Democrats in the final five campaign weeks and when in the majority in the House next year should prioritize the right “I” word.
That is investigation, not impeachment.
The stunning corruption in this Administration, starting with the president and his family -- using the office for personal enrichment, taking pay to play to new levels and utilizing a Justice Department that serves as a partisan hatchet man for the president -- provides endless investigative and oversight opportunities. The test is to run serious, factual investigations, and avoid cheap headlines.
By contrast impeachment is a diversion that Republicans welcome so that they can charge that the Democrats are all about getting Trump.
Do I think Trump has committed impeachable offenses? How to count the ways?
But it won’t ultimately succeed and will involve an enormous expenditure of time, energy and attention.
Instead an emphasis on affordability -- health care, gas prices and grocery costs -- along with holding Trump world accountable should be the priorities.
House Democrats already are mapping plans for investigations next year. Hakeem Jeffries, the likely next Speaker, has enlisted Congressmen Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the Judiciary panel and Robert Garcia, senior Democrat on the Oversight panel to spearhead a “structural approach” to investigations.
If Democrats win the Senate, Sheldon Whitehouse, as chair of the Judiciary committee, effectively will take the lead.
In the House there is talk of involving multiple subcommittees as well as committees. Inclusivity helps internally but serious investigations are difficult.
There are other investigative-savvy Democrats like Jared Huffman on the Natural Resources Committee, who has zeroed in on promising targets such as the Venezuelan oil scam and the garish Trump White House ballroom. Jim Himes is a heavyweight on the Intelligence Committee.
But a number of other Democrats would not be ready for prime time.
Too often the inexperienced focus on headlines and getting on cable news. That was the Republicans during the Benghazi hearings a decade ago and the case in these past two sessions, when chairmen Jim Jordan and James Comer ran comical hearings before the bipartisan push on the Epstein files.
There are obvious targets: the President’s crypto scam where he has made billions at the expense of others; Donald Trump, Jr.’s investment funds that get favorable treatment in government contracts; glaring intelligence failures.
Raskin has a report on presidential pardons -- an issue featured in an excellent CBS 60 minutes segment -- where those convicted or just indicted pay influencers, close to Trump world, to get them a pardon.
Pardons have been issued to some really onerous crooks like former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for sending massive amounts of cocaine to the United States.
He was supported by Trump confidant Roger Stone and disgraced ex congressman Matt Gaetz. Both deny receiving any compensation as hard as that is to believe. It’s also hard to believe Trump didn’t somehow get a cut.
Hopefully Raskin, and Garcia, will investigate the entire Justice Department. Critics of the president have been criminally indicted based on politics with little evidence which is why most have been thrown out. And Trump friendly crooks are let loose on what’s been called a “clemency for cash racket.”
New York City mayor Eric Adams’ indictments for bribery and payouts from a foreign entity, was dismissed on the orders of the top Justice Department officials after a deal was cut to help Trump.
It was so sleazy that the conservative U.S. Attorney resigned in protest.
There was Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire, indicted for bribery and deceiving investors; the charges were dropped after he met with Donald Trump, Jr. and pledged to make major investments in the U.S.
Many of these investigations will rely on outside sources or participants, as Trump will stonewall every step of the way. Most effective will be if lawmakers can tie corruption to affordability, how Trump and the insiders got rich at the expense of average folks.
With some of these investigations moving slowly and little prospect for big legislative achievements, with a Republican president, the clamor for impeachment will rise.
Already there are dozens of House and Senate Democrats who have raised the issue. Most senior Democrats, including Jeffries, discourage this. South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn cautions Democrats have to convince voters they’re working to make their lives more affordable: “Impeaching the president will not do that.”
That likely won’t resonate with the small group of radical socialists elected in deep blue urban areas in primaries this year. Philadelphia’s Chris Rabb’s website declares that defending democracy requires “Impeachment and Removal of President Trump.”
A middle ground measure some advocate is to impeach cabinet members, starting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Again, there’s a good case but ultimate success is unlikely. Do they also then try to impeach Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick?
If impeachment convictions are off the table, there is a troubling question: with the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision giving Trump immunity from any official actions how will he be held accountable?
The best answer is not a futile impeachment but serious in-depth, conclusive investigations into what resembles a criminal syndicate. Then the judgment of history will be easy.
Been sayin this for yrs -I’d suggest most American are “middle of the road” voters back after HS/Ronnie v2, whilst in university, I switched from the GOP to the GDI (gosh darn independents) affiliation, deciding that I’d dismiss political ideology and party dogma, instead voting on the basis of candidates that align w/ my person moral compass and ethical principles.
The democrats must win back the “middle of the road” democrats and the independents… you don’t do that by patronizing and bending to the whims of the far-left boutique-interest groups… most of us independents that “usually vote democratic”, don’t give a rat’s azz about “identity politics” - have no interest in DEI, transgender rights and what pronouns to use, nor care what your religious beliefs are, who you choose to love, etc… what we care about are the day-2-day issue like local crime, quality of life issues, education, healthcare, economic stability, the sustainment of social security, the sustainment of individual rights, to live a fulfilling life (within the framework of the constitution and its amendments) w/ out having government interfere…
Most of us support legal immigration within the confines of our laws - if you’re here illegally, then you risk being deported… if you are an illegal immigrant and are involved in criminal activities, you risk being arrested and deported after you serve your sentence, if you entered the country on a student visa and violated its terms and conditions and/or illegally over-stayed, you risk being detained and deported… most of us accept the birth-right citizenship concept, most of us don’t accept that just b/c you were accepted, that you should automatically be able to sponsor your extended family - they too should have to qualify on their own merits, most would also agree that those here illegally should not be eligible for government assistance (private sources can do whatever they want)
Most of us support:
1) the separation of church and state
2) term limits for all local, state and federal elected and appointed officials
3) bar convicted criminals from elected or appointed office
4) required yrly financial disclosures for all elected office-holders, appointed officials and decision-making officials.
5) required placement of assets into an independent trust during said period of service
6) replacement of electoral college by popular vote
7) standardized biometric-ID based voting systems and the scheduling of voting over the duration of an extended period of time, the administration there of led by non partisan, state administered organizations
This is just an opinion as to what a future “middle of the road” platform should address…. WALDT
Investigation over impeachment isn't caution — it's the only version of accountability that survives contact with a Supreme Court that's already told this president he's untouchable for anything he can dress up as "official." You want Trump's ghost to follow him for the rest of his miserable life? You don't get that from a doomed floor vote Republicans will turn into a fundraising email. You get it from Jamie Raskin pulling every thread on that pardon-for-cash racket until it unravels the whole disgusting sweater — Roger Stone, Matt Gaetz, some cocaine-trafficking Honduran ex-president, take your pick of scumbags.
Republicans already showed you what happens when you chase headlines instead of building cases — Jim Jordan and James Comer turned oversight into a clown car and got nothing but B-roll for Fox. Democrats have one shot to not be that. Tie the corruption to the grocery bill. Make Gautam Adani's dropped charges and Eric Adams' sleazy dismissal into a single sentence normal people understand: these guys get rich, you get poorer.
Impeachment is catharsis. Investigation is a paper trail. History doesn't remember catharsis.