The Democrats are apparently considering breaking out their greatest hits album and replaying some of their golden oldies to kill time before the election. Speaker Pelosi was asked this weekend what she planned to do if the President moves forward with his plans to nominate a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. One suggestion offered to her was a second attempt at impeaching Donald Trump to presumably tie his hands by bogging down the Senate so no confirmation hearings could take place. Would she really go there? According to the San Fran Gran, everything is on the table and she couldn’t rule it out. Heck, she might even impeach William Barr for good measure as well. The phrase “not my circus, not my monkeys” is coming to mind for some reason. (NBC News)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Sunday would not rule out impeaching President Donald Trump or Attorney General William Barr if the Senate seeks to push through a Supreme Court nomination during the lame-duck session should Joe Biden win the November election.
Speaking with ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi about suggestions some have made that if Democrats win this fall and Republicans move forward on a Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the House could move to impeach Trump or Barr in an effort to stall the nomination.
“Well, we have our options,” Pelosi said. “We have arrows in our quiver that I’m not about to discuss right now, but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country. This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election with statements that he and his henchmen have made.”
You really have to admire the way she slips in the phrase “[Trump] and his henchmen.” Traditionally, the choice for such a disparaging description would have been “cronies” or something similar. But it’s 2020, and Trump now must be painted as some sort of cartoon supervillain who has a crew of “henchmen” to do his dirty work for him. In this case, the henchman in question is apparently the Attorney General for reasons that aren’t explained.
I’m not sure if the Speaker is still hitting on all cylinders or not these days but she seems to be forgetting how this game played out last time. Even at the height of the impeachment frenzy, the Democrats couldn’t convince a majority of the public to support going after Trump in that fashion. And that was when his approval rating was lower than it is now. If she thinks this is somehow going to improve the Democrats’ prospects in November, she may be severely overplaying her hand.
Beyond that, her prospects for success are no better than they were last time. In fact, they may even be worse. The votes do not exist to convict Trump in the Senate. And I’m not even sure she could round up enough Democrats in the House to pull it off this time. There are a number of Democrats in marginal districts who are hanging onto their seats by their fingernails and they likely know that going back to the impeachment well yet again could sink them once and for all. One good example is Anthony Brindisi (D – NY22). He won his seat last time in a vote so close that it took three weeks to finish the recounts. He’s been running one campaign ad after another this season talking about how he “works with people from both sides of the aisle” and talks up a bill he sponsored that he was “proud to have signed into law by President Trump.” He voted to impeach last time, but he stayed on the fence until the last minute and took a hit in the polls as a result anyway. Do you really think he’d go for it again now?
Even if Pelosi tried this, it probably wouldn’t stop the Senate from confirming Ginsburg’s replacement anyway. It would take a long time to hold even more impeachment hearings and whip up a vote. Then, even if she managed it, Mitch McConnell could take his sweet time scheduling any sort of impeachment hearing. In the meantime he could hold the nominee’s confirmation hearings, assuming he has the votes for it.
This was more meaningless nonsense from Nancy Pelosi. There won’t be another impeachment of Trump during this term and she knows it. And if she’s foolish enough to try it’s going to blow up in her face just like it did last time.
