House Dem: I'll force a vote on Trump impeachment by Christmas

Perhaps Democrats should take Han Solo’s advice from Episode IV after last night’s big electoral win: Nice shooting, kid, don’t get cocky. Instead, Rep. Al Green appears to be channeling Solo’s other advice: Never tell me the odds. In a floor speech, the Texas Democrat pledged to force a vote on his articles of impeachment for Donald Trump in time to drop the lump of coal in the president’s Christmas stocking (via The Hill):

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Actually, Green has been promising this since before Memorial Day. He appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on May 23rd after demanding Trump’s impeachment on the House floor that week. Green threatened last month to file articles of impeachment last month too, citing “perfidy” over Trump’s remarks about illegal voting in the 2016 election and — no kidding — Trump’s comments about the NFL protests.

Green avoided an opportunity to force a vote at that time, but now he says it’s full speed ahead, no matter what his caucus leadership thinks:

Green acknowledged in a floor speech that “I have been told there will be political consequences for what I do.” Yet he declared that “I accept the consequences.”

Well, that’s fine, except the consequences won’t be borne by Green alone. If Virginia does serve as a bellwether for 2018, it demonstrates a disgust from voters over being overlooked by the Republicans they just elected into single-party governance. They haven’t done much of what they’ve promised, and what they have done has mainly been to their own ideological benefit. If that disillusion continues, Nancy Pelosi can start measuring the drapes in the Speaker’s office by mid-summer.

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If, on the other hand, Democrats overplay their hand by attempting to overturn the election without just cause, the voters who turned out for Trump will suddenly have a powerful incentive to check back in at the ballot box. That might cut off any path to a majority, and leave Green still in the same impotent position he occupies at the moment. That’s why Pelosi and Jerrold Nadler told Green to stow it last month, and why he’ll likely get the same message after today.

In other words, Green can threaten all he wants, but he’s flying solo on this effort … and not Han Solo, either.

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