By Rick Salutin

November 10, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - The Trump impeachment frenzy in the U.S. among Democrats, especially by party heavies like Nancy Pelosi, makes zero sense on its face.

First, there’s no chance they’ll succeed: they’ll impeach (i.e. charge) him in the House and fail to convict in the Republican Senate. Why waste resources on losing instead of building a credible, vote-garnering alternative.

It’s not about healing divisions, since this will make those far deeper.

It’s a dreadful issue to base an impeachment on: Trump’s klutzy efforts to bully Ukraine’s president into providing dirt on potential rival Joe Biden. It’s obscure and distant (Ukraine!). What’s a good impeachment issue? Organizing a seedy criminal burglary (Watergate) from the White House — which was the case for Nixon’s impeachment. Or having sex with a young woman in the oval office (Clinton). People can relate. Those are gripping, titillating and comprehensible.

Plus, an election’s a year off. Why not beat him there and avoid issues of legitimacy? Nixon and Clinton were both impeached right after elections. That timing made sense, it was the only expedient way to dump them.

Some say it is about that, they’re trying to cripple Trump for the election. But this will just entrench voters on both sides, it won’t move a single ballot.

Pelosi’s a special mystery. She held out against impeachment for three years. Then along comes a Ukrainian sideshow and she’s all in? Spare me.

What shifted her now? I’d say the answer is: this impeachment isn’t directed at Trump at all, it’s about undermining the rising left-wing opposition in the Democratic party. They are plausibly on the verge of seizing the party agenda away from the neo-liberal consensus of the Clinton-Obama decades — with issues like universal public health-care and equitable taxes. They’ve even found ways to fund campaigns without bowing to the corporate gods.

The original source of this article is Information Clearing House

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