Sometimes it’s necessary to point out the obvious, so here goes: President Trump isn’t going to be impeached and removed from office unless the Republican Party decides it wants him gone.

You may believe him to have already committed the “high crimes and misdemeanors” that merit such drastic action; you may even be right. But “high crimes and misdemeanors” is ill-defined. In the end, it amounts to “anything Congress thinks merits removal from office.”

With the Senate controlled by Republicans — and the Democratic House majority dependent on right-leaning swing districts — that means nothing can really happen unless the Republican Party decides to go along.