Impeachment doesn’t always work in the favor of those demanding removal. The American public was so appalled by the Republican inquisition leveled against Bill Clinton — and the irresponsible freezing of government during the time — that Democrats won five more seats in the House in the next election.
Yes, Bill Clinton’s transgressions were a fraction of what we see today, but a sizable number of Americans outside Trump’s base think the president is a survivable disaster. This includes many in Republican-leaning districts that recently sent Democrats to the House. These Democrats accomplished a far bigger feat than the handful of hotheads from super-safe liberal districts (who also get more attention than they warrant).
I got really nervous in early October when Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic congressman representing the Upper West Side of Manhattan, vowed to investigate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh if the Democrats were to win the majority. He now chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Fortunately, Nadler dropped that pointless crusade and has pedaled back on impeachment as well. Pelosi obviously got to him.
No doubt Nadler has been hearing noise from radicals in his district. But even on what some call the “Upper Left Side” — I used to live there — Democrats tend to be more moderate than their reputation suggests. In the 2016 Democratic primary, the Upper West Side preferred Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders by more than 2-to-1.
What do the American people want? They want normality. They want to wake up and not see a government shutdown, a chaotic trade war, presidential attacks on our allies and presidential slobbering over our adversaries. We’ve grown somewhat numb to the blatant and ceaseless lying, true, but wouldn’t a fact-based morning offer a pleasant change?
Rest assured that Trump will not get away with it all. Once he’s out of office, state and federal prosecutors will have the opportunity to pursue numerous charges — not only obstruction of justice but also a multitude of financial crimes related to his business. And we still await the Mueller report.
Going after Trump when his term has only about two years left simply doesn’t justify putting the nation through the added trauma of an impeachment procedure. Furthermore, Republican lawmakers have shown themselves incapable of holding Trump to any standard, so a bipartisan effort would be highly unlikely.
Trump’s history is of a man fixated on making the public share his obsession with himself. Impeachment would just inflate his presence. Moving on would do the opposite. With another presidential election around the corner, he’s just not worth it.
Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
