On Monday of this week, the House Democrats, led by Speaker Pelosi, announced that there would be a vote for concerning the next phase of the impeachment inquiry. From the letter sent to the members of the House:
This week, we will bring a resolution to the Floor that affirms the ongoing, existing investigation that is currently being conducted by our committees as part of this impeachment inquiry, including all requests for documents, subpoenas for records and testimony, and any other investigative steps previously taken or to be taken as part of this investigation.
This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel.
We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.
Nobody is above the law.
Naturally, the Republicans, who’ve been railing about the inquiry’s use of private depositions (as is normal in police investigations and previous impeachments), called for a vote on it (none are necessary, as they well know), and, in some cases, Administration officials who refused to obey the lawful orders and subpoenas issued by the House, are now celebrating a faux-victory, Representatives (there’s so many to pick from), Senators (such as Mark Meadows) and the President alike.
They should all be shaking in their shoes, instead.
Speaker Pelosi, she who, with Senator Schumer, bested Trump easily during the national shutdown, is hunting Republican scalps. She’s already demonstrated her command of tactics, as we saw. Now she and her colleagues in the Democratic House leadership have gathered enough information. Not necessarily to convict the President in the Senate, though, but to put the Republican’s nuts in a nutcracker.
Because now they will be faced with the opportunity to vote on the inquiry, and anyone’s who is interested in, or concerned about, American politics will be paying attention.
If the Republicans vote for the inquiry, the Republican base, still infatuated with President Trump, will take note and try to evict them from their seats.
If they vote against, the independents, the deciding force in many districts, will take note and vote against them.
The only Republicans who won’t be too worried are those that have already announced their retirement. There’s more than a couple of them, especially from Texas.
And then, for the Republican Senators, comes a trial in which they will face a similar, devastating question.
I believe Speaker Pelosi thinks that the conviction trial will fail, but in the 2020 elections the true fruits of the impeachment inquiry will be reaped as more House Republican seats turn Democratic, the Senate Republicans are reduced, possibly to minority status, and quite possibly the Presidency will be in Democratic hands as well, as the trial in the Senate terribly humiliates the President, exposing his chronic corruption and incompetency.
And if she scores a victory in the Senate trial, so much the better.
