Impeachment: The Politics and the Ethics of Follow Through

Watergate Hearings

Analysis (April 21, 2019) The Democrats are between hard rock and a hard place. They also remember a recent lesson on impeachment. This is when the Republican House, in a fit of moral outrage, impeached Bill Clinton. They know what happened next. The Senate, in the hands of Democrats, acquitted the president. In short, he was not removed from office. It gets worst. Republicans lost a lot of votes in the Senate as well. It was, in short, a dog and pony show that led to the belief by the American people that poor Bill was a victim of the system. His popularity went up by leaps and bounds. It was one reason for his reelection. This is not something Democrats want to do for Donald Trump. The last thing they want is to help him in 2020.

However, Democrats forget the other lesson from Watergate at their peril. While the logic that Democrats are using is that this process hurt the Republican, it really did not. They were either rewarded by voters because voters have very short memories, or because the impeachment process activated the Republican base. This comes from the Clinton impeachment, and they forget that Gerald Ford was voted out in 1976 by an angry electorate. They already got the biggest wave election since 1976. However, Democratic leadership is still trying to slow down the process and say this should be up to the voters.