It’s just a matter of time now
“As set forth in our report, after that investigation, if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.” This isn’t new, but it was news nevertheless. Yesterday, now-former Special Counsel Robert Mueller briefly addressed the public to announce that he has concluded his job and that the office is closed. He also said the quote above. Subtlety was not on the menu.
Mueller went on to explain that charging Trump was never really an option, given Department of Justice and Office of Legal Counsel guidelines and regulations, but he did say that “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting President of wrongdoing.” This was, again, a not-so-subtle intimation at the fact that there is a constitutional remedy for removing a president who’s frothing at the mouth – impeachment.
Mueller is not a rash man. The fact that he appears to have waited until Attorney General William Barr was on the other side of the continent to do this is some indication that he wanted to speak on his own terms and under no duress whatsoever. With that in mind, he chose to very clearly articulate that Trump definitely isn’t innocent and that you can impeach him, albeit in legalese. So now what?
Simple. Democrats of all stripes need to stand up and finally draw the line. If Trump can go this far and not be impeached, then I’m not sure the instrument of impeachment has any meaning. The goalposts are so far moved at this point that you’d need to fire the soccer ball out of an Abrams tank to even get close to scoring. It’s been said many times before, but we’re living in a constitutional crisis. What hasn’t been said enough before is that part of this crisis is that the Democrats are letting it continue without consequence to the trumpeting orange ass who’s causing the crisis.
Democrats are worried about the risks that impeachment might bring to their 2020 prospects by alienating moderate voters. Democrats have also been applauding Republican Congressman Justin Amash for putting country before party and risking his own reelection odds by calling for Trump’s impeachment. Now it’s time for them to do the same. Nancy Pelosi knows this, and she knows that her legacy cannot be one of allowing herself to be steamrolled by Trump. I think now it’s only a matter of time before she gets her game plan sorted. Stay tuned.
Democracy thrives in snarkiness