Please don’t make it too hard for Republicans to get on the impeachment train

In a narrow sense, Democrats might fare best if Trump were impeached but not removed from office. With the Trump albatross hanging around Republican necks, Democrats could well emerge from 2020 with the presidency and substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. Toss in the court-packing scheme currently floating around the caucus, and you’d have a shot at power unrivaled by anyone since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

That prospect could tempt you Democrats to “heighten the contradictions” — to make this process as partisan as possible, repelling any potential Republican stampede impeachment-ward with a combination of tactical poison pills and interpersonal nastiness. This, plus sheer Republican cussedness, might result in a one-party impeachment process the nation can’t afford, and which even the most rabidly partisan Democrats might come to regret.

Such an impeachment would destroy already-waning American trust in government and deepen partisan fissures to bottomless chasms. If you think that Bush v. Gore damaged the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, and the comity of Capitol Hill, just wait until we have six new justices courtesy, at least in part, of a nakedly partisan impeachment process.