Why push for impeachment? Because politics is an exercise in moving public opinion as much as counting votes in the senate. The Jan 6 Hearings were not a criminal proceeding against Trump that would end in jail, but they focused public attention. Performative public investigations matter
I'm sorry, but no. All it does is reinforce the idea that Democrats do nothing BUT performative crap.
Also because it's the most aggressive constitutional response allowable. Every Democratic decision should be maximalist. The age of pre-negotiating with yourself in preparation for negotiating with Republicans has to be over.
One would hope.
Nyaaah.
My wife once gave me a set of CD’s of back issues of the New Yorker. Only wound up reading one article and it was how Congress passed the Glass Steagall Act. Basically, Congress held hearings where they excoriated Wall St and other business executives. It was performative and effective.
The good ole days.
No. They don’t. Waste of time & energy. Impeachment just ain’t what it used to be.
So what's the point of anything then?
Really? If we don't pursue fantasies of impeachment, there's nothing else we can do? You can't believe that!
All this depends on Democratic leadership being able to use impeachment as a public platform to highlight Trump’s crimes and the fascist slide we are in. We need good communicators to lead any such effort. Get AOC and Pocan or Raskin to lead Team Impeachment Media Relations
There’s a good argument to be made that Clinton lost in 2016 because of Benghazi hearing.
Good point! It’s not just the endless Hillary hearings that are an example. It’s the Hunter Biden attacks too. Republicans used these to bring down Hillary and Biden. And we don’t need the House majority to talk about Trump impeachment and Trump fascism and tyranny. bsky.app/profile/rebe...
Yes, exactly right. If the House Dem leadership held an Impeachment Investigation Roundtable in the basement of a DC library, it would be a major press event that would dominate headlines. Open up your imagination. It’s not 1992 any longer! The media world is different.
Make sure to produce it for TV and social media, however
Do it in @raskin.house.gov’s backyard in Takoma Park, in fact, because DC is not a state and you don’t want Trump threatening to strip DC library funding.
I think I found the burner account of @schumer.senate.gov ‘s CoS
Benghazi is another example. And Hunter Biden.
There is an organization pushing Congress on impeachment.
This is a cowardly statement from @schiff.senate.gov. It is words without calls for action; it does not draw a contrast between the parties. The American public thinks that Democratic leaders do not fight. The party polls at 29%. The public disapproves. This kind of thing is why.
That’s right. Someone’s got to.
No, you’re just stupid. You sound like Mickey and Judy planning to put on a show.
Even if we did not have the majority, 200 house members talking about impeachment would get attention and move the needle
For all the liberals' theories about power, I feel like Democrats don't really understand power. They see it as a thing to be analyzed and critiqued, not to be used. I've been reading about the old labor movements, and I was amazed at how strategic the unions were about planning strikes.
They would identify key points in production and recruit workers in those to make sure they had maximum strength at the company's vulnerable points. We don't see that kind of strategic thinking by Democrats (except against progressive candidates like Mamdani).
They're all performance with purpose, without plans. There's no follow up after a big show of public support (like the recent No Kings protests, the Occupy Wall Street and BLM movements happened, and then faded away or were coopted by grifters).
No matter how enthused the people in the streets get, the Democratic leadership knows how to ignore it, defuse it and defang it.
We had great communicators in both Trump impeachment trials 1.0. Assuming everyone watched? It was all on C-Span; MSM did not air everything. The same will be true going forward. Watch more @c-span.bsky.social to learn better what is happening in the House & Senate.
As if TEAM anyone will convince the now 85% GOP-owned media to play fair?
When he fired the inspectors general, they should’ve started. Better late than never. Really hope it’s not too late.
First I'd like AOC to explain why she was talking to Thanedar on the House floor shortly before he cancelled the impeachment vote. It needs to be a much bigger conversation that whenever impeachment is even hinted at, Democrats will swarm in and attack it harder than anything a Republican has done.
So it's fine to investigate the "conspiracy" to hide Joe Biden's cognitive decline? * (and Hunter's laptop? And Hilary's emails?). Sad to day, it goes both ways.
Performative public investigations also matter because they uphold the rule of law and demonstrate what reforms to it are required for our protection when they fail to meet the moment.
