“I think McConnell is largely right,” Gingrich told me. “I think we mishandled the [Clinton] investigation…and I think that we should have been calmer and slower and allowed the country to talk to itself before we reached judgment.”

Gingrich pointed to another House leader, Democrat Tip O’Neill, who handled House action against Richard Nixon during Watergate. “O’Neill was better than I was at managing that process,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich’s words — and McConnell’s, too — are extraordinary admissions of mistakes. Together, they serve as a warning to Democrats to be cautious when it comes to impeaching Trump.

On the other hand, some might see Gingrich and McConnell as simply trying to scare Democrats away from pursuing a Republican president. In any event, though, they point out that impeachment can put a party in a very dangerous position.