Frankly, i think that pelosi is running a masterclass on this crap, and a lot of folks are just too naive to grasp what she’s doing. A lot of it has to do with exactly what you say here.
The worst outcome from an attempted impeachment of Trump would be for the public at large to feel that it was politically motivated. If that happens, then not only does it fail to remove Trump from office, but it implicitly invalidates all of the legitimate criticism of Trump’s administration for a seemingly endless parade of corruption. It would insulate him against such criticism, by allowing him to handwave everything away as partisan attacks against him.
Instead, what we are seeing is a seemingly reluctant Democratic party, who doesn’t actually WANT to impeach the president. You see them worrying, publicly, about the harm to the country such a thing involves.
But it’s clearly going in that direction… And it’s building, in the public eye. Slowly rolling into a crescendo, where impeachment is no longer a choice. It instead becomes a requirement. The Democrats are forced to take this path, because Trump’s actions and the evidence uncovered leaves them no other option.
This is, absolutely, the correct way forward.
It diffuses the inevitable attack from the GOP that the only basis for impeachment is partisanship, while simultaneously building support in the public for the impeachment. It even goes so far as to create a potential path for success in the Senate, because it will allow them to flip the argument and point out that the only reason the Senate would fail to convict is partisanship.
This is a tactically sound play. It makes sense. It has an actual chance of success. It improves their position, rather than degrading it.
And that’s how you win stuff. You don’t win by flailing around emotionally. You win by thinking things through, doing the work, and executing. And this is why someone like Pelosi is the right person to have in charge, rather than a bunch of freshmen who have no idea how to govern.
