Are Democrats making a mistake by focusing on the Russian bounty story?

[EJ24]

I say this because so far, any scandal involving Trump/Russia has been called a "hoax" by the GOP, and public opinion seems to indicate they don't care much. Look at 2017-2019, Trump maintained steady polling numbers despite indictment after indictment of his campaign staff, and as soon as the Mueller Report indicated Trump wouldn't be prosecuted, his approval rating increased slightly.

I feel like this could be another incident where it's difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump knew anything about this, and if Democrats make it an election issue, it will look like another partisan witch hunt.

[President Johnson]

Ukraine was much more complex to understand for average people who have several things going on in their lives and who maybe spend five or ten minutes a day checking political news. This one is much simpler and involves the President of the United States and Commander in chief potentially doing something that comes close to treason. I mean, he has an obligation to defend the troops and act boldly if necessary, especially when you're running around and pretend to be "Mr. Tough Guy". The military is beloved in the American public, beyond party lines. And him not acting upon such intelligence, at least to get to the bottom of it, would be a tremendous punch in the face of every man and woman in uniform, including their families and friends. Democrats, or the entire congress more broadly speaking, demanding answers is the right thing to do, regardless of the campaign. This is serious stuff, and if remotely true one way or the other, yet another proof Trump is in no way up to the job.

[Lord Admirale]

Nope. This is pretty clear. And despicable.

[pppolitics]

What makes you think Democrats are “focusing” on it?

[EJ24]

What makes you think Democrats are “focusing” on it?

Well considering Pelosi had a press conference about it today calling for more sanctions on Russia, it looks like the Democrats are going to make it an election issue.

Maybe I'm just cynical after the Mueller investigation, but I get the sense the general public now sees all Russia stories as "the boy who cried wolf" from Dems, and I think they would be much better served on keeping the focus on Trump's abysmal response to Covid. Don't hand him an issue where he looks like a victim.

[Hammy]

I say this because so far, any scandal involving Trump/Russia has been called a "hoax" by the GOP, and public opinion seems to indicate they don't care much. Look at 2017-2019, Trump maintained steady polling numbers despite indictment after indictment of his campaign staff, and as soon as the Mueller Report indicated Trump wouldn't be prosecuted, his approval rating increased slightly.

I feel like this could be another incident where it's difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump knew anything about this, and if Democrats make it an election issue, it will look like another partisan witch hunt.

Any scandal at all involving Trump has been called a hoax by the GOP. Once again, why should Dems operate based on what the GOP has to say about them?

[OneJ]

I remember back when Democrats were supposedly making a mistake by impeaching Trump.

[Horus]

I remember back when Democrats were supposedly making a mistake by impeaching Trump.

That was a mistake. His approval increased several points right after. Had it not been for George Floyd and COVID he'd be sitting at 50% approval.

[Beet]

I remember back when Democrats were supposedly making a mistake by impeaching Trump.

That was a mistake. His approval increased several points right after. Had it not been for George Floyd and COVID he'd be sitting at 50% approval.

To be fair, his approval rating had been generally on an upward trend since late 2017 until George Floyd and COVID. And stretching even before that, his support has/had been on a steady upward trend since he announced his campaign. And he was impeached on December 18, 2019. Looking at the RCP chart, there doesn't seem to be any clear break from trend right after that.

[pppolitics]

What makes you think Democrats are “focusing” on it?

Well considering Pelosi had a press conference about it today calling for more sanctions on Russia, it looks like the Democrats are going to make it an election issue.

Maybe I'm just cynical after the Mueller investigation, but I get the sense the general public now sees all Russia stories as "the boy who cried wolf" from Dems, and I think they would be much better served on keeping the focus on Trump's abysmal response to Covid. Don't hand him an issue where he looks like a victim.

Democrats are investigating everything that needs investigating.

It doesn’t mean that Democrats are “focusing” on this topic more than other topics.

[catographer]

A story showing how Trump is failing to protect our troops is the kind of political attack that consultants drool over. Excellent focus for the Biden campaign.

[Mr. Smith]

A story showing how Trump is failing to protect our troops is the kind of political attack that consultants drool over. Excellent focus for the Biden campaign.

Since when have consultants been a good arbiter of anything?

[Progressive Pessimist]

I've mentioned this before but unlike the other Russia scandals, which are still and always have been important even as they have failed to tarnish Trump, this one involves peoples' lives, and not just any people-our troops. It exposes the hypocrisy of those who feign actually caring about the troops when Colin Kaepernick kneels or a flag is burnt, yet look the other way when their lives are in danger like Trump is from the sounds of the reporting on this. It also further reinforces that Trump is compromised by Russia and putting whatever interests he has with them over the people he swore an oath to protect.

 This is a devastating scandal that would upend just about every other President and even as it may not entirely do that for Trump, the optics are significantly worse than every other Russian scandal of his. Imagine being the loved one of a soldier deployed in Afghanistan whose life is in the tiny hands of a Commander-in-Chief who doesn't give a f*** about them. I would be far more mortified and upset than I already am. I cannot even fathom it! It doesn't even matter if any soldiers have actually died for this reason or not, the fact that it's something that could even be happening while the President twiddles his (again, tiny) fingers is enough for the Democrats to continue holding Trump accountable and investigating as much as possible. I see no downside to it this time.

[Yoda]

Nope. This is pretty clear. And despicable.

This. If anything, this scandal absolutely demands another impeachment. If this isn't impeachable, what the hell is?

[Alben Barkley]

I remember back when Democrats were supposedly making a mistake by impeaching Trump.

That was a mistake. His approval increased several points right after. Had it not been for George Floyd and COVID he'd be sitting at 50% approval.

It did not go up “several points.” Any impact seemed to be extremely minor, to the point it’s hard to even say it was the result of impeachment rather than random noise. The overall trend remained steady. Also most polls showed at least a plurality if not a majority approved of the impeachment. So don’t see how it could have helped him. At worst it canceled out between the people it turned against him and for him, or just had no effect at all.

Also serious (X) to the idea he’d be at 50% approval without these crises. Between impeachment and then, he didn’t get close except the brief and minor rally around the flag effect after the crisis initially broke. He’s simply too polarizing and his approval rating has been too consistent throughout his presidency for anything short of this to have caused a major change for him. And even now we’re seeing more of a slow decline than a rapid descent.

[Non Swing Voter]

Yes.  These national security issues haven't moved the needly.  Do an investigation after Biden is President.  People here give the average voter too much credit.  They don't have the time or focus to understand the minutia with these stories unless it impacts them personally like coronavirus.  Democrats also tend to focus on too many different things rather than one unifying message.  They need to focus on Trump being unqualified to be POTUS and self absorbed and how that has screwed up the coronavirus response and also the economy with it.  Big, easy to understand SINGLE issue that impacts a large proportion of the electorate personally.  Drill this down.  People already don't like Trump on a personal level and think he's incompetent, show how his self-dealing and incompetence impact them personally from now until Election Day.