What Nancy Pelosi just did to Donald Trump is brilliant
Many Americans have become so accustomed to two dimensional thinking when it comes to politics, they’re demanding that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi bring impeachment charges against Donald Trump whether they’re going to stick in the Republican Senate or not. Pelosi keeps saying she won’t do it unless and until she can actually carve up Trump in the process. Today she’s taking a more textured step toward not only carving up Trump, but also his Republican Party.
Yesterday, some House Democrats announced a resolution to formally condemn Donald Trump for his racist attacks on four Democratic Congresswomen. If Nancy Pelosi were looking to take no action against Trump, she’d have stayed out of it. Instead she sent a letter to every House Democrat, encouraging them all to vote in favor of it. This means the resolution will come to the House floor later today, and it will pass. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Every House Republican will have to vote on this resolution. In so doing, they’ll either have to say that yes, Donald Trump is a racist, or no, he’s not a racist – and either way they’ll be stuck with their vote come 2020, when they’re all up for reelection. The House Republicans in moderate districts will be in a bind. If they vote that Trump is a racist, he might retaliate by promoting a primary challenger against them. But if they vote that Trump is not a racist, their Democratic opponents will be able to use it against them in the 2020 election.
We still think Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats will impeach Donald Trump once they’ve been able to make such a damning criminal case against him, it’ll either cripple him or result in his ouster. In the meantime, this resolution condemning Trump could serve to cripple the House Republicans who are in flippable districts in 2020 – thus increasing the odds of the Democrats retaining control of the House.
