Anyone following the increasingly desperate Democratic impeachment effort will by now be aware that they have exchanged the term “quid pro quo” for “bribery” and “extortion.” They rebranded President Trump’s alleged offenses, according to a Washington Post report, after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee conducted a number of focus groups to test their messaging. The use of a marketing tool for something so serious confirms that, for the Democrats, impeachment is just another election strategy they hope will get traction if they dumb down the narrative. This betrays breathtaking contempt for the nation’s institutions as well as the voters.

That the new Democratic messaging strategy originated with their low regard for the intelligence of the electorate was made plain by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) on NBC’s Meet the Press. Chuck Todd asked the congressman why they had stopped using “quid pro quo” and Hines replied, “Number one, when you’re trying to trying to persuade the American people of something that is really pretty simple … it’s probably best not to use Latin words to explain it.… We’ve got to get off this ‘quid pro quo’ thing because it’s complicated.” In reality, it isn’t complicated at all, and the Latin term isn’t why the voters are unenthusiastic about impeachment. They know what the Democrats are up to and they don’t trust them.