I agree, but considering Schumer's response to Trump's illegal act of war, I have little faith in Democratic Party Leadership. I did, however, write my congressional rep, Jimmy Panetta, this morning demanding he stop supporting Israel "unconditionally" and condemn Trump's criminal bombings
How many people here even watched those Senate trials? Yet many STILL blame Dems for GOP complicity in protecting Trump. bsky.app/profile/rosi...
Adam Schiff's closing argument : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecpF...
The minority doesn’t get to schedule hearings and they don’t have subpoena powers. Where are they going to hold hearings? The basement of a DC library?
Things aren’t automatically rigged to be easy for us! So what do you expect us to do! Signed, The Democrats
If only there were a substantive way to track impact on new listeners, doers, believers. I fear we preach to choir. #wakeupamerica #stopmagahate
Xactly
Might also be helpful to have a public record of how GOP Congress and Senate members vote. Remember how Iraq war "yes" votes were used against those running for reelection or higher office?
Tomorrow morning is not too soon. Already emailed my guy (D) and Swalwell who seems up to it. Hakeem will call it a distraction.
Substantive public investigations matter more
The hearings also shamed Garland into acting, albeit too late what with the extraordinary malfeasance of John Roberts.
Thanks for saying it so well. I posted several times on how the past impeachments of Trump We're not a waste of time because impeachments are also a way to get the truth out and to get a big audience for it. And we've all seen for ourselves how poorly he stands up to being questioned.
Not impeaching is perceived as exoneration. It normalizes crime at the highest levels of gov't.
back in 2020 Trump voters were arguing "If Trump really committed dozens of crimes how come they only impeached him for that one thing? Huh?"... and how do you respond to that? Pelosi was lazy? Stupid? She secretly loved Trump? She had a bizarre web of excuses for doing nothing?
Polls and Dem data knowers told her that it was a bad idea to do a big impeachment trial
the same galaxy brain consultants whose 2010 strategy led to the worst defeat of a Congressional party in 100 years. loss of 65 seats. they ALL should've been fired and blacklisted on the spot. Including Pelosi.
2002 strategy too. Same rationale www.deepnarrative.io/exit-poll-20...
They've convinced themselves that doing nothing is politically expedient. "If we pretend nothing bad is happening, which incidentally normalizes executive branch corruption like never before in history, we're more likely to win in the mid-terms."
"It'll seem like we believe in nothing, have no principles, or are extremely lazy, but the savvy data guys say that's the way to win." "Hmmm. What if I say he's "Self-Impeaching"? That'll sound smart, right?"
I think the reason they're not pushing for impeachment is because impeachment ultimately led to higher approval ratings for trump. He won, he got to claim he was 'vindicated', and look what fucking happened.
If they actually had the votes to impeach the motherfucker, do it! But they don't. It'd be a completely fucking useless exercise that just gives him an automatic win in the end. Hard pass.
I agree - push for impeachment, because what is happening is an impeachable offense. Continuing to follow the legit process, even if it isn’t successful reminds us all of what the legit process is, instead of increasingly normalizing illegal and unconstitutional actions by this admin.
But the case has to be airtight. If there are cracks in it the GOP will use them to make the Dems look foolish.
Didn’t Trump win the relevant elections that followed after the Jan 6 hearings and weren’t all the parties involved pardoned this year? Do you have a more compelling analogy?
Understanding that political power flows through control of public attention and narrative is an important insight
Which is why we’ll get 2020 election investigations instead.
Agreed and put them on the record.
Do it now.
When people start experiencing consequences of this Dems need to be clear GOP owns this.
Democrats have mostly abandoned moving public opinion, instead allowing the Overton window to drift rightward. They fail to connect people’s suffering and extreme income disparities to Republican policies. The Working Families Party shows a way forward w/o 3rd party fantasies. workingfamilies.org
You had performative public hearing s when Dems controlled Congress. How’s that going to happen now?
Politics is for moving public opinion, and Dem leaders are crap at it. Neither Jeffries nor Schumer can muster the outrage to make it work. They leave it to AOC and “junior” reps and then they kneecap them later for being “too left” or trying to step ahead of the useless octogenarians.
Benghazi. Benghazi. Benghazi. The single most effective and important performative investigation in leading us to where we are today. Benghazi worked and congressional Dems have never acknowledged that.
