Now Is the Time

The Democrats have decided to hold hearings on the impeachment of Donald Trump. Those hearings were inevitable simply because Trump has always been unfit for office. But the timing of those hearings has been critical. David Leonhardt writes in The New York Times:

The Mueller report was too much of a letdown. True, that was in part because of the artful deception by Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, in releasing the report — but only in part. Over all, the report was anticlimactic. It persuaded virtually no one who wasn’t already persuaded of Trump’s unfitness.

If the Democrats had impeached him after the report’s release — after specifically saying that they would make their decision based on the report — they would not have persuaded many swing voters (or virtually any Republicans). I understand that many progressives wanted House Democrats to impeach Trump anyway, as a matter of principle. But I think that view overlooks the history and purpose of impeachment: It is, again, a political process.

If you impeach a president and fail to damage his political standing — if you’re just as likely to shore up his standing, as I think a post-Mueller impeachment would have — you’re doing it wrong. You are going to political war with the Constitution you want rather than the one the country has.

But the whistle blower's report has changed things:

Starting an impeachment inquiry is the proper move because of both what’s changed and what hasn’t. What has changed? In his dealings with Ukraine, the president committed a new and clearly understandable constitutional high crime: He put his own interests above the national interest by pressuring a foreign country to damage a political rival. He evidently misused taxpayer money in the process. He has shown he’s willing to do almost anything to win re-election.

What hasn’t changed? Trump is unfit for office. He has repeatedly violated his oath of office, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. He has weakened America’s national security. He has used the presidency for personal enrichment. He has broken the law more than once. He has tried to undermine American democracy.

Trump has handed Democrats a new opportunity to persuade the country that his presidency needs to end, on Jan. 20, 2021, if not sooner. Democrats should seize that opportunity. Even if they can’t persuade Republican senators to remove him from office, they can focus voters’ attention on his egregious misbehaviour.

The irony is that Trump could have escaped impeachment after the Mueller Report. But he is not smart enough to understand that he shouldn't repeat the behaviour that got the Mueller Inquiry going.

Do his supporters understand this? Probably not. They elected Trump to shake up the system. What they didn't understand -- and still don't understand -- is that his aim is not to shake up the system. He is dedicated to its destruction.

If the Democrats  fail to impeach Trump -- even if the Republicans refuse to follow through -- he will succeed. And the Republicans will go down in history as his enablers -- those who happily were unwilling -- in Benjamin Franklin's word -- to "keep" their republic.

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