Formal Impeachment Proceedings Have Started

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1159804019449184259?s=20

[Person Man]

This is actually a good time to start than any other. It's still 6 months before people really begin to talk about the election and the country is in an uproar about him and his supporters' behaviors even though this time Republicans are much more willing to stick to him (namely because they got their tax cuts and are living comfortably off their corporate loans).

[T'Chenka]

Until they actually are voted on and pass and begin, I won't believe any of this. Establishment Democrats cannot be trusted in most situations. Still comparatively more trustworthy than Republicans.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Mueller says Trump can be prosecuted for obstruction of justice when he leaves office. The impeachment is a precursor to that. The clock is running out on impeachment trial

[Mr. Smith]

This is terrible news. Got to at least retake The Senate to make this work.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The clock ia gonna run out anyways, if Trump is a 1 term president, the prosecution will take place in 2021 after he leaves office with a Dem AG

[Hammy]

Dems must really doubt their electoral chances next year if they're doing this now.

[FairBol]

"We got eighty votes on this last time....want to try for ninety?" -- Democrats 

[FairBol]

Seriously, though....I have no idea why Democrats keep pursuing this.  Even if they "win the battle", so to speak (by actually getting this to trial), they will "lose the war"....as they aren't even close to having the votes needed to convict President Trump.  The chances of that happening are between slim and none...and "Slim just left town". 

Honestly, the only thing that Democrats will accomplish by impeachment is to virtually guarantee Trump a second term.  Nevertheless, if they insist on pursuing this course....well, I partially wish them luck.  It would serve Democrats well, however, to remember this phrase...."you come at the king, you best not miss". 

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

With Christmas coming and the primaries, there will be no impeachment.  Clinton's approvals approached 60% at time of impeachment, Trump wont have that accomplishment.  But, Dems have purposes to pursuing this: help prosecution after Trump leaves office and use the ethics like Trump did with Hilary.

[President Johnson]

What bother me the most is that Trump actually needs to be impeachmed, but he won't be convicted and a process would probably help him for 2020. The best way to get rid of him is on November 3, 2020.

[LBJer]

What bother me the most is that Trump actually needs to be impeachmed, but he won't be convicted and a process would probably help him for 2020. The best way to get rid of him is on November 3, 2020.

.  

Politically, the dumb thing would be NOT to impeach.  If they don't, they're effectively trapped in the fall of 2020.  They won't be able to use Donald Trump's criminality against him at all--meaning they'll have to ignore the enormous elephant in the room.  If they mention it, he'll say, "If I'm such a criminal, why wasn't I impeached?  The Democrats are my opposition--they would have impeached me if I had done anything wrong."  What will the Democratic nominee--whether Sanders, Biden, Harris, or someone else--say in response to that?  Will they have to say: "Because Nancy Pelosi is a worthless coward?"  It's far riskier not to impeach than to impeach--not to mention the fact that impeaching is the MORALLY right thing to do as well.  

[Landslide Lyndon]

I've said last year that the smart play for Democrats is to start investigating Trump without actually impeaching him. Like Republicans did with Benghazi, just leak damaging information and call high-profile witnesses to testify against him. This will cause a constant drip that will put Trump under pressure.

[LBJer]

Seriously, though....I have no idea why Democrats keep pursuing this.  Even if they "win the battle", so to speak (by actually getting this to trial), they will "lose the war"....as they aren't even close to having the votes needed to convict President Trump.  The chances of that happening are between slim and none...and "Slim just left town". 

Honestly, the only thing that Democrats will accomplish by impeachment is to virtually guarantee Trump a second term.  Nevertheless, if they insist on pursuing this course....well, I partially wish them luck.  It would serve Democrats well, however, to remember this phrase...."you come at the king, you best not miss". 

The Republicans came at "the king"--Bill Clinton--and "missed."  Last time I looked, the president that followed Clinton was George W. Bush. 

[Progressive Pessimist]

I wonder if Hurd retiring, therefore indicating that Democrats are likely to keep the House even if they do incur some losses, helped kick-start this faster. I feel like the prospects for Democrats keeping the House is as important in getting Democrats in the caucus aboard as Mueller's testimony was.

[Grassroots]

Good. Please continue.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Basically going to amount to a tax payer fund opposition research effort for the 2020 elections. The only way this amounts to anything concrete even with House passage is if they find something the monumentally changes the dynamic, and such as something like the Nixon tapes.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Basically going to amount to a tax payer fund opposition research effort for the 2020 elections. The only way this amounts to anything concrete even with House passage is if they find something the monumentally changes the dynamic, and such as something like the Nixon tapes.

Trump used Benghazi when it came to Hilary as an election issue and it worked. The Dems only have 110 House members signing onto impeachment.  The Dems will continue to investigate Trump and use it as an election issue

[politicallefty]

This is actually the smart way to do things. Whether or not it means the impeachment of Donald Trump is almost irrelevant. The most important thing when the committee says this is that the courts become far more deferential to Congressional action. The impeachment process is considered to be a form of judicial proceeding and the courts recognize it as such. Congressional investigatory powers under the guise of impeachment are far more powerful and the courts are far more deferential. This move has the effect of exercising those powers while avoiding a full House vote (which has never been constitutionally necessary to begin with).

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Its Congress job to investigate Prez Trump. Hilary says that the reason Trump wont release his taxes and is audited is that Trump hasnt paid no Federal Taxes; as a result, he gave the Banks like Chase, another tax giveaway in the tax cuts.

Congress and the IRS will turn over investigations to prosection in NY once Trump becomes a private citizen in 2021 regardless of impeachment