“It has the potential to wake up a lot of Democrats whose energy level about voting this year is low,” said Democratic consultant Joe Trippi.

Democrats have been struggling with how to get African-Americans and Latinos to turn out in force this year the way Obama did in 2008 and 2012. Impeach him over immigration reform, they say, and Republicans will do the work for them.

“The more they talk about it, the more it has a red hot effect on their base. So if you can get the temperature just right, you’re turning out all your base voters and Democrats don’t take it seriously and it’s a good year for you,” Trippi said. “If that stove gets just a little too hot and you lose control of it, you’re going to have every Democrat on the planet turning out to stop it.”

The president, aides say, isn’t embracing the political argument. He’ll joke about it in front of a friendly crowd, but he doesn’t like the idea of delegitimizing him as president and the certainty he feels that if he gets impeached, it’s only a matter of time before the next Democratic president gets impeached, too.