The Show Must Go On?

Nancy Pelosi has decided that she's heard enough about Donald Trump's abuse of power and has given the relevant committees of the House of Representatives to go ahead and prepare articles of impeachment.  Even if more stuff that could close the sale for the Democrats surfaces after the articles are drafted and adopted by the full House.

The only problem is that Speaker Pelosi seems to have based her decision largely on the testimony from Democratic witnesses at the House Judiciary Committee's first (so far) impeachment hearing.  Left out of the equation is Republican witness Jonathan Turley's word of caution in impeaching Trump too soon before the investigations into his abuse of power get all of the facts.  And Turley is someone who did not vote for Trump.

MSNBC pundits have been dismissing Turley's comments as failing to recognize all of the evidence the investigation has covered, but that misses the point.  Support for impeachment among the American people is qualified at best, but the Democrats could enough sway enough voters to back their accusations against Trump with the information they uncover from the bigger witnesses they haven't questioned yet - notably, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Mick Mulvaney and Rudolph Giuliani.  These are the big stars of the Ukraine scandal and the dudes with the most direct and most airtight evidence of Trump's abuse of power.  For now, and possibly later, the Democrats are content to let the White House prevent these guys from testifying so they can charge Trump with obstruction of justice.  But having an impeachment process without the big stars providing the the most helpful testimony and relying only small bits of information and opinion from bureaucrats and constitutional lawyers who aren't household names is sort of like offering a side show without a main three-ring circus.

And remember, we're dealing with a President who's the most impressive showman since P.T. Barnum.    

Look, Trump isn't going to be convicted and removed from office because the Republicans in the Senate are solidly behind him, and even if the Democrats get all the information that's out there rather than just some of it, that's not going to change.  But with all of the inflation at their disposal, the Democrats would have a stronger case against Trump for their eventual presidential nominee to pursue against him.  Instead, they're only relying on only a little bit of information that will not persuade enough independents to join them and only cause eyeballs to roll.  That's what Trump wants.  He wants an opposition that isn't ready to go the full 26.2 miles like he is.  That's how he plans to win . . . once he's "exonerated" by a Senate acquittal that will only embolden him.  

But Pelosi lashing out at that right-wing "reporter" at her press conference made for some good drama.