It is not clear that Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House is the reason the impeachment process has accelerated. While the substance of Mueller’s presentation was devastating, just like the written report, Trump himself has been the driving force in energizing Democrats to take a stand.

Trump has continued to do more than anyone else to maintain the political momentum necessary to prevent Democrats from putting the impeachment option aside. While the notion of self-impeachment is silly, it is true that Trump’s own egregious actions forced Democrats to continue thinking about the kinds of dramatic steps that might be necessary to contain this runaway presidency.

Trump’s ongoing acceptance of white nationalist rhetoric, if not politics, continues to unsettle many across the country. It started with his tweet that said that the four young Democratic legislators who have been among his most vocal critics should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” and continued with his racially saturated Twitter blast against Baltimore, and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. And then there was the horrific shooting in El Paso where the crazed killer allegedly used the same word — “invasion”– as the President to describe immigrants in a manifesto before he prepared to murder innocent Mexicans in a Walmart.

The President’s subsequent response in El Paso — giving a thumbs up next to a baby orphaned in the shooting during a staged photo-op — just made things worse.