feels like  mental illness is more prevalant than COVID 19 in the public square, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they go again.   

    • #26
  27. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Percival (View Comment):

    1. No
    2. Yes
    3. (You didn’t ask. Not my fault) I think that they are going to impeach Trump every 6-10 weeks for the next four years.

    Mostly agreed, except I’d put down a “yes” for # 1, with the caveat that when we use the expression “makes sense” we’re talking in the Chestertonian sense when he talks about the mental clarity of the insane.  In other words, “No, objectively it makes no sense at all, but in their world it makes perfect sense so they’ll try anyway.”

    • #27
  28. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    1. No
    2. Yes
    3. (You didn’t ask. Not my fault) I think that they are going to impeach Trump every 6-10 weeks for the next four years.

    Mostly agreed, except I’d put down a “yes” for # 1, with the caveat that when we use the expression “makes sense” we’re talking in the Chestertonian sense when he talks about the mental clarity of the insane. In other words, “No, objectively it makes no sense at all, but in their world it makes perfect sense so they’ll try anyway.”

    Oh, I want them to, for the entertainment value alone. Plus there’s something heartwarming about looking at Chuck Todd or Rachel Maddow when the latest impeachment theatrical performance collapses.

    • #28
  29. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Percival (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    1. No
    2. Yes
    3. (You didn’t ask. Not my fault) I think that they are going to impeach Trump every 6-10 weeks for the next four years.

    Mostly agreed, except I’d put down a “yes” for # 1, with the caveat that when we use the expression “makes sense” we’re talking in the Chestertonian sense when he talks about the mental clarity of the insane. In other words, “No, objectively it makes no sense at all, but in their world it makes perfect sense so they’ll try anyway.”

    Oh, I want them to, for the entertainment value alone. Plus there’s something heartwarming about looking at Chuck Todd or Rachel Maddow when the latest impeachment theatrical performance collapses.

    sending CNN into a panel-gasm so intense that the camera lens becomes smeared with political-insider fluids.

    Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article192007484.html#storylink=cpy

    • #29
  30. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Well, if the Dems didn’t find something to investigate and to impeach over, what rationale can they use, once the president has won reelection, and RBG finally has retired or passed away, to prevent President Trump from nominating the next USSCt justice?

    The Biden rule won’t apply because the election will be in the past, so they will have to screech about no president under impeachment should make a new lifetime appointment to the SCt!!

    So, yeah, they will try.

    • #30
